Japan-based digital asset management firm Metaplanet has captured the attention of the crypto industry with its ambitious plans to innovate within the country’s financial markets. CEO Simon Gerovich announced the company aims not only to expand its Bitcoin treasury position, but also to launch a groundbreaking income-oriented financial product that is unprecedented in Japan.

BTC-powered perpetual preferred shares on the horizon
Gerovich shared that Metaplanet is close to completing preparations to launch Japan’s first-ever Bitcoin-based perpetual preferred shares. The Japanese financial market currently offers very limited options for preferred shares, with only six different types in circulation. With Metaplanet’s proposed product, this number will increase to four. Even more significantly, the new share class would be the first perpetual structured preferred share ever introduced in the country.

The process of bringing the product to market is not yet finalized. The main reason for this delay lies in the difficulties of achieving full compliance with Japanese regulations. The Metaplanet executive emphasized that the company is conducting a meticulous process to overcome the technical and administrative hurdles imposed by the regulatory framework.

Integrating Bitcoin into Japanese finance
One key challenge for the rollout is the Japanese regulatory model itself, which mandates that dividends on preferred shares must be supported by sustainable cash flows from a firm’s core business activities. Metaplanet contends that its business model, which generates revenue through Bitcoin, meets this requirement.

The company reports that, for the past six quarters, its Bitcoin operations have produced steady and recurring cash flows. This track record, they argue, demonstrates resilience in both strong and weak market cycles, reinforcing the financial transparency and trust needed to satisfy regulators.

Metaplanet also notes that most publicly listed firms in Japan typically distribute dividends once or twice a year. In contrast, the company aims to shift toward a more frequent schedule, potentially offering investors monthly dividends as part of a differentiated distribution model.

However, pursuing this approach involves a more complex evaluation and oversight process than existing practices demand. As a result, the timeline for launching the new product remains uncertain and cannot be accelerated.

Metaplanet’s management stated, “Our Bitcoin revenue streams have provided stable cash flow during both strong and weak market periods, just as regulators expect. To pioneer this kind of product in Japan, we are actively considering increasing the frequency of our dividend payments.”

With these plans, Metaplanet is set to take a significant step toward bridging digital assets with traditional finance in Japan. The perpetual preferred share model and the prospect of monthly dividends could set a new benchmark for both conventional investors and the crypto community alike.

Arthur Hayes, one of the co-founders of BitMEX, has released a new analysis claiming that Bitcoin set a major price bottom around $60,000 earlier this year and could now be primed to revisit its previous high of $126,000. Hayes presented this prediction in his recently published report titled “The Butterfly Touch.”

Macroeconomic forces shape Bitcoin’s path
Hayes contends that large-scale economic dynamics, rather than short-term trading signals, will drive Bitcoin’s next rally. He points to surging investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, increased government spending due to global conflicts, rising commodity stockpiles, and expanding credit in both US dollars and Chinese yuan as key factors influencing the cryptocurrency’s trajectory.

Technology firms and governments are now allocating huge resources to data centers, semiconductors, and power grids. According to Hayes, such a wave of investment will loosen credit conditions and necessitate further government intervention to support these sectors.

He further notes that escalating geopolitical tensions and rising defense budgets are pushing nations to spend more on both security and critical infrastructure. Hayes argues that these trends may weaken the long-term purchasing power of traditional currencies, increasing demand for scarce digital assets like Bitcoin.

Technical indicators under the microscope
Bitcoin has recently recovered to as high as $80,875, distancing itself from the April lows. As of now, the leading cryptocurrency is fluctuating within the $80,646 to $80,875 range. Data from CryptoAppsy highlights that a decisive breakout above the key resistance at $86,549 is crucial for Bitcoin to establish lasting momentum. The $86,500 to $90,900 zone is regarded as a critical sell area if upward movement continues.

On the downside, the first major support is positioned at $79,127. If Bitcoin slips below this level, additional support could emerge at $76,604, followed by a further fallback zone between $73,408 and $71,438 if selling pressure intensifies.

