Canadian Bitcoin miner HIVE Digital Technologies’ Bitcoin holdings fell by 331 BTC in the latest quarter, even as the miner reported a sharp rise in annual revenue from Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing (HPC).

The company reported holdings of 150 Bitcoin (BTC) in its fiscal year update on Monday, down from 481 BTC at the end of Q4 2025, according to company figures and CoinGecko data. The 331 BTC reduction represents about $23 million in value at current prices, with Bitcoin trading roughly 21% lower year-to-date.

HIVE did not explicitly say it sold Bitcoin. The company mined 2,885 BTC during fiscal 2026 and generated $297.8 million in revenue, up 158% from a year earlier, driven largely by expanded Bitcoin mining capacity and HPC revenue.

Source: Bitcoin Treasuries

The shrinking Bitcoin treasury highlights how public miners are balancing accumulation against expansion costs as they invest in energy-heavy mining sites and diversify into AI computing infrastructure.

Revenue jumps to $297.8 million as mining drives growth, costs rise

HIVE’s total revenue rose to $297.8 million from $115.3 million a year earlier, with digital currency mining revenue rising to $278.3 million, while HPC contributed $19.5 million, almost doubling year-over-year.

Source: HIVE Digital Technologies

Despite the sharp increase in revenue, rising costs continued to pressure results. Operating and maintenance expenses climbed as HIVE expanded its mining and data center footprint, while depreciation rose to $170.4 million, nearly triple the prior year and one of the largest expenses on the income statement.

Related: TeraWulf acquires Kentucky AI data center site with planned 1 GW capacity

Miner bets on AI alongside Bitcoin

HIVE said its HPC business revenue is up from $10 million a year earlier, as demand for AI computing services increased.

The company said contracted annual recurring revenue from its HPC division reached $35 million by year-end, supported by deployments of Nvidia-powered GPU clusters and new enterprise contracts.

It also highlighted plans for a 320-megawatt AI data center project in the Greater Toronto Area, which it said could eventually host more than 100,000 GPUs.

The expansion underscores a broader trend among public Bitcoin miners, many of whom are seeking new revenue streams from AI and cloud computing as mining economics become more competitive and capital-intensive.

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Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card will acquire a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, in a deal that expands Samsung affiliates’ exposure to the country’s digital asset market, local media reported.

The three Samsung affiliates held board meetings on Thursday and approved the purchase of 1.39 million Dunamu shares held by Kakao affiliates for 612.8 billion won ($408 million), according to local reports from Yonhap News Agency and ZDNet Korea. Samsung Securities will acquire a 2% stake, while Samsung SDS and Samsung Card will each acquire 1%. 

The investment extends Samsung’s digital asset push weeks after Samsung SDS reportedly won a contract to build South Korea’s blockchain-based securities platform, placing Samsung affiliates across both regulated tokenized securities infrastructure and private-sector crypto exchange and payment rails. 

The deal also follows another major Dunamu investment by a South Korean financial group. On May 15, Hana Financial Group said that it would acquire a 6.55% stake in Dunamu from Kakao Investment for more than $668 million, making it the Upbit operator’s fourth-largest shareholder.

Samsung Securities plans to cooperate with Dunamu on tokenized securities issuance and distribution, as well as digital asset services, while Samsung SDS plans to combine its IT, artificial intelligence, cloud, security and data capabilities with Dunamu’s blockchain operations experience, according to the reports. 

Samsung Card is expected to explore digital asset payment use cases with Dunamu, including through Samsung Financial Networks’ integrated app Monimo, as South Korea prepares rules for won-denominated stablecoins and tokenized securities. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Samsung and Dunamu for more information, but did not receive a response before publication. 

Samsung builds digital asset ties ahead of regulatory frameworks 

Samsung’s Dunamu investment follows another recent blockchain infrastructure move by the group. Earlier in May, Samsung SDS reportedly won a contract to build and operate the Korea Securities Depository’s blockchain-based securities platform, which is expected to support South Korea’s incoming framework for tokenized securities. 

