PayPal Winds Down Its Venture Capital Arm

PayPal is winding down PayPal Ventures, its 10-year-old corporate VC arm, as the fintech restructures under new leadership. PayPal has hired Jefferies to explore selling positions on the secondary market.

The unit backed 80+ companies across $850M in funds, including Plaid and crypto custodian Anchorage, but its team has shrunk from 10+ to just two.

It is part of a broader shakeup after previous CEO stepped down, with PayPal refocusing on AI and its core business.

👉 fortune.com/2026/06/16/paypal-ventures-wind-down-corporate-restructuring-enrique-lores

OpenAI has launched LifeSciBench for Science AI

OpenAI has introduced LifeSciBench, an expert-written, expert-reviewed benchmark that tests whether AI can support real life-science research — not just answer biology questions.

Built with 173 scientists, it spans 750 expert-authored tasks across seven biological research workflows, each grounded in Ph.D.-level judgment.

It is a push to measure AI's usefulness in scientific work, where being right matters more than sounding right.

👉 openai.com/index/introducing-life-sci-bench

Moody's Brings Its Credit Ratings Onchain to Solana

Moody's Ratings has expanded its Token Integration Engine with Alphaledger, putting its credit ratings onchain on Solana.

It is the first time Moody's ratings are integrated and machine-readable on a major public, permissionless blockchain. Alphaledger handles the onchain integration, letting protocols consume Moody's credit directly.

👉 moodys.com/web/en/us/media-relations/press-releases/moodys-ratings-expands-token-integration-engine.html

XION Becomes Verona, an Intelligence Layer for AI

XION has rebranded to Verona, shifting from web3 infrastructure to a verification and intelligence layer for AI agents — giving them portable, private, cryptographically verified real-world data.

Verona already powers 69M+ verified interactions across 3M+ users and 115+ brands, including Uber, Amazon, Nike and BMW.

The rebrand lands with the launch of ero, its consumer app, and an $18.5M raise for flagship EarnOS, plus $30M in brand spend.

👉 x.com/verona_dev/status/2067254700232343753

​Alchemy Launches Visa-Powered Payment Cards for AI Agents

Alchemy has introduced AgentCard, a Visa-powered virtual payment card designed to help AI agents operate autonomously in the real world.

The solution combines a Visa payment token, crypto wallet, email address, and phone number through a single API, enabling AI agents to make payments and interact with merchants independently.

AgentCard supports tokenized card payments, crypto transactions, and emerging AI-native payment protocols, including Coinbase’s x402 and Stripe’s Machine Payments Protocol (MPP). The platform also includes built-in spending controls such as transaction limits, merchant restrictions, and budget management.

The launch follows a growing trend of AI-focused payment infrastructure, with Mastercard unveiling Agent Pay for Machines and MetaMask introducing Agent Wallet earlier this month.

👉 theblock.co/post/405224/alchemy-unveils-visa-powered-virtual-payment-card-for-ai-agents

​Avalanche Expands Ecosystem With Payments Collective Launch

Avalanche has launched the Avalanche Payments Collective, bringing together major players across stablecoins, settlement, custody, FX, card issuance, treasury infrastructure, and global payouts.

Founding participants include Franklin Templeton, VanEck, Anchorage Digital, Paxos, Agora, Ethena, Rain, Axiym, Tassat, and others.

The collective reflects a broader shift in payments, where moving money globally requires more than fast transactions. It also needs liquidity, compliance, treasury tools, custody, foreign exchange, and local payment rails working together.

According to Avalanche, the initial participants support payment flows across 150+ countries, 96 currencies, and around 22 billion payout endpoints. The ecosystem already includes use cases in settlement, stablecoin issuance, cross-border payments, business payments, and payroll.

👉 avax.network/about/blog/avalanche-payments-collective

​Kraken Expands Into Onchain Solana Trading as IPO Momentum Builds

Kraken is launching onchain DEX trading directly inside its main mobile app, giving users access to thousands of Solana-based tokens. The exchange plans to extend support to additional networks over time.

The feature is powered by Privy wallet infrastructure and leading Solana DEX protocols. DEX assets will appear alongside existing holdings and can be traded using Kraken’s standard buy and sell interface with USD or USDC.

The move reflects Kraken’s strategy, keeping a simple centralized interface while leveraging decentralized infrastructure behind the scenes. It also fits a broader industry trend, as exchanges like OKX, Bybit, Binance, and Coinbase have already introduced similar DEX access through wallets or in-app integrations.