On-chain analytics from widely followed research firm CryptoQuant are also making headlines. According to analyst Moreno, Bitcoin’s Bull-Bear Market Cycle Indicator has just entered the early bull territory for the first time since March 2023.

“This indicator is used to track broad trend shifts in the market. Entering the early bull area can be interpreted as a sign that the most challenging part of the correction phase may be over,” Moreno explained in his assessment.

Meanwhile, market watchers are closely monitoring both the 21-day moving average and the critical $76,000 support zone. Analyst Michaël van de Poppe emphasized that while the bullish trend remains intact, holding these key support levels is essential for upward momentum to continue.

Who is Arthur Hayes?
Arthur Hayes is recognized as a central figure in the cryptocurrency world. He gained prominence by founding the BitMEX exchange, which contributed to making derivatives trading a mainstay in the crypto industry. Hayes is also known for his bold predictions on Bitcoin prices; while some of his calls have matched market movements, the timing has not always been precise.

Notably, Hayes previously projected that Bitcoin could reach $250,000 by the end of 2025—a milestone not met amid recent market volatility. Nonetheless, his analyses, which focus on global macroeconomic developments, remain closely watched by investors in the digital asset space.

Andreessen Horowitz has laid out its investment thesis for Arc, arguing that stablecoins are evolving from simple payment rails into an on-chain “economic operating system” for global finance.

The firm cites adjusted stablecoin transaction volume of around $9 trillion over the past year and a total USD stablecoin supply above $270 billion, framing the sector as systemic infrastructure rather than a niche crypto product.
a16z positions Arc as a platform layer in this stack, abstracting stablecoins into programmable accounts, payments, FX and credit that can be embedded into applications worldwide.

Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm has published a new thesis on its investment in Arc, arguing that stablecoins are “no longer just a payment rail” but “the foundation of a new economic operating system for global finance.” In its essay, titled “The new stack for global finance: Stablecoins edition,” the firm describes stablecoins as the base layer of a modular stack where wallets, orchestration services and credit networks all plug into programmable dollars that move on public blockchains.

a16z says stablecoins now rival legacy payment rails
The data point a16z leans on is scale. According to its State of Crypto research, stablecoins processed roughly $9 trillion in adjusted transaction volume over the last year, an 87% year‑on‑year jump that puts them “over half of Visa’s volume and about five times PayPal’s” when measured on comparable terms. At the same time, the supply of USD‑denominated stablecoins has climbed beyond about $270 billion, with some estimates pushing the broader sector past $300 billion as tokenized dollars displace bank wires and card rails in remittances, B2B payments and on‑chain trading.

In the firm’s own words, stablecoins have become “the fastest, cheapest, and most global way to send a dollar in less than one second for less than one cent, almost anywhere in the world,” turning them into an internet‑native alternative to correspondent banking. That framing echoes arguments from bankers and regulators who increasingly treat stablecoins as a macro‑level force, with one recent crypto.news report detailing how U.S. community banks warned Congress that yield‑bearing stablecoins could drain insured deposits by offering dollar returns outside the banking system.

Arc as the stablecoin “operating system” layer
Within that backdrop, a16z presents Arc as a platform that treats stablecoins as the primitive for accounts, payments, foreign exchange and credit, rather than just a token you send from one wallet to another. The firm sketches a stack where companies no longer “rent bank licenses and access legacy cores” but instead build directly on wallets, programmable stablecoin balances and APIs that combine account management, merchant payments, FX and lending into end‑to‑end products.

This “economic OS” view mirrors developments elsewhere in on‑chain finance, where tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure are being adopted by incumbents as well as startups. A recent crypto.news story detailed how post‑trade giant DTCC is preparing a tokenized securities platform with more than 50 traditional and crypto firms, while another story covered Kraken’s xStocks effort to build parallel equity rails on-chain. In a broader DeFi context, an earlier story on generating passive income with decentralized finance highlighted stablecoins as the core funding leg for lending, liquidity provision and structured products, underscoring why a16z now treats them as the core “OS” for a new financial stack rather than a sidecar to speculative crypto markets.

