What JPYSC Is and How It Works

The token is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and distributed through SBI VC Trade, the group’s crypto exchange. It carries a 1:1 peg to the Japanese yen, with reserves held in segregated accounts. Token holders receive statutory trust beneficiary rights, meaning their holdings are ring-fenced from the issuer’s balance sheet under Japan’s Trust Act.

Reserves can include deposits and up to 50% in Japanese Government Bonds, opening a potential yield channel that earlier prepaid stablecoin models cannot offer.

Why the Trust Bank Structure Matters

JPYSC is classified as a Type III Electronic Payment Instrument under Japan’s amended Payment Services Act. That classification carries no daily or remittance caps, unlike the Type II prepaid model used by competing yen stablecoin JPYC, which faces a 1 million yen daily limit.

Japan became the first G7 country to pass comprehensive stablecoin legislation through its 2022 Payment Services Act and Banking Act amendments. JPYSC is the first token to use the trust-bank framework that those laws created.

Who Built It and How Fast

SBI Holdings and Startale signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in December 2025. By February 2026, Startale had unveiled Strium L1, an institutional blockchain expected to serve as the primary settlement layer for JPYSC. In March, Startale closed a $63 million Series A, with SBI leading at $50 million and Sony contributing $13 million.

SBI VC Trade began distributing Ripple‘s RLUSD in March 2026, validating the distribution infrastructure before JPYSC went live.

Target Use Cases

JPYSC is built for institutional and enterprise use, not retail. Primary targets include:

Corporate treasury management and high- volume settlements Cross-border payments with reduced foreign exchange volatility Tokenized real-world asset issuance and settlement On-chain dividend distribution AI agent payment rails

SBI Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said the project aims to accelerate “digital financial services that are fully integrated with traditional finance.” Startale CEO Sota Watanabe pointed to AI agent infrastructure and tokenized assets as core long-term use cases.

What’s Next

Initial availability is limited to SBI VC Trade accounts. Broader on-chain circulation depends on tax treatment clarity and public blockchain migration, which Startale has said is technically ready. The likely destination is Strium L1, with potential multi-chain support including Soneium, a chain Startale co-developed with Sony.

Competition is forming. A consortium of Japanese megabanks including MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC is building a yen stablecoin through the Progmat platform, targeting interbank live deployment by March 2027.

Fortune was the first to report the raise, announced June 23, 2026. Amplify Partners led the round, with Kleiner Perkins and Theory Ventures participating. Amplify partner David Beyer is joining Allium’s board.

From Three People to 30 Petabytes

Ethan Chan, co-founder and CEO, took to X to share details of the milestone. “Today, we manage 30+ petabytes of blockchain data that serves as the onchain system of record for institutions like Visa, BCG, and major banks and asset managers,” Chan wrote.

Chan and co-founder Cheng Han Lee started Allium in 2021 after meeting as college freshmen. The core problem they set out to fix: blockchain data was fragmented across hundreds of chains and unusable at institutional scale.

Today Allium ingests raw data from 150-plus chains and more than 10,000 protocols, normalizes it into standardized, queryable formats, and delivers it via APIs, data streams, and analytics tools to roughly 150 enterprise customers. Those customers include Visa, BCG, Coinbase, A16z Crypto, Stripe, Uniswap, and Phantom. Allium’s data has been cited by research institutions including the U.S. Federal Reserve and Stanford University.

10x Revenue Growth Since Series A

Chan outlined post-Series A traction in his X post. Revenue grew 10x in the two years since that round closed in July 2024. Visa and BCG both built stablecoin dashboards directly on Allium’s platform.

“ Blockchain went from retail speculation to institutional infrastructure for 24/7 settlement, programmable payments, and tokenized assets that trade like equities,” Chan wrote.

The Agentic Upside

Amplify Partners’ David Beyer pointed to a longer-term opportunity. “The really, really big upside for them ultimately is the agentic piece,” Beyer said in the Forbes coverage, referring to AI agents using blockchains and stablecoins for autonomous payments and transactions, a use case that depends on high-quality, normalized onchain data as a foundation.

Chan connected Allium’s positioning to lessons from machine learning. “You have to control the data source,” he said.