South Korea is preparing to formalize its tokenized securities framework after lawmakers passed amendments to the Electronic Registration Act and the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act in January. The FSC said the changes legally recognize blockchain-based distributed ledgers as securities registries, placing KSD at the center of the market’s infrastructure. 

The framework is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4, 2027, after updates to subordinate rules and the setup of related infrastructure. 

Related: Naver-Dunamu filing sets IPO committee, listing timeline for fintech group

According to the local reports, Samsung Card is considering digital asset payment use cases with Dunamu through Samsung Financial Networks’ integrated app Monimo, though the companies have not announced a stablecoin or payment product.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said in January that it was continuing discussions with related agencies on the country’s second-phase virtual asset legislation, while cautioning that key details, including stablecoin issuer structures, had not been finalized. 

Magazine: 50K investors fight Korean crypto tax, Singapore cancels Bsquared: Asia Express

At least five crypto companies have shuttered this week as a prolonged downturn in the crypto market has put downward pressure on user activity and investor funding. 

Crypto trading card platform Fantasy.top, cross-blockchain infrastructure company Everclear, and Ethereum layer-2 blockchain ZERO Network all announced Thursday that they were winding down, with their products failing to find the right fit in the market or sustain enough revenue.

This came the same week Ethereum infrastructure firm Syndicate Labs announced it was winding down after five years in a shrinking rollup market, and crypto ATM company Bitcoin Depot filed for bankruptcy in the US on Monday, citing financial strain and regulatory pressure. 

Crypto companies have struggled this year amid a broad market downturn that has seen Bitcoin (BTC) fall about 40% from a peak of $126,000 in early October. Many public companies also reported losses in the first quarter, and the crypto industry has laid off more than 5,000 employees this year.

Fantasy.top posted to X on Thursday that it would shut down in June after two years of operations because its trading volume “was not sufficient to sustainably support long-term operations.”

The company added that it explored different products, such as prediction markets, to stay afloat, but “none reached durable market fit.”

Fantasy.top co-founder “Kipit” said the company failed because it “tried to put crypto on top of a model that was never built for crypto,” and attracted people “who want to make money from cards” instead of those who enjoy trading card games.

Source: Kipit

Meanwhile, Everclear said it was winding down the Everclear Foundation and Everclear Labs, the two organizations that help manage and develop the protocol, because it “never developed the commercial depth we needed” and couldn’t sustain meaningful revenue. 

The protocol added that it explored various unsuccessful acquisition options and moved to a different model focused on partnerships, but had “underestimated how long it would take those partners to go live — and our runway ran out before they did.”

Everclear said it is considering open-sourcing its protocol to give its community the option of continuing to run it.

The token tied to Everclear fell sharply on Thursday after the protocol announced it was shutting down. Source: CoinGecko

Also on Thursday, the ZERO Network team posted to X that it was shuttering the network to focus on its sister crypto wallet and data service, Zerion.

Related: Bitcoin treasury Nakamoto plans reverse stock split to save ailing share price

“We launched ZERO believing users shouldn’t pay to transact on-chain,” said Zerion co-founder and CEO Evgeny Yurtaev. “We were obsessed with moving on-chain mainstream. We still are. But the world didn’t need more blockchains — it needs a better way to access them.”

Other recent crypto company closures include crypto mobile superapp Legend, which announced its closure on May 13. Solana aggregator Step Finance, crypto derivatives protocol Polynomial, crypto lending protocol Seamless and Balancer Labs, the team behind the Balancer protocol, have also closed due to the fallout from hacks or for a lack of market fit.

NYDIG research lead Greg Cipolaro said in February that the number of crypto projects that can attract investors is shrinking, with only applications or services that “extend traditional finance products onto blockchain infrastructure” getting the most attention.