Moreover, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company is “about 80% ready” to go public, though timing will depend on market conditions. After delaying earlier plans, Kraken is waiting for improved sentiment and stronger trading activity before moving ahead with its IPO.

👉 blog.kraken.com/product/onchain-trading/now-built-into-the-kraken-app

​Suspected a16z Wallets Accumulate 4.03M HYPE Flow Into Hyperliquid

According to EmberCN, 12 wallets suspected to be linked to a16z transferred $24M USDC to Hyperliquid in the past 20 hours and are actively accumulating HYPE via TWAP orders.

Since March, the group has reportedly moved over $259M USDC into Hyperliquid through 100+ wallets to buy and stake around 4.035M HYPE at an average cost near $64 per token.

The position is currently showing an estimated $29M unrealized profit, with the wallets now considered one of the largest HYPE holders and a key driver of recent price momentum.

The latest inflows suggest continued accumulation despite HYPE trading near recent highs.

👉 x.com/EmberCN/status/2067551324263342471?s=20

​​Early Access Radar: 15 Waitlists to Join Now

No matter what the market's doing — green, red, sideways — new projects keep launching every week. And the best window to get involved is the earliest one: before the token, before the crowd, while the door's still open.

So we rounded up 15 fresh projects with open waitlists into one Early Access Radar — AI trading, perp DEXs, prediction markets, crypto cards. A few minutes each, all in one place, so you don't have to go hunting.

Full details 👉 cryptodiffer.com/feed/other/early-access-radar-15-waitlists-to-join-now

​​Cryptomarket Check-In. Major Events & Headlines

Institutional conviction showed up in multiple forms this week, from a $60B tech M&A and a $7.4B AI funding round to traditional finance moving its core infrastructure directly onchain across credit ratings, settlement, and RWA distribution.

🔎 Recent Updates & Developments

– SpaceX acquired Cursor’s maker Anysphere in a $60B merger for AI infrastructure
– DeepSeek closed a $7.4B round at $50B valuation, backed by Tencent and JD
– Ethereum’s Glamsterdam entered final testing with 60M→200M gas limit and 78% fee reduction
– Trace Finance raised $32M Series A led by CoinFund, with Coinbase Ventures and Paxos
– Moody’s brought its credit ratings onchain to Solana, a first for a major permissionless blockchain
– Re secured a strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures, having written $500M in reinsurance premiums
– Plume brought PIMCO-backed fixed-income vaults to Bybit users onchain

APEC Raises $30M to Launch U.S. Regulated Equity Perps

APEC — a CFTC-regulated exchange for perpetual futures on equities and stock indices — has raised $30M at a $300M valuation. It was founded by Theodore Gillibrand, 22, son of pro-crypto Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

The round was led by Lux Capital, putting a politically charged twist on the race to bring regulated perps to US markets.

It rides the post-CFTC-approval wave of perp launches — even as the regulator faces a CME lawsuit over those very products.

👉 fortune.com/2026/06/18/theodore-gillibrand-senator-kirstin-gillibrand-apec-american-perpetuals-exchange-corporation-lux-capital

Fidelity launches GENIUS-aligned money market fund

Fidelity has launched the Reserves Digital Fund, a money market fund built for stablecoin issuers to park their reserves — designed to meet the GENIUS Act's high-quality-liquid-asset rules.

It holds short-term US Treasuries, repos and cash, targets a $1.00 NAV at a 0.18% fee.

Fidelity joins BlackRock, State Street, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in Wall Street's race to manage stablecoin reserves — TradFi capturing the backing layer.

👉 theblock.co/post/405357

Kalshi Tops $2B Annualized Revenue and Eyes an IPO

Prediction-market platform Kalshi has crossed $2B in annualized revenue, roughly 3x since November, and has opened early, informal IPO talks with investment banks.

The surge was driven by traders betting on the World Cup, fresh off a $1B Series F that valued Kalshi at $22B.

It comes fresh off a $1 billion Series F that valued Kalshi at $22 billion, backed by Coatue, Sequoia, a16z and ARK — with any IPO still likely a year or more away amid state-level legal fights.

👉 theblock.co/post/405369

Karta Raises $15M to Take U.S. Credit Cards Global

Karta, a Miami fintech issuing US Visa credit cards to people without a US credit history, raised a $15M Series A co-led by Galaxy Ventures — part of a $140M round that includes a $125M credit facility.

Its cards offer credit lines up to $200K, zero FX fees and a 24/7 AI concierge run through WhatsApp.