Market Context

The raise comes as blockchain analytics peers face pressure. Dune Analytics laid off staff in May 2026, and Messari was acquired by Blockworks at a discount in June 2026. Allium has differentiated through its enterprise focus, data quality at scale, and alignment with rising Wall Street participation in crypto, stablecoin expansion, and real-world asset ( RWA) tokenization.

“It’s never been a better time for the institutional side,” Chan said.

The company now employs approximately 50 people. Specific allocation details for the Series B proceeds were not disclosed at the time of announcement.

Spot gold opened the week near $4,214 per ounce on June 13. Prices climbed as high as $4,330 to $4,380 by midweek on optimism around a U.S.-Iran truce deal involving President Trump. The rally reversed sharply after the Fed signaled it could raise rates later in 2026, sending gold down to $4,151 to $4,173 by June 19 and 20.

The pullback marks a roughly 3.4% weekly loss and extends a broader June correction that has pulled gold down about 8.5% for the month. Gold remains about 23% higher than a year ago but sits well below its January 2026 record of roughly $5,608 per ounce.

Dollar Strength Weighs on Gold

The U.S. dollar climbed to its highest level in 13 months during the week. A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of other currencies and typically reduces demand for the metal alongside other assets.

Higher Treasury yields added pressure too. Investors who hold non-yielding assets like gold face a higher opportunity cost when yields rise, and that dynamic played out through the back half of the week.

Fed Signals Hawkish Tilt

The Federal Reserve held its target rate steady around 3.5% to 3.75% but pointed to the possibility of additional hikes later this year. Acting Fed leadership tied to Kevin Warsh emphasized price stability in recent commentary, and markets responded by raising the odds of a rate increase as soon as September.

Hot inflation data added to the case. May consumer prices rose 4.2% year over year, the highest reading since 2023. Gold closed below its 200-day moving average for a sustained period for the first time since late 2023, a technical signal some traders watch as a marker of weakening long-term momentum.

Silver fell harder than gold during the same stretch, dropping to around $64.90 by June 19 with monthly losses near 14%.

Analysts Split on What Comes Next

Goldman Sachs lowered its year-end 2026 gold target to $4,900 per ounce from $5,400, citing delayed Fed rate cuts and softer demand for gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Trading Economics models point to gold near $4,162 by the end of the second quarter, with a 12-month projection around $4,527.

Frank Giustra, speaking with Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron this week, described the pullback as a normal correction rather than the end of the gold bull market. He argued that central banks, not retail speculators, drove gold from around $1,800 to its record highs, and that those buyers have not stopped purchasing.

Giustra is a Canadian mining financier and entrepreneur known for building, funding, and combining major gold and natural resource companies, including Wheaton River Minerals/Goldcorp and Leagold Mining/Equinox Gold. He currently serves as the head of the Fiore Group.

Giustra pointed to central bank reserve diversification away from the dollar, accelerated in his view by the freezing of Russian reserves, along with efforts by China and other BRICS nations to build payment systems outside the dollar network. He expects mining stocks to eventually catch up to bullion and predicted more mergers among mining companies as producers search for new deposits.

Lawrence Lepard, in a separate interview with Szafron this week, offered a similar read. He tied gold’s rise from around $3,000 to more than $5,500 to growing recognition that U.S. government deficits will likely be financed through monetary expansion rather than spending cuts. Lepard said he would change his bullish view only if governments became fiscally disciplined, which he called unlikely.

Lepard is a well-known professional investment manager, sound money advocate, and author of “The Big Print,” who runs Equity Management Associates and focuses on bitcoin and gold/silver mining investments.

While chatting with Szafron this week, Lepard described gold and silver investor positioning as still in the “third inning” of a longer cycle, noting that most capital remains concentrated in AI and technology stocks rather than precious metals.

Bitcoin Enters the Conversation

Lepard, who holds both gold and bitcoin, called bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply a form of digital scarcity that complements gold’s physical scarcity. He said the current bitcoin pullback looks mild compared with past cycles that saw drawdowns of 70% or more, which he views as a sign of growing institutional support.

He laid out long-term projections measured in decades, including a potential move from roughly $100,000 to $1 million and eventually toward $10 million, and said he believes holding zero bitcoin is a mistake given its risk-reward profile.