Crypto platform Hyperliquid, popular for its crypto perpetual futures, has seen continued interest, pushing its token above $62 on Thursday, according to CoinGecko.

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which use blockchains, have also seen continued growth in trading volume, recording a combined record monthly volume of $23.8 billion in April, according to Token Terminal data.

Conversely, major public crypto companies, including Bullish, BitGo, Galaxy Digital and Coinbase, posted losses in their first-quarter results due to market conditions.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026 

Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz appeared in court on Tuesday to face off against BitGo CEO Mike Belshe in a long-running legal fight over a failed proposed $1.2 billion merger in 2021.

The planned deal was the largest-ever crypto merger at the time, set to create a massive conglomerate offering a suite of services at a time when investor interest in crypto was high.

Galaxy called off the deal in August 2022 as the crypto market was reeling from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. BitGo has asked Galaxy to pay a $100 million fee for pulling out of the deal and also hid it was being probed by US authorities, while Galaxy has claimed BitGo failed to provide financial information on time.

According to Bloomberg, Novogratz testified in Delaware Chancery Court on Tuesday that he was “pushing to get this deal done,” but Galaxy and BitGo realized regulatory approval for the merger was unlikely because the Securities and Exchange Commission, then headed by Gary Gensler, made it “very difficult.”

Mike Novogratz, pictured in 2018 at a conference in Hong Kong, has appeared in court over a failed merger with BitGo. Source: RISE

He also said Galaxy was not the subject of the probe and it would not have affected the merger, while BitGo did not provide the needed financial information in time, forfeiting its right to a $100 million termination fee.

Related: On-Chain, In Court: What happened in crypto legal news this week

BitGo bargained for the termination fee, including a deadline to hand over financial statements, but that was complicated by the SEC’s accounting rules requiring companies to record customer crypto holdings as liabilities.

“This was incredibly damaging,” Belshe testified on Monday, claiming that BitGo had provided all the needed information. “Galaxy is telling the world we can’t pass an audit.”

The trial is set to end this week, and a judge will decide whether BitGo should receive the $100 million fee.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

AI Financial Corp., a World Liberty Financial token treasury company, said its working capital deficit and liabilities are casting significant doubt on its ability to continue over the next year. 

The company, which has World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff as its chairman, reported a net loss of $271.5 million in its first-quarter results on Monday, compared to losses of $2.4 million a year ago.

The firm, formerly known as ALT5 Sigma, said that as of March 28, it had a working capital deficit of around $5.5 million, with $39.1 million in liabilities against $32.2 million in assets.

“These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date these financial statements are issued,” AI Financial said.

AI Financial was one of the many companies swept up in the craze of crypto-buying public firms, becoming a buyer of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the token of the Trump family-backed crypto platform of the same name.

To meet its obligations, AI Financial said it held 7.3 billion WLFI tokens at a value of $703.4 million as of March 28, which it could use to firm up its liquidity.

However, the value of AI Financial’s WLFI holdings has fallen by a third since late December, when the fair value of the tokens was at over $1 billion, leading to an unrealized loss of $348.3 million. The company paid nearly $1.46 billion to acquire its WLFI holdings.

AI Financial added that it also borrowed nearly $15 million from World Liberty in January, drawing down the cash under a loan agreement with the Trump-linked firm, which it said it could use in a share repurchase program and to buy more WLFI tokens.

Shares in AI Financial (AIFC) ended trading down nearly 6.3% on Tuesday at 85 cents, extending its 10% drawdown over trading on Monday.

Source: Google Finance

Related: Trump-backed Truth Social pulls bids for crypto ETFs

The company’s stock has fallen by nearly 87.5% over the past 12 months. It first looked to become a WLFI treasury company in early August after closing a $1.5 billion direct offering and private placement led by World Liberty Financial.

At the time of the deal closing, Witkoff became AI Financial’s chairman, while World Liberty co-founder Zak Folkman became a board observer.

US President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, joined the company’s board, but was quietly removed from the leadership section of its website late last month. 

