Wu says it's a choice: New Haven parent investment, OKX, Kraken, access to the Fed's core payment system, large mining companies speed up currency sales and news Top10

The author, Wu, says the block chain

This week, Top10

1. THE PARENT COMPANY OF NYSE HAS INVESTED IN OKX, VALUED AT $25 BILLION

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) parent company, the Intercontinental Exchange, has invested in the Encrypted Currency Exchange OKX, valued at $25 billion, and will be given a seat on the board of OKX, without disclosing the amount of funds invested or details of investment terms. OKX will provide the intercontinental exchange with real-time price data for tradable encrypted currencies on its exchange, and OKX will allow its users to trade tokenized shares and derivatives listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a feature that is expected to be rolled out in the second half of 2026. The Intercontinental Exchange invested $2 billion in the forecast market last November, valued at $9 billion。

OKX GLOBAL MANAGEMENT PARTNER FOR BUSINESS STATED THAT IT PLANNED TO MOVE UP TO 2,000 OF THE 5,000 EMPLOYEES OF THE EXCHANGE TO THE UNITED STATES, BUT REFUSED TO GIVE A TIMETABLE; THERE MIGHT BE A LARGER PARTNERSHIP WITH THE INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE IN THE FUTURE。

Kraken as the first encryption company to access the Fed's core payment system

Kraken states that its banking sector has been granted access to the Fed ' s core payment system as the first encrypted company to be able to transfer funds using the same channel of payment used by thousands of banks and credit unions。

Following the Federal Reserve ' s approval of Kraken Financial ' s main account, the United States banking community reacted quickly. The U.S. Banking Organization expressed “deep concern” about the approval, stating that the release of such accounts before the relevant policy framework had been finalized and that there was a lack of transparency in the approval process and risk mitigation measures; the decision was also referred to by ICBA as “very concerned” that opening access to the main account to non-traditional banks/encrypting institutions could pose risks to the banking system。

TD Cowen reported that, following Kraken's approval of access to the Fed's core payment system, more encryption companies are expected to obtain Fed account approval this year. According to Jaret Seiberg, General Manager of the Washington Research Group, TD Cowen, such approvals are “inevitable” in the context of President Trump's support for the encryption industry, and more announcements are expected in the coming months. Kraken Financial (Kraken Bank) as a Wyoming Special Purpose Deposit Agency (Tier 3 category) was approved by the Kansas City Federal Reserve in March for a one-year limited main account with undisclosed restrictions and conditions; it does not include credit facilities (such as overdrafts or discount windows) and does not earn interest on reserves. Seiberg noted that this approval was completed before the Federal Reserve Board finalized the “Simplified Main Account” framework, indicating that the Kansas City Federal Reserve had completed a complete Kraken review. The bank is expected to continue to object and may initiate proceedings, but TD Cowen believes it lacks the capacity to block such approvals。

3. Trump: Banks are weakening GENIUS Act and calling for the adoption of Clarity Act as soon as possible to promote the regulatory framework for encryption

Donald J. Trump states that it is unacceptable that banks are trying to weaken GENIUS Act and to block the associated encryption policy. He called on the United States to complete market structure legislation as soon as possible and to adopt the Clarity Act, stating that GENIUS Act was an important step forward for the United States to become a global encryption hub and that Clarity Act would provide further regulatory clarity for the industry. At the same time, he accused banks of trying to impede encryption policies in the context of record profits, arguing that the encryption industry could flow to countries such as China if the relevant legislation failed to move forward, and calling on banks to cooperate with the encryption industry。

4. AI HEAT DRIVES LARGE MINING COMPANIES HOLDING MORE THAN $8 BILLION BITCOIN TO SPEED UP THEIR SALES

WITH BITCOIN PRICES FALLING BY 40 PER CENT ABOVE LAST OCTOBER, ABOUT $12.6 MILLION, LARGE MINING COMPANIES WITH MORE THAN $8 BILLION BTC ARE ON THE MOVE. IN CONTRAST TO THE LAST CYCLE, WHICH MAINLY COVERS OPERATING COSTS, THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS ROUND OF SALE HAVE BEEN USED MORE FOR THE TRANSITION TO AI DATA CENTRE OPERATIONS。

According to TheEnergyMag Mine Weekly, publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies have sold over 15,000 BTCs since October. Cango sold 4451 BTCs in February (about 60 per cent of reserves); Bitdeer cleared all BTC Treasury last month; Riot Platforms sold several times in December; and Core Scientific planned to sell about 2,500 BTCs in the first quarter. MARA Holdings' latest file discloses tradeable BTC to maintain flexibility and currently has over 53,000 BTCs。