What to Watch

Traders are watching for further data on inflation, jobs, and Fed commentary, along with any follow-through on the U.S.-Iran agreement. Analysts pointed to support near $4,000 to $4,100 as the next level to monitor if the correction continues.

Rates Hold, Statement Shrinks

The Fed held the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% on a unanimous 12-0 vote following the June 16-17 FOMC meeting. The Committee also reaffirmed its ample reserves policy, continuing the path set under his predecessor Jerome Powell, who left office in May.

What changed was everything else.

The policy statement issued after the meeting was one of the shortest in decades. Warsh described the new approach directly: “It’s a bit shorter, a bit simpler, and it dispenses with some older language. That statement just gives you the facts as best we can judge it.”

Forward Guidance Gone

The most immediate break from recent Fed practice was the removal of forward guidance entirely. Warsh addressed it plainly at the press conference: “We’ve dropped forward guidance.” He went further, saying that “as a general proposition, forward guidance isn’t the business we should be in.”

The shift is significant for markets that spent years reading Fed language for signals on rate timing. Without those signals, participants now have to price rate decisions based on incoming data rather than Fed telegraphing.

Nine FOMC members submitted dot plot projections leaning toward at least one rate hike by year-end. Warsh did not submit a dot, consistent with his long-standing skepticism of the Summary of Economic Projections format. He noted his colleagues submitted their forecasts “with pencils,” suggesting no firm commitments.

The median SEP projection has PCE inflation running at 3.6% this year, with the policy rate ending 2026 at 3.8%.

Five Task Forces, Starting This Fall

Warsh announced five new task forces covering Fed communications, balance sheet policy, data sourcing, productivity, and artifcial intelligence (AI), and inflation frameworks. He said work begins in the coming weeks, with initial findings expected in the fall and most conclusions by year-end.

The communications task force will likely revisit the SEP structure, press conference format, and the dot plot itself.

Market Reaction: Stocks Down, Then Up

Equities sold off immediately following the June 17 announcement. The S&P 500 fell approximately 1.21% to around 7,420. The Dow dropped roughly 507 points, or about 0.97%. The Nasdaq declined approximately 1.3%.

By midday June 18, markets were recovering. The S&P 500 was trading near 7,474 to 7,495, up 0.7% to 1.0%. The Nasdaq led with a gain of 1.3% to 1.5%. The Dow added a modest 0.25% to 0.3% after the prior session’s losses.

Analysts pointed to bargain hunting and easing oil prices as partial drivers of the rebound.

Bitcoin Feels the Pressure

Bitcoin did not bounce with equities. As of midday June 18, the price was below $63,000 and had touched an intraday low of $62,236 on Bitstamp. Crypto markets tend to react sharply to shifts in Fed rate expectations and policy uncertainty, and Warsh’s explicit removal of forward signals added weight to the short-term sell pressure.

Some onchain data, including whale holdings and long-term holder supply, continues to show underlying accumulation patterns. But price action near the $62,000 level reflects the broader unease that comes with a Fed regime that has stopped telegraphing its next move.

What’s Next

The next major macro input arrives later in June with the PCE inflation report, which will be one of the first data points on which Warsh’s new framework will be tested. Geopolitical factors tied to the Middle East conflict and oil prices remain in play.

Markets are adjusting to a Fed that says it will deliver price stability without telling anyone exactly when or how.

The brokerage Charles Schwab has reportedly partnered with Cboe Global Markets to offer binary-style options contracts tied to the S&P 500, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report citing “people familiar with the matter.” The contracts let customers wager on whether the index will close above or below a set strike price. A correct call pays a fixed amount. A wrong one expires worthless.

This is Schwab’s first concrete step into prediction-market territory. It follows months of public hesitation from CEO Rick Wurster.

A Shift From Earlier Caution

In December 2025, Wurster told the WSJ that Schwab planned to stay away from prediction markets and complex leveraged products. He pointed to the blurry line between investing and gambling, and the message it sends to younger investors chasing quick outcomes.

By April, his tone had changed. On Schwab’s first-quarter earnings call, Wurster said the firm was “taking a hard look” at prediction markets, but only ones tied to financial events like inflation data or index performance. He drew a clear line against sports, politics, and pop culture markets.

Now that look has turned into action.