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

The Ethereum Foundation saw the resignations of two top researchers on Monday, bringing the total number of high-profile departures at the organization to at least eight in recent months.

Julian Ma and Carl Beek, both researchers at the Ethereum Foundation, ended their respective four and seven-year tenures at the organization.

Ma contributed to Ethereum’s censorship-resistant properties and cross-layer bridge algorithms and strategy, while Beek contributed to the early design of the Beacon Chain, which introduced proof-of-stake to the blockchain.

Ma and Beek add to a wave of high-profile departures from the Ethereum Foundation this year, bringing the total to five senior developers and researchers who have left in May alone.

Ma said in a post to X that he left the Ethereum Foundation to focus on work in product and growth, adding the organization “is an amazing place but not right for my next steps.”

Source: Julian Ma

Beek said in an X post that he was leaving on May 29 and, for now, would spend time with his wife and 1-month-old child.

Last year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced major leadership changes and a new direction for the Foundation, which were in response to criticism from Ethereum’s users over the blockchain’s handling of its long-term roadmap, with Buterin aiming to bring new talent to the organization to redevelop the protocol for higher and faster throughput.

Cointelegraph reached out to the Ethereum Foundation for comment.

Related: Ethereum Foundation unstakes $50M in ETH amid treasury shift

Recent Ethereum Foundation member resignations

Earlier this month, the Ethereum Foundation said Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko, leaders of its Protocol Cluster team, would be moving on, while the team’s other lead, Alex Stokes, would be going on sabbatical.

In April, Josh Stark, a key researcher and project manager, said he was leaving the organization, which happened a day after Ethereum Foundation contributor Trent Van Epps announced his resignation.

In February, Tomasz Stanczak announced he was stepping down as the organization’s co-executive director.

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Japan’s biggest online brokerages are about to make crypto investing feel as routine as buying a mutual fund. SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities are each developing in-house cryptocurrency investment trusts, according to Nikkei Asia, giving Japanese retail investors a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum without ever touching a wallet.

The move is significant for a country that has long been one of crypto’s most active retail markets but has lacked the kind of packaged investment products that have exploded in popularity in the US and Hong Kong.

What the trusts actually do

Instead of signing up for a crypto exchange, securing private keys, and navigating the operational headaches of self-custody, retail investors can buy into a trust through their existing brokerage account. The trusts are expected to track the prices of major digital assets, primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Both SBI and Rakuten aren’t exactly crypto newcomers. SBI Securities is part of the SBI Group, which operates SBI VC Trade, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange in Japan. Rakuten Securities sits under the Rakuten Group umbrella alongside Rakuten Wallet, another regulated crypto trading platform. So both companies already have the infrastructure and regulatory relationships in place.

Why Japan, why now

Japan’s Financial Services Agency has been steadily clarifying its crypto regulatory framework since 2019, creating one of the more structured environments for digital asset businesses among major economies. The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US earlier this year sent a clear signal that traditional finance had stopped treating crypto as a fringe curiosity. Hong Kong followed with its own Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals.

What this means for investors

For Japanese retail investors, millions of people who already have SBI or Rakuten brokerage accounts could soon add Bitcoin or Ethereum exposure to their portfolios through their existing accounts. No new account signups, no learning curve around crypto exchanges, no anxiety about security breaches on unfamiliar platforms.

The risk, as always with trust and fund structures, is that investors are one layer removed from the underlying asset. They don’t hold the Bitcoin directly. They hold units in a trust that holds the Bitcoin, which introduces counterparty considerations and management fees that don’t exist with direct ownership.

Watch for how Japan’s FSA responds to the filings and what fee structures SBI and Rakuten attach to these products. In the US, the fee war among spot Bitcoin ETF issuers drove costs down rapidly and was a major factor in their adoption.

Switzerland’s Crypto Valley captured 47% of European blockchain venture funding in 2025, raising $728 million across 31 deals, according to an annual report released Wednesday by venture firm CV VC.

