Microsoft announced a $10 billion investment to build AI infrastructure in Japan and named SoftBank and Sakura Internet as key partners; Sakura shares jumped 20.27% on Friday. The initiative is billed as a major expansion of local cloud capacity to support AI adoption across Japanese industry.
Korea Investment & Securities has entered preliminary talks to buy an equity stake in Coinone, South Korea’s third-largest crypto exchange, the Herald Economy reports. The potential tie-up highlights rising institutional interest from traditional brokers in the local crypto industry.
Arkham data shows Fidelity Investments accumulated more than $140 million worth of ETH last week, a sign of renewed institutional interest amid otherwise soft market conditions.
Morgan Stanley set the fee on its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF at 14 basis points (0.14%), which would make it the cheapest Bitcoin fund on the market if approved. The move intensifies fee competition and could shift investor flows toward lower-cost ETF options.
Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has added $600 million to Polymarket, bringing its total investment to nearly $2 billion. The injection is a major institutional vote of confidence for prediction markets and could accelerate product growth and liquidity.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies purchased 60,999 ETH last week, bringing its holdings to about 4.6 million ETH — roughly 3.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. The firm now manages an $11.5 billion portfolio across crypto assets, cash reserves, and strategic investments.
Tether has joined a $5.2 million funding round for Ark Labs to accelerate programmable stablecoin technology on the Bitcoin network, boosting the startup’s development resources. The move signals growing interest in bringing USDT-style utility and programmability to Bitcoin.
Tokyo-listed Metaplanet will fund, incubate and award grants to startups building Bitcoin financial infrastructure, moving beyond simply holding BTC. The initiative aims to accelerate custody, on‑ramps and payments services across Asia.
Kazakhstan’s central bank said it will allocate up to $350 million from its gold and foreign currency reserves to invest in cryptocurrency assets, Governor Timur Suleimanov said on Friday. The move signals a notable shift in reserve management though officials have not specified which tokens or instruments will be targeted.
Hash Global has received a $100 million strategic commitment from YZi Labs for its institutional BNB Holdings Fund, signaling rising institutional confidence in the BNB ecosystem.