Anthropic is in talks to raise up to $50bn at a pre-money valuation of $900bn, which would surpass OpenAI’s March valuation of $852bn.

The round could close within two months, with Dragoneer, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed among interested investors and a board decision expected in May.
Anthropic’s annualized revenue is on track to exceed $45bn, up from $9bn at the end of 2025, driven largely by Claude Code and enterprise adoption.

Anthropic raise talks are targeting a $900bn valuation and up to $50bn in fresh capital, sources told the Financial Times. The proposed round, first reported by Bloomberg on April 29, would push the Claude developer past OpenAI as the most valuable private AI company in the world. OpenAI was valued at $852bn post-money in March after closing a $122bn funding round.

The round has not been finalized and Anthropic has declined to comment. TechCrunch’s sources describe the raise as possibly the company’s final private funding event before a public listing, with Bloomberg reporting a potential IPO as early as October 2026.

A board decision on whether to proceed is expected this month. One investor in the company told the Financial Times: “People are ready to throw any dollar amount at Anthropic.”

Why the numbers are moving so fast
Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate has surpassed $45bn, up from $9bn at the end of 2025, according to sources cited by the Financial Times, a fivefold increase in roughly five months.
As crypto.news reported, the company’s revenue milestone of $30bn was driven largely by Claude Code and its Cowork platform, with over 1,000 enterprise customers each spending more than $1 million annually. Amazon separately confirmed a $5bn additional investment in Anthropic in April, bringing its total potential commitment to $25bn.
Dragoneer, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed Venture Partners are among the investors in active discussions. CFO Krishna Rao has already met with prospective backers, and some existing shareholders have requested new allocations even though a formal process has not yet launched, according to TechCrunch.

What a $900bn raise means for crypto markets
As crypto.news tracked, Anthropic’s tokenized pre-IPO shares on Jupiter’s Prestocks venue already imply a $1.2 trillion valuation, above OpenAI’s secondary market mark of roughly $880bn.

That spread between private round pricing and on-chain secondary pricing signals aggressive front-running by crypto-native investors ahead of any public listing.
As crypto.news noted, Anthropic is also finalizing a $1.5bn joint venture with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, and Hellman and Friedman targeting private equity portfolio companies, adding a separate commercial revenue channel that makes the valuation case harder to dismiss as purely speculative. If the round closes at $900bn, Anthropic would sit at roughly 20 times its February valuation of $380bn reached just three months ago.

BNY Mellon has increased its holdings in Strategy (MSTR) to 1 million shares worth about $187.2 million, deepening its use of the Bitcoin treasury company as a proxy for BTC exposure without holding coins directly.

The Bank of New York Mellon has disclosed that it increased its holdings in Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) by 101,810 shares, according to a filing highlighted by BitcoinTreasuries on X. At a reference price of about $183.50 per share, the incremental buy is worth approximately $18.7 million and lifts BNY Mellon’s total position to 1 million shares, valued near $187.2 million.

A recent Form 13F summary shows BNY Mellon reporting 33,189 equity positions with an aggregate value of roughly $567.7 billion, underscoring that the $187.2 million Strategy stake remains a small but non‑trivial slice of its broader portfolio. For context, BNY manages about $2.1 trillion in assets under management and another $45 trillion in assets under custody and administration, making it one of the world’s largest custodians.

Strategy—formerly known as MicroStrategy—has effectively turned itself into the largest listed Bitcoin treasury vehicle. Data from BitcoinTreasuries indicate the company now holds around 818,334 BTC, worth about $66.6 billion as of May 7, 2026, giving it more Bitcoin than any other public company and more than many nation‑states. That balance‑sheet exposure means each share of MSTR functions as a leveraged claim on BTC price moves, a structure that has attracted hedge funds, trading firms, and now a widening roster of banks and asset managers.