👉 fortune.com/2026/06/17/karta-15-million-whatsapp-run-us-credit-cards-global-travelers

Base Targets June 25 for Beryl and B20 Tokens

Coinbase's L2 Base is targeting a June 25 mainnet activation of Beryl, a hard fork that introduces B20 — a new native standard for permissioned tokens.

B20 lets transfers enforce on-chain allowlists and blocklists, making it suited for stablecoins, security tokens and other RWA.

Beryl deploys new precompiles — B20Factory, PolicyRegistry and ActivationRegistry — and has already landed on Base's Sepolia testnet ahead of mainnet.

👉 x.com/buildonbase/status/2067694369898176861

​Microsoft Uncovers USB-Spreading Malware Targeting Crypto Wallets

Microsoft said a new malware strain has been spreading through infected USB sticks since February, targeting Windows PCs and crypto wallets. The company identifies it as Trojan:Win32/CryptoBandits and describes it as a crypto clipper with worm-like behavior.

The attack reportedly starts with a malicious .lnk shortcut on a USB drive. Once a user opens it, the malware installs itself, then keeps running in the background while waiting for another clean USB device to be connected.

It monitors the clipboard for wallet seed phrases and private keys, then sends the stolen data to the attacker over Tor. It can also take screenshots and silently swap copied wallet addresses with attacker-controlled ones before a transaction is pasted.

Microsoft recommends disabling AutoRun, blocking .lnk execution on removable drives, and restricting script hosts like wscript.exe and cscript.exe. The company also published indicators of compromise for security teams to check for related activity.

👉 coindesk.com/tech/2026/06/19/microsoft-found-malware-that-hijacks-crypto-wallets-and-spreads-through-usb-sticks

​Axelar Suffers $4.67M Exploit via Secret Network IBC Bridge

Axelar confirmed an exploit impacting assets bridged to Secret Network via the IBC connection, resulting in approximately $4.67M in losses.

The issue is isolated to the Secret-side ICS-20 smart contract within the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) framework, specifically affecting assets bridged from Axelar to Secret. No other IBC routes, Secret native assets, or Axelar integrations appear impacted.

In response, the Axelar emergency committee has disabled Secret and Secret-SNIP connections to contain the exploit. Teams are now coordinating with exchanges and law enforcement while investigations continue.

Axelar emphasized that its core protocol remains unaffected and that a detailed post-mortem will be released once the investigation is complete.

👉 x.com/axelar/status/2067965810174214451?s=20

​Perplexity Introduces Brain. A Self-Improving Memory for AI Agents

Perplexity AI has unveiled Brain, a new self-improving memory system for its Computer agent. Instead of only storing user preferences, Brain focuses on learning how tasks are executed, tracking what works, what fails, and how to improve outputs over time.

Brain builds a context graph of all agent activity and continuously refines it. At intervals (often overnight), it reviews past sessions and updates its internal understanding, effectively turning usage into training data for better future performance.

The system introduces a shift from “user memory” to work memory, meaning the agent optimizes itself based on execution patterns rather than personalization alone. This allows Computer to reduce repeated mistakes, shorten workflows, and improve accuracy on tasks it has seen before.

According to early results, Brain improves task correctness by up to 25%, boosts recall by 16%, and reduces cost for context-heavy tasks by around 13%. The feature is currently rolling out in research preview for Max and Enterprise users, with more capabilities expected soon.

👉 perplexity.ai/hub/blog/self-improving-memory-for-agents

​​Ethereum Foundation: The 2026 Brain Drain

Ethereum's core-dev funding could run dry in 9 months — warns Trent Van Epps. He'd know: he's one of 8 senior figures who left the Ethereum Foundation in 2026. Two co-EDs, its top protocol coordinators, key researchers — gone. The faces of the exodus.

​​MAJOR UPCOMING EVENTS IN JUNE!

A full list of Major Upcoming Events, to be updated
👉 https://cryptodiffer.com/events

Taiko Halts Block Production After $1.7M Bridge Exploit

Ethereum Layer-2 Taiko stopped all block production after attackers exploited a flaw in its bridge's proof verification — forging proofs to bypass checks and drain funds.

Taiko is urging users to withdraw funds from every bridge on the network immediately, and has asked exchanges to suspend TAIKO deposits.

Security firm PeckShield estimates losses near $1.7M. Proposers stay paused while the team investigates — the latest hit in a brutal month for cross-chain bridges.

👉 theblock.co/post/405486