acquires

According to BBX data, last weekend Japan's largest financial group completed the most important cryptocurrency acquisition, and U.S. bipartisan senators launched a new regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms. The core developments are as follows:SBI Holdings, Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8473) announced the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank (privately held) for approximately $289 million. After the transaction is completed, SBI's cryptocurrency business will surpass all competitors, creating Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange. SBI Holdings is one of Japan's largest independent financial services groups, already owning cryptocurrency-friendly network bank SBI Shinsei Bank, cryptocurrency asset custodian SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and multiple Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency venture capital investments. Bitbank is one of Japan's largest spot BTC exchanges and holds an official cryptocurrency exchange license from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan. This acquisition marks a shift for traditional Japanese financial institutions from "strategic trial" in the cryptocurrency sector to "scale acquisition dominance," alongside the joint stablecoin plan of the three major banks: Mitsubishi UFJ ($MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui ($SMFG), and Mizuho ($MFG) (targeting March 2027), forming the most intensive wave of cryptocurrency layout in Japan's financial industry by 2026.U.S. Senators John Curtis (Republican, Utah) and Adam Schiff (Democrat, California) reported on June 28 that they jointly sent a letter to the CFTC, urging it to conduct a formal investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket (privately held), citing a "concerning" investigative report regarding Polymarket's "deceptive marketing" practices, which accused it of systematic misleading in user acquisition and risk disclosure. This is the third regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms initiated by Congress this year (previously, the House Oversight Committee launched an insider trading investigation on May 22); the two senators come from different parties, which is significant. For Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: $HOOD), this investigation poses indirect pressure—Robinhood's prediction market/event contract business (which achieved a record daily trading volume in June) faces the same regulatory qualitative disputes as Polymarket; however, Robinhood's defensive advantage lies in its ongoing application for a CFTC Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, providing a clearer compliance path compared to Polymarket.

Polymarket's Vice President of Product Engineering and former Craft co-founder Balint Orosz tweeted that Polymarket has acquired the productivity app Craft Agents, and some team members from Craft will join Polymarket.

According to market news, Japanese cryptocurrency automatic profit and loss calculation service provider Pafin will acquire industry backbone company Gtax and plans to complete the service brand integration in October.

According to Axios, cryptocurrency payment company MoonPay announced the acquisition of AI accounting startup Entendre, which focuses on providing intelligent accounting solutions for businesses using stablecoins and other digital assets.MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright stated that after this acquisition, the company will continue to seek more merger and acquisition opportunities to further expand its business landscape.

According to Bloomberg, Principal Mineral is acquiring Isola Group, which is supported by Cerberus Capital Management. Isola primarily produces key materials needed for printed circuit boards (PCBs), which are widely used in electronic products such as automobiles, airplanes, and AI servers. Based in Dallas, USA, Principal Mineral is committed to building a localized PCB supply chain system. The company did not disclose the specific transaction amount for the acquisition of Isola Group.Meanwhile, Principal Mineral also announced that it has secured approximately $280 million in new financing to expand its operations. This round of financing was led by Overmatch Ventures and The New Industrial Corp.

AI infrastructure company IREN, which has transitioned from a Bitcoin mining enterprise, announced the acquisition of Spanish AI data center developer Ingenostrum, S.L., also known as Nostrum Group, officially entering the European market.This transaction adds approximately 490 megawatts of secured, grid-connected power resources to IREN and brings a pipeline of AI data center development located in Spain. The Nostrum team consists of over 50 employees, covering development, engineering, construction, and operations. IREN stated that Europe is one of the largest and fastest-growing AI infrastructure markets globally, and Spain, with its abundant renewable energy and strong fiber optic connections, is an important gateway to the European market.This acquisition is also the latest move by IREN to transform from a pure Bitcoin mining company into a global supplier of AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. Previously, IREN had just announced plans to build an 800-megawatt data center park in South Australia and has signed a multi-billion dollar AI cloud agreement with Microsoft, as well as established a partnership with NVIDIA.After the announcement, IREN's stock price rose nearly 4% on Monday, reporting around $62.

According to the Wall Street Journal, cryptocurrency data provider Blockworks has announced the acquisition of Messari.It is reported that Blockworks will pay over 10 million dollars, while Messari was valued at around 300 million dollars in 2022, making this transaction a significant discount.