BNY Mellon’s move follows similar positioning from other Wall Street names. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs disclosed it had boosted its Strategy stake by 237,874 shares to 2.33 million shares in total, while quantitative powerhouse Jane Street ramped its own position by 473% in Q4 2025 to roughly 951,000 shares, according to filings compiled by BitcoinTreasuries.

Those flows are part of a broader pattern crypto.news has been tracking in recent coverage: large institutions using both spot Bitcoin ETFs and BTC‑heavy equities like Strategy to express macro views on digital assets without holding coins directly. A separate crypto.news analysis dug into why MSTR often trades at a premium to its net Bitcoin per share, arguing that institutional appetite, tax considerations, and embedded call‑option value on future BTC purchases all play a role. Another crypto.news feature noted that as Strategy sells more stock to buy Bitcoin, it is effectively inviting investors like BNY Mellon to co‑fund its long‑term BTC accumulation—an offer that, as this latest 101,810‑share add shows, some of the world’s biggest financial institutions are still taking.

Morgan Stanley has rolled out a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, charging lower basic retail fees than some of the largest US crypto and brokerage platforms.

The Wall Street bank is charging clients 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab on standard retail pricing, according to a Tuesday Bloomberg report.

The offering is currently in pilot mode, with E*Trade’s 8.6 million clients expected to gain access later this year, Bloomberg reported.

The pilot illustrates how major Wall Street firms are moving further into crypto trading as they compete with exchanges and fintech platforms for retail trading revenue. Still, Kraken Pro, Binance US and some Coinbase Advanced tiers offer lower fees for crypto traders.

A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley confirmed to Cointelegraph that the details and fee structure described in the Bloomberg report were accurate.

The latest crypto push by the bank comes about a month after Morgan Stanley launched a spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) that recorded $30.6 million in inflows on its first day of NYSE Arca trading.

Related: Crypto VC funding plunges to $659M in April, hits near two-year low

Wall Street giants venture into crypto trading

Morgan Stanley is not the only major financial institution expanding its crypto products for retail or institutional clients.

Charles Schwab, one of the largest US brokerage firms, announced the launch of spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for retail clients less than a month ago, Cointelegraph reported on April 16. The offering launched with a 75 basis points per transaction fee.

Goldman Sachs also filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in April to launch the Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a proposed fund that would generate income by selling call options on Bitcoin exchange-traded products rather than investing directly in Bitcoin.

Earlier Wall Street crypto infrastructure efforts include BNY Mellon’s digital asset custody platform, which went live in the United States in October 2022 and allowed select clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin and Ether.

A number of major US companies have announced job cuts in favor of AI investment. But in Japan, big corporations are on the hunt for skilled workers to accelerate AI adoption.

In a recent survey of roughly 250 publicly listed Japanese companies, Azusa Audit Corporation found that 28% were expanding their AI-literate workforce to support automation.

Despite its global reputation as a high tech powerhouse, AI adoption across the economy remains low.

Japan is still laying the groundwork for a competitive AI ecosystem. It’s a phase where AI is seen as ‘labor complementary’ and designed to maintain operational efficiency amid a chronic labor shortage.

The OECD reports that AI adoption in Japan in 2025 sits at 26.5% in finance and 14.5% in manufacturing. It’s drastically lower from the OECD’s seven-country average of 60.4% and 44.1%, respectively.

Why is Japan hiring AI workers instead of cutting jobs?

AI is behind the layoffs at Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle. In the first quarter of 2026, 92,000 tech workers around the world lost their jobs, according to Layoffs.fyi.

However, Japanese companies are largely resisting full AI-led restructuring.

At the Japanese government’s AI Forum in April, Director of the AI Safety Institute, Akiko Murakami, pushed back against blind enthusiasm and blanket adoption.

“It would be ideal if humans could review all payment related decisions,” she said. “The key is to streamline simpler operations as much as possible and prioritize human resources on more complex ones.”