Globally, blockchain venture funding rose 30% to $15.5 billion across 986 deals last year, while Crypto Valley’s total climbed 37% from $531 million in 2024, the report said.

One deal did much of the heavy lifting. The Open Network (TON) accounted for $400 million of Crypto Valley’s 2025 funding haul, followed by Sygnum Bank at $58 million, stablecoin platform M0 at $40 million, Impossible Cloud Network at $34 million and CratD2C at $30 million, according to the report.

The figures suggest Switzerland remains Europe’s main blockchain funding hub, but they also show capital concentrating into fewer, larger rounds.

Global blockchain funding growth compared to Crypto Valley growth. Source: CV VC

Blockchain networks attracted 62% of total funding, followed by infrastructure at 14%, centralized financial services at 10% and decentralized finance applications at 10%, the report said.

Companies in Crypto Valley based on industry. Source: CV VC

Crypto Valley took 47% of Europe’s funding

Crypto Valley’s $728 million accounted for 47% of the total VC blockchain funding across Europe and 5% of the global blockchain funding in 2025, highlighting the Swiss blockchain ecosystem’s growing role in the European blockchain industry.

“Nearly half of all European blockchain investment is now flowing into Crypto Valley,” said Mathias Ruch, founder and CEO of CV VC, calling it a sign of a “maturing ecosystem” focused on infrastructure, finance and the convergence of “frontier technologies” driving digital innovation.

Still, the report’s own numbers show that growth came alongside a more selective market, with deal count falling even as capital deployed increased. That pattern was visible globally as well. CV VC said worldwide blockchain venture funding rose even as deal volume fell 32%, showing a shift toward fewer but larger transactions.

In Crypto Valley, the same dynamic helped push annual funding totals higher, even as the ecosystem’s headline valuation and unicorn count moved lower.

Crypto Valley accounted fro 47% of total European blockchain investments. Source: CV VC

Crypto Valley now hosts 1,766 active blockchain companies, up 134% since 2020, according to CV VC. Companies based in Zug, Switzerland, accounted for 20 of the 31 total deals and 88% of disclosed capital, while Zurich-based companies followed with five deals.

Related: Cardano can now be used to pay at 137 Spar stores across Switzerland

The report also said Crypto Valley’s number of unicorns fell to 10 in 2025 from 17 a year earlier. Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Hedera, Toncoin, Polkadot, Near Protocol, Internet Computer, Copper and Sygnum Bank now rank as the region’s top crypto companies.

A Crypto Valley spokesperson attributed the decline largely to weaker market conditions late in the year, which pushed six token projects below the $1 billion threshold. The spokesperson also said 21Shares was acquired by FalconX, which is not based in Crypto Valley.

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

Prominent hardware wallet maker Ledger has delayed its plan to go public in the US market due to unfavorable market conditions, which may weaken investor appetite for crypto listings.

The development was reported Wednesday by CoinDesk, based on sources familiar with the issue.

Ledger, which has sold more than seven million devices and secured over $100 billion in client assets, had been eyeing a US IPO that could value the company at more than $4 billion, the Financial Times reported in January. That would have doubled the $1.5 billion valuation it reached in a 2023 funding round.

According to reports, the Paris-based crypto hardware firm had engaged with Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays on the potential IPO.

The company never actually filed a draft S-1 with the SEC. Sources said Ledger may instead pursue a private capital raise.

CEO Pascal Gauthier said in an interview that New York has become the global hub for crypto capital, stating that “money is in New York today for crypto.”

While the IPO is on hold, Ledger continues to build its US operations, including hiring John Andrews as Chief Financial Officer in March and establishing a New York office for its institutional business.

Market conditions behind the decision

Bitcoin fell from around $100,000 in late 2025 to roughly $75,000 by mid-April 2026, a 25% decline, while Ethereum was hovering near $2,340 as of May.