Solana infrastructure company Helius announced the acquisition of Light Protocol, whose team will refocus on the development of Solana privacy solutions. Light Protocol was established in 2021, initially focusing on zero-knowledge proof-based Solana privacy tools, and later shifted to co-developing ZK Compression with Helius. This solution is set to launch in 2024, aiming to reduce data storage costs on the Solana chain through zero-knowledge proofs, supporting large-scale consumer and enterprise applications.This acquisition will drive Light back to its original mission, combining its cryptographic capabilities with Helius's infrastructure and distribution advantages to develop ZK privacy protocols for Solana, covering scenarios such as private payments and private DeFi. Helius plans to open the relevant privacy infrastructure to developers in the coming months. This transaction occurs against the backdrop of accelerated consolidation in the crypto industry and a tightening financing environment, while also reflecting the rising demand for on-chain privacy. Helius founder Mert Mumtaz stated that privacy will become an important foundation for blockchain scaling, just as HTTPS did for the internet.

According to PR Newswire, institutional-grade digital asset data and software provider Lukka announced the acquisition of data provenance and compliance platform PEER DATA. Lukka primarily provides auditable digital asset pricing, classification, and market intelligence for funds, custodians, banks, and exchanges; PEER DATA achieves contract digitization, data usage measurement, and end-to-end traceability through its Data Book of Record (DBOR) platform and patented Daisy Chain technology.After the merger, both parties will provide financial institutions with a "control layer" covering digital assets and a broader range of data assets, uniformly supporting pricing, classification, proof of origin, licensing, and governance, while continuously expanding to scenarios such as on-chain assets and AI data consumption. The new company will continue to operate under the Lukka brand, headquartered in New York, with existing customer service unchanged.

According to The Block, the core development team of the Cosmos ecosystem, Cosmos Labs, announced the acquisition of the Cosmos block explorer Mintscan and the establishment of a new subsidiary, Cosmos Labs Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, to coordinate the construction of several key infrastructures in the Cosmos ecosystem.According to Barry Plunkett, Co-CEO of Cosmos Labs, the transaction negotiations began in October 2025, initiated by the co-founder of the South Korean crypto company Stamper (the legal entity of Cosmostation). Both parties did not disclose the transaction amount, financing method, or whether it involved Cosmos Hub tokens.

According to Techstartups, NVIDIA has announced the completion of its acquisition of predictive AI software company Kumo AI, with a transaction amount exceeding $400 million. This merger will expand NVIDIA's AI software business boundaries and strengthen its industry advantage in enterprise-level predictive analytics.It is reported that Kumo AI was founded in 2022, and its self-developed foundational model can connect to structured data from enterprise data warehouses, implementing various commercial scenarios such as customer churn prediction, fraud prevention, supply and demand estimation, risk control review, and intelligent product recommendations.Reports indicate that the founding team of Kumo AI officially joined NVIDIA last month, and as of now, NVIDIA has not made any official comments regarding this acquisition.

Kaiko announced the acquisition of digital asset data and analytics provider Amberdata. After the completion of this transaction, Kaiko stated that it will form a comprehensive service capability covering digital asset market data, analytics, pricing, indices, and data infrastructure, and will continue to expand into the tokenized asset sector.

The mobile communication service provider Helium Mobile, built on the decentralized crypto network Helium, has been acquired by Noble Mobile, which focuses on making communication services more accessible. Noble Mobile was founded by American entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Helium Mobile previously launched a free mobile plan service, and the company stated that it shares the same philosophy with Noble Mobile in enhancing the affordability of communication services. After the merger, they plan to continue offering low-cost mobile communication plans, hoping to challenge traditional telecom giants with more competitive services.Frank Mong, Chief Operating Officer of Helium Mobile, stated: "We chose Noble Mobile because our values, development vision, and management teams are highly aligned." The company believes that this acquisition will help further expand the market coverage of decentralized communication networks and promote the development of low-cost mobile communication services.

According to GlobeNewswire, global insurance and risk management giant WTW announced the acquisition of the digital asset insurance platform Redefind to strengthen its digital asset protection service layout.According to the disclosure, Redefind provides an end-to-end cryptocurrency and digital asset insurance access platform. WTW plans to first launch a non-custodial loss recovery insurance scheme in the UK to support forensic investigations, asset tracking, and legal recovery related costs for digital assets that are stolen or lost.