5. The size of the Taifeng pledge has been high since PS, with large institutions tending to pledge rather than sell

The recent significant increase in the queue of the Taifeng certifiers shows that large investors, businesses and encrypted money exchanges are more inclined to pledge their holdings of ETH than to sell them in recent events. According to the data, there are currently about 3.4 million ETH waiting to enter the certification pool, resulting in one of the longest pledge queues since the network moved to POS, resulting in a waiting period of 60 days. This figure is significantly higher than the 9.04 million ETH in early January. Analysts indicated that narratives surrounding the Etheraf ' s potential to pay for infrastructure and AI-related applications may also contribute to this demand。

Morgan Chase: Encrypted market structure legislation is expected to be passed by mid-year or positive catalyst for the second half of the year

Morgan Chase Analysts Report: US Encrypted Market Structure Legislation (CLARITY Act) is expected to be passed mid-year, or positive catalyst in the second half of the year. The adoption will provide regulatory clarity, end “law enforcement” regulation, promote monetization and facilitate institutional involvement. Principal disputes: stable currency gains treatment and conflict of interest restrictions. The eight potential benefits include token classification, exemption from new project registration, securities-to-trade status, clarification of brokering rules, promotion of RWA monetization, exemption of developers from reporting obligations, tax exemption for small transactions and clarification of pledge taxes, and institutional monetization of deposit advantages。

7. Founder of the Bridge Water Fund Ray Dalio: Bitcoin is not suitable for long-term value storage or avoidance assets

Ray Dario, founder of the Bridge Water Foundation, stated that Bitcoin was not suitable for long-term value storage or avoidance, owing to the lack of central bank support and the uncertainty surrounding its privacy protection and quantum resistance. In Tuesday, All-In Podcast stated that bitcoin could not become “digital gold”, “only one gold in the world”. He stated that gold was not a speculative precious metal, but rather “the most mature currency” and the second largest reserve asset held by central banks, and that it was difficult to understand why central banks would buy and hold bitcoin for long periods of time。

8. Arthur Hayes: Bitcoin may benefit if the escalation of the American-Iraqi conflict drives the Fed towards easing

The BitMEX co-founder, Arthur Hayes, wrote that the longer the US stays in Iran-related military operations, the higher the fiscal costs, the more likely that the Fed would support them by lowering interest rates or expanding the money supply, thereby benefiting from risk asset prices such as currency. It stated that its judgement was based on historical data on the expansion of United States fiscal spending and the shift in monetary policy over the years of the Middle East conflict。

9. Culper Research announced an empty ETH and associated securities report that the Fusaka upgraded future-born currency economic model was damaged

The space agency Culper Research announced that it was empty of ETH and related securities (including BMNR) and published reports that the economic model for the upgrading of Fusaka in December 2025 was damaged. The report found that the increase in post-upgrading block space had led to a reduction of about 90 per cent in Gas fees and had triggered a large number of address poisonings and dusting transactions, which had increased the chain's level of activity by “false activities”, while the decline in pledge proceeds weakened the incentives of the certifying officer. It also claims that the market share of ETH is being eroded by the Solana and L2 networks。

10. About 72% of encryption card transactions are supported by Visa, with cumulative transactions amounting to $717.9 million

About 72% of the encrypted card transactions are supported by Visa and the lead is growing. To date, the cumulative trade volume of Visa encryption cards amounts to $717.9 million, 7.2 million transactions and 14.6 million users; in comparison, Mastercard transactions amount to $275.1 million, 4.47 million transactions and 1.19 million users. Visa has had more than 1 million single-month transactions over the past two months, and the scale of monthly transactions is moving towards a stabilization breakthrough of $100 million。

Focused financing events

• Crossover Markets announces completion of $31 million B rounds of financing, valued at $200 million
• QFEX announced the completion of $9.5 million seed ship finance, with the participation of Yuri Sagalov of General Catalest
• Eight Sleep
• Neura Robotics, a German robot start-up company supported by Tether, is financing about 1 billion euros
• Tradeweb buyout of Crossover $31 million B round finance to promote foreign exchange-style encrypted trading patterns
• Cyclops announced the completion of $8 million in financing
• Bitcoin Mining Trust and Cloud Services
• ARAQ COMPLETION OF $7.0 MILLION IN FINANCING, REDWOOD CAPITAL INVESTMENT
• Five Bells created by former NYDIG and Two Sigma team members completed seed-wheel financing
• Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure Inc. Akave announced the completion of $6.65 million in financing

More industry financing events are available。