The downturn in prices came alongside weakening market activity, with spot trading volumes dropping by 19% between February and March alone. At the same time, venture capital inflows into crypto contracted sharply, plunging 74% from March to April.

Against this backdrop of deteriorating market conditions, Kraken also paused its multibillion-dollar IPO plans earlier this year, despite having confidentially filed with the SEC in late 2025.

BitGo, the crypto custody firm, went through with its January 2026 listing. BitGo priced its IPO at $18 per share, raised about $213M, and saw a debut-day pop of more than 20%. By May, BitGo shares were trading around $11.78, roughly 36% below the IPO price.

Where Ledger stands now

Founded in 2014, Ledger has grown into an infrastructure provider for both the person stashing a few thousand dollars in Bitcoin and the institution managing billions.

The company posted record revenue in 2025 amid rising demand from security-focused crypto investors and has sold over 7 million devices globally. Founded in 2014, it was valued at $1.5 billion in its 2023 funding round, backed by investors including True Global Ventures and 10T Holdings.

The IPO plans come as a wave of crypto firms go public in the US, including BitGo’s recent listing and earlier IPOs from Circle, Gemini, and Bullish following President Donald Trump’s return to office.

Social media platform X has launched its smart cashtag feature on iPhones in the US and Canada, letting users view stock and cryptocurrency data directly from the app as part of Elon Musk’s plan to shift X into a financial platform.

The new feature allows users to select a specific asset or smart contract address when posting a ticker. Tapping a tag displays live price charts and related posts.

Canadian users will be able to trade stocks and crypto through a deal between X and Wealthsimple, an online brokerage. The trading feature has not yet rolled out in the United States.

“Cashtags are just the first step in our commitment to be the best destination for the finance and crypto community,” said X’s head of product Nikita Bier, in a post on Tuesday.

The development is part of X’s “everything app” push, which Musk has previously said will include messaging, social networking, peer-to-peer payments and e-commerce.

It’s part of a wider trend among digital platforms to consolidate diverse services into a single cohesive experience. Crypto exchange Coinbase announced its intent to build a “super app” last July.

The announcement comes less than a day after Bier hinted on Tuesday that the platform could launch a crypto-related product, prompting speculation about what it could be.

Musk previously said that X Money, a peer-to-peer payments feature with yield-bearing accounts and a cashback debit card, would launch in April.

has always been the best source of financial news for traders and investors. Billions of dollars are allocated every day based on what people read on Timeline.

Today we’re launching our new Cashtags feature in the US and Canada on iPhone, bringing real-time financial data to… pic.twitter.com/c8s7X9gHTO— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) April 14, 2026

Canadians trading on X sets stage for rollout

The integration with Wealthsimple to allow direct trading on the app sheds some insight into how it could work in other regions.

“Users in Canada will see a button on cashtags so they can trade seamlessly from X. This is just a small preview of what’s to come,” said Bier.

Bier also indicated that a rollout for web and Android devices, along with a global release of these features, is planned for the near future.

Related: X mulls new rules for first-time crypto posts amid tortoise scam

Bringing the WeChat Pay model to Web3

Tat Thang, a partner at prediction platform Polymarket, suggested X is trying to build a Web3 equivalent of WeChat Pay, which is embedded within the Chinese app WeChat and allows users to make mobile payments and transfer money between contacts.

Source: Tat Thang

Thang argued that crypto transaction fees could be the key revenue driver for Musk’s ambitions for his “everything app”, since revenue and subscription fees can fluctuate, and person-to-person fiat transfers carry zero margin.

He also cited X’s hiring of Bier, a Solana advisor and Benji Taylor, former head of design at Base, along with a recent purge of crypto bots as indicators of X ramping up its financial ambitions because you can’t “drop a native wallet or trading terminal onto a timeline filled with drainer links.”

“It was a mandatory compliance sweep. You have to scrub the platform clean before you deploy consumer financial products,” Thang added.

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