According to PRNewswire, NYSE-listed company SOLAI announced the acquisition of a 51% stake in Singapore-based artificial intelligence company NEURALAND for approximately $9.18 million.NEURALAND focuses on AI node hardware design, software-defined systems, and AI agent technology development, with business covering AI chips, embedded systems, large language model integration, etc. This acquisition will drive SOLAI's transformation from a digital asset mining company to a technology platform centered on AI.

According to The Block, Aztec Labs has acquired Obsidion, the company behind the open-source privacy identity verification tool ZKPassport. Its co-founders Michael Elliot and Theo Madzou, along with their team, will join Aztec Labs to continue developing ZKPassport and related applications.Aztec Labs is building the Ethereum privacy layer two network Aztec Network, which raised approximately $60 million worth of ETH through the AZTEC token sale last year, and previously secured about $125 million in venture capital.ZKPassport allows users to read passports or government documents via mobile NFC, generating cryptographic signatures locally for verifying age, nationality, and "real identity" without exposing full privacy. It has been used for ticketing at the Devconnect conference and for compliance identity verification in the Aztec community token sale. Aztec stated that it will continue to keep the ZKPassport protocol and iOS application open source.

According to TheEnergyMag, TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) announced the acquisition of the Muskie Data Campus located in eastern Kentucky, which is expected to support over 1 GW of data center capacity. The first phase of 500 MW is scheduled to begin delivery in the second half of 2028, with the second phase of 500 MW targeted for completion in the second half of 2030.The parcel was acquired from Industrial Equity Partners, covering approximately 285 acres, located within a 1000-acre industrial park in eastern Kentucky. Kentucky Power (a subsidiary of AEP) has initiated the construction of a 345 kV substation, connecting to the 765 kV transmission network, and the transmission infrastructure and energy service agreements have been signed simultaneously.TeraWulf stated that the project has completed zoning planning, and the permitting work is progressing, with limited preliminary site preparation work. Following the completion of this acquisition, TeraWulf's footprint in Kentucky will expand to two major digital infrastructure projects, with a total platform capacity exceeding 2.8 GW. The company reported revenue of $34 million in the first quarter, including $21 million from HPC leasing.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a total of $2 billion in government subsidies to nine quantum computing companies, including IBM, and will acquire equity in the related transactions. This move aims to accelerate the cultivation of the emerging quantum computing industry and promote the development of more stable and scalable quantum computing systems. The report states that this round of funding is part of the Trump administration's plan to maintain the U.S. competitive advantage in the field of frontier computing and to initiate a "new era of technological innovation."

According to BBX data, yesterday the layout of traditional payment institutions in the cryptocurrency infrastructure showed divergence, with institutions having clear differences in their views on ETH and the altcoin sector. The core dynamics are as follows:Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: $MA) signed an acquisition agreement for the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK on March 17 for a maximum of $1.8 billion (including $300 million in performance-based payments), which directly led Mastercard to abandon its previously pursued strategic investment plan in Zerohash (a privately held company). According to CoinDesk on May 19, Mastercard exited negotiations with Zerohash after the completion of the BVNK acquisition, and Zerohash is currently seeking to initiate a new financing round with a valuation of over $1.5 billion (higher than the $1 billion valuation established during the D-2 round of financing of $104 million in September 2025); the strategic logic behind Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK is that BVNK has a stablecoin payment infrastructure covering over 130 countries and a difficult-to-replicate combination of multi-country payment licenses; Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert stated that the goal is to integrate stablecoins into the core network of Mastercard Move cross-border payments, rather than treating them as a peripheral experiment.JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: $JPM) analysts cited by CoinDesk on May 19 released the latest research report indicating that in the current market environment, Ethereum and the broader altcoin sector will continue to lag behind Bitcoin, primarily due to three structural weaknesses: weak network activity, stagnation in DeFi ecosystem growth (Solana's TVL has dropped from a peak of $13.1 billion in 2025 to about $5.5 billion), and limited real-world adoption scenarios; analysts believe that for the altcoin sector to catch up with Bitcoin's performance, a "significant network activity explosion" is a prerequisite, and this condition currently lacks visible short-term catalysts.