Perplexity AI is in talks to raise new funds at a valuation exceeding its previous $520 million, drawing investors' interest due to its growth in the AI sector and its competition with major firms like OpenAI and Google.

Cetera Financial Group will now let its advisors include four bitcoin ETFs into client portfolios. The approval of these ETFs, offered by BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and Franklin Templeton, for client portfolios marks another important step in adoption with established wealth managers’ support. Cetera will provide educational training for its financial professionals on the Bitcoin ETFs. As of now, the firm manages $190 billion in assets, and it plans to continually assess the implications of bitcoin ETFs for its clients.

JPMorgan estimates that the chances of spot ether ETF approval in May are no more than 50%. The company suggests that, based on recent litigation outcomes and decreasing concentration in Ethereum staking, the SEC will eventually have to approve spot ether ETFs.

The Jensen special grant will vest over four years, with the first portion coming in September.

Italian bank Sella has been offline for days after a weekend system update caused a database problem. It is working with Oracle to resolve the unexpected issue. The extended downtime shows the importance of having a good backup strategy. While "blackout" windows for maintenance are common in banking, they might inadvertently lead to weaker engineering practices compared to industries that require zero-downtime migrations.

Franklin Templeton has listed its Ether ETF on the DTCC, signaling its readiness for trading. However, this does not mean the SEC has approved it, given the official decision has been delayed until June 11.

Millennials and Gen Z prefer seeking financial advice online over financial professionals. They're twice as likely to try popular “financial hack” trends from social media. 62% of millennials and Gen Z have tried at least one of the following trends: the “no-spend” challenge, extreme couponing, cash stuffing, and maximizing credit card rewards. Gen Z are also more willing to invest in cryptocurrency or NFTs than stocks. These financial behaviors emphasize the need for brands to engage with younger demographics where they're most active and receptive.

The Morpho Association has deployed Morpho Blue, a DeFi lending protocol, and its periphery contracts on Base and is proposing to transfer ownership to the Morpho DAO for the official launch.

This page contains a list of terms and core concepts for developers in the payments team of an online business or payments service provider. It can be frustrating to work in an environment without understanding the terminologies used in every conversation. The page attempts to simplify the concepts to bring developers up to speed with payments.

Wells Fargo launched a credit card with Bilt Technologies in 2022. The card allows users to pay for rent without incurring fees from their landlords while also earning rewards points. Wells is reportedly losing as much as $10 million every month on the program. The bank has told Bilt that it doesn't intend to renew the contract, which is scheduled to end in 2029.

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, predicts Ethereum ETFs will see $15 billion in net inflows in their first 18 months of trading. In a note sent to clients, he cited ETH/BTC market cap comparisons, international ETF data, and spot/futures arbitrage trading. He believes the lack of staking rewards is a “rounding error” that will not impact demand.

SpaceX will sell insider shares at $112 each in a tender offer that values the company at close to $210 billion. The company was valued at $180 billion in December. The new valuation is a record for an American private company. It puts SpaceX on par with some of the world's largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization. Terms on the tender offer haven't been finalized - the size of the offer could change depending on interest from both insider sellers and buyers.

Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a total net inflow of ~$129M on July 1, marking five consecutive days of net inflows. Fidelity's FBTC and Bitwise's BITB ETFs achieved ~$65M and $41M in single-day inflows.

Robinhood Crypto has expanded its availability to all U.S. states, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, giving users across all territories the ability to trade 15 different crypto assets (e.g., BTC, ETH, etc.). This expansion was facilitated by regulatory adaptations (e.g., the Hawai'i-specific MTL license is no longer required) and additional licensing. Robinhood is now well positioned to be ahead or already ahead of U.S.-based competitors like Coinbase and Kraken in terms of geographical availability.

OpenAI's revenue is estimated to be $3.4B, much of that coming from its ChatGPT services.

Ethereum ETFs now boast $10.2 billion in assets across 9 ETFs, with over $1 billion in volumes on the first trading day and over $500 million on day two. Total net flows were $107 million, even after nearly $500 million left Grayscale's Ethereum Trust.

Coinbase is planning a tokenized money-market fund in a push towards the real-world asset sector.

Johnny Ng, a legislative council member in Hong Kong, suggests that Hong Kong should explore including Bitcoin in its strategic financial reserves because of its growing acceptance and status as "digital gold."

Successful prediction markets rely heavily on regularity. Both DraftKings and FanDuel have high customer acquisition costs and need to retain users who will consistently bet large amounts over time. Regular, recurring markets like sports events or economic indicators are most effective here, whereas less frequent events like elections, which don't encourage repetitive betting, will have lower long-term value.

Chime's recent brand refresh for its mobile banking service presents a visually engaging and playful identity that disrupts typical corporate finance trends. It struck a balance by refining its existing brand features while ensuring its essence of empowerment remained intact. The transformation resulted in a comforting and accessible rebrand, showcasing a significant evolution without losing its core values.

Bloomberg's ‘Odd Lots' podcast this week covered stablecoins and their legitimate use globally as a payment and settlement platform. Stablecoins significantly improve legacy payment systems by offering cheap, near-instant, and light-regulation options for citizens of any country to send US dollar-backed digital assets. This marks one of the leading legitimate use cases of the highly speculative crypto industry.

MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho, the megabanks of Japan, are piloting a cross-border stablecoin transfer platform. The initiative, “Project Pax,” will use stablecoins issued by bank-backed Progmat and run by Datachain and TOKI. It will use SWIFT's existing APIs to settle on blockchain networks and be commercialized by 2025.

DBS Bank has launched crypto-structured products, including structured notes and options with underlying Bitcoin and Ethereum reserves, after an initial announcement on September 17. They started trading yesterday.