A lack of top-down direction

Murakami argued that corporate strategy should drive AI adoption, rather than allowing the technology to dictate decisions. She warned that automated decision making in sectors like insurance could lead to potentially catastrophic financial losses.

“If you’re going to use AI, it comes down to having a clear intent. Without a defined intent for how the company wants to operate the AI, if you just adopt technology for its own sake, it can lead to major failure.”

Miku Hirano, CEO of AI consulting firm, Cinnamon AI, shared a similar view. She said the biggest obstacle among Japanese corporations is the absence of an AI strategy.

Speaking at Sushi Tech 2026 in Tokyo, Hirano said AI adoption does not necessarily equate to automatic success.

“Japanese businesses come to us thinking if we adopt AI, everything is going to be OK. But actually if you really want to make it a success, it’s not about the technology. You need to reorganize your entire operation, workflow and KPI.”

Shortage of AI skilled workers

Corporate spending on generative AI is set to surge. Japan’s AI market is slated to explode in market value from a current $20 billion to $538 billion by 2035, according to Japanese market research company, Report Ocean.

As companies navigate AI workflows, there’s growing demand for AI consultants, data managers and governance specialists.

In a January 2026 survey, Deloitte Tohmatsu Group found that roughly 50% of 1,000 Japanese executives asked candidates in job interviews about their hands-on AI experience.

Japan’s AI drive is a labor intensive operation. Miku Hirano, CEO and Founder of AI consulting firm, Cinnamon AI, said AI applications are evolving at an unprecedented speed which requires constant updates to corporate strategy.

“Previously, we updated our corporate AI strategy and plan every year, but now we review it every quarter.”

While organizations can tailor AI systems to their own needs, the software and AI applications require ongoing maintenance, almost on a weekly basis.

As a result, the Japanese government projects an estimated 3.4 million shortage of AI and robot-specializing workers by 2040.

Does survival in the AI era depend on trust?

In the era of automation, executives will be responsible for setting a company’s tolerance for AI risk and the speed and scale of AI adoption.

As AI moves from experimental use to core business infrastructure, companies will need strong governance to be able to evaluate and verify AI decision making processes.

Western Union has launched USDPT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital on the Solana blockchain, marking the legacy payments giant's first direct move into regulated digital currency infrastructure.

The company announced the launch on May 4, 2026, positioning USDPT as a federally regulated stablecoin designed for global payments. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital asset bank, serves as the token's issuer.

The partnership pairs Western Union's global remittance network with Anchorage's regulated custody and issuance infrastructure. USDPT is built on Solana, a blockchain known for high throughput and low transaction costs.

Why Anchorage and Solana matter to this launch

Anchorage Digital holds a federal bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, making it one of the few crypto-native firms operating under a national banking framework. That regulatory status is central to how Western Union is framing USDPT: as a federally regulated stablecoin rather than a privately issued token.

The distinction between Western Union and Anchorage's roles is worth noting. Western Union is the launcher and brand behind the initiative, while Anchorage handles issuance and custody. This separation mirrors how traditional finance structures payment products, with a front-end distributor and a back-end regulated entity.

Solana's selection as the underlying blockchain reflects a practical infrastructure choice. The network's low fees and fast finality make it suited for high-volume, small-value transfers, exactly the kind of transactions that dominate Western Union's core remittance business.

What USDPT signals for cross-border payments

Western Union processes money transfers across more than 200 countries. A dollar-pegged stablecoin on a public blockchain could serve as a settlement layer for those transfers, potentially reducing costs and clearing times compared to traditional correspondent banking rails.

The launch does not yet confirm whether USDPT will be directly available to retail customers or initially limited to institutional settlement. Western Union's announcement focused on "regulated digital infrastructure for global payments," suggesting the initial application targets back-end payment processing rather than consumer wallets.

For context on how traditional payment firms are approaching blockchain rails, recent exchange listings of payment-related tokens reflect growing market interest in the intersection of payments and digital assets.

How this fits the broader stablecoin trend

Western Union's entry adds another major financial brand to the stablecoin space. The move comes as regulatory scrutiny of digital asset products intensifies across the United States, making Anchorage's federal charter a strategic asset for any institution seeking compliant stablecoin infrastructure.

The choice to launch on Solana rather than Ethereum places USDPT in a growing ecosystem of institutional stablecoin activity on that chain. Several payment-focused projects have selected Solana for its speed and cost profile over the past year.

USDPT enters a market currently dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. Western Union's brand recognition in global remittances could give USDPT a distribution advantage in corridors where those existing stablecoins have limited penetration, particularly in regions where Western Union already operates physical agent networks.

The Ethereum Foundation has sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies, netting around $22.9 million at an average price of $2,292 per ETH. As one of the largest organizations managing decentralized development and community investments behind Ethereum, the Foundation stated that the funds would be used to support core operations, protocol research and development, ecosystem investments, and community grant programs.

Details of the sale series

This latest transaction closely followed a similar sale the previous week, in which the Foundation sold another 10,000 ETH to BitMine at an average price of $2,387 per coin, amounting to approximately $23.87 million in total. Earlier in March, the Foundation had sold 5,000 ETH to BitMine at a $2,043 average price. With these recent deals, BitMine has added roughly $47 million worth of ETH to its portfolio over the last seven days alone.

Recent wallet movements by the Ethereum Foundation also attracted attention after it withdrew 17,035 ETH from staking last week, equivalent to about $40 million at current market prices. This move suggests the Foundation has shelved its previous target of maintaining 70,000 ETH in staking, at least for now.

Community reactions and criticism

The back-to-back sales have sparked debate within the crypto community. Some members have questioned why the Foundation required $46 million in such a short time, and why developers are not being compensated directly in ETH. Overall, these reactions highlight calls for increased transparency regarding the Foundation’s financial decisions.

One community member summarized the sentiment by asking, “Why do you need $46 million in two weeks? How much are you spending, and what exactly is it for? Isn’t anyone getting paid directly in ETH?” reflecting the demand for greater clarity.

Last year, the Ethereum Foundation faced similar criticism over sell-offs and temporarily pledged to limit such activities. To offset community concerns, it subsequently allocated a portion of its assets to staking, aiming to reduce pressure from further sales.

BitMine’s ETH reserves surge

BitMine Immersion Technologies has been rapidly growing its Ethereum holdings. The company now possesses the largest institutional Ethereum reserve globally, totaling nearly 5 million ETH. This milestone was reached after BitMine recorded its largest weekly purchase of the year, adding 101,901 ETH to its assets. The board is chaired by Tom Lee, who is well known in the crypto sector for his views on investment trends and risk management.

Currently, around 83% of BitMine’s ETH holdings, or about 4.19 million ETH, are actively staked on the network. This portion has increased from approximately 70% last week, reflecting a notable short-term boost and reinforcing BitMine’s contribution to Ethereum network security.

ETH is currently trading at around $2,303, with little price movement in the past 24 hours. However, Ethereum’s value has declined more than 53% from its all-time high of $4,953, recorded last August. According to CryptoAppsy data, ETH maintains this price level.

The Ethereum Foundation’s latest sales and staking strategy continue to be scrutinized by the community as the organization manages its substantial resources. Market watchers are paying close attention to whether further portfolio adjustments are forthcoming in the weeks ahead.

At the same time, BitMine’s pace of accumulation could lead to longer-term impacts on both its own operations and the broader ETH market, raising questions about future staking rates and liquidity.

As both organizations adapt their strategies, industry analysts suggest these moves may hint at evolving priorities for resource management within the Ethereum ecosystem.

The industry awaits further updates on how these major players deploy their ETH reserves, with particular focus on transparency, sustainability, and the ongoing development of Ethereum’s infrastructure.