How the Contracts Work

Schwab and Cboe Global Markets are said to be building the product on existing, regulated options infrastructure rather than a standalone prediction platform. Cboe has already moved to list Mini S&P 500 Index Binary Options, cash-settled contracts that pay either $100 or $0 depending on where the index lands relative to the strike price.

The two firms are also reportedly exploring Cboe’s “Plus Zone” feature, which offers partial payouts for near-miss outcomes instead of an all-or-nothing result.

Schwab plans to keep the offering narrow, the WSJ report notes. Contracts will track only objectively verifiable financial benchmarks, starting with the S&P 500. The firm has ruled out sports, elections, and other non-financial outcomes, a distinction Wurster has repeated since December.

The contracts are expected to reach customers within the coming months.

Why It Matters

Schwab manages roughly $11.8 trillion in client assets across 47.2 million accounts, based on first-quarter 2026 figures. Any product rollout at that scale reaches a customer base that most platforms in this space don’t have.

Prediction markets have grown fast since the 2024 election cycle, expanding into sports, economics, and policy outcomes. Kalshi and Polymarket have posted record volumes this year, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup has pushed sports-related betting on those platforms well past $3 billion in combined volume.

Other brokerages are watching the same trend. Robinhood has expanded its event contracts business, and Interactive Brokers has bundled access to Kalshi. Schwab’s entry adds a major name to that list, though its scope stays deliberately limited.

By routing the product through Cboe’s regulated options framework instead of building a new platform, Schwab avoids much of the regulatory uncertainty tied to standalone prediction markets. It also keeps the product inside the brokerage account structure that customers already use.

Why STRC’s Wild Session Matters to Bitcoin Treasury Bulls

The move was not some polite tremor in the market’s teacup. STRC traded more than 10 million shares during a volatile session that shoved the security roughly 11% to 17% below its $100 par target, depending on whether investors look at the close or the intraday print.

For a product designed to behave like “digital credit,” the optics were awkward. Strategy, the bitcoin treasury company led by Michael Saylor and formerly known as Microstrategy, created STRC as a perpetual preferred stock with a variable dividend rate that can be adjusted monthly to encourage trading near par.

That mechanism is the grand idea. If STRC trades too low, the dividend rate can rise to lure buyers. If it trades above $100, Strategy can issue more shares through at-the-market programs to add supply and keep upside from running too hot.

The $100 Problem

The current dividend rate sits at 11.50% annualized, paid semi-monthly in cash after shareholders approved a shift from monthly payments earlier in June. At Thursday’s closing price, the effective yield was roughly 12.98%, the sort of number that makes income investors lean forward and risk managers reach for coffee.

But the price action showed the market was not fully comforted by a bigger coupon. STRC’s fresh 52-week low, around $82.50 to $82.53, placed the preferred stock well below the level its mechanics were built to court.

Market commentary framed the episode less as a pure credit panic and more as a leverage flush. Investors who treated STRC like a calm, high-yield cash machine may have discovered the ancient truth of markets: Anything financed with leverage can develop claws when prices move the wrong way.

Jesse Myers of The Smarter Web Company said STRC’s fall to $82.60 looks like “a liquidation cascade,” not a failure of Strategy’s model. He said months of tight trading near $99 to $100 “invited leverage,” setting up a “ leverage wipeout” as shorts and margin calls intensified selling. Myers argued on X that Strategy’s balance sheet remains unchanged, dividends can continue, and current buyers may be getting “a tremendous entry price.”

Responding to Myers’ STRC analysis, the X account Colin Talks Crypto warned that the pressure may not be finished if bitcoin’s bear market “is not over.” The account said BTC could fall further in the months ahead, potentially bottoming “in/around October,” and argued that additional weakness in bitcoin would amplify stress across STRC and related market positions.

Forced selling can become its own little monster. As prices fall, margin calls pressure leveraged holders, which can push more shares into the market and drag prices further from the instrument’s intended anchor.

Bitcoin Stack Meets Income Trade

STRC matters because it is not just another preferred stock sitting in a dusty corner of the capital markets. Strategy uses proceeds from STRC and sister securities, including STRK, STRF and STRD, primarily to buy more bitcoin.

As of mid-June, updates via company filings, Strategy held approximately 846,842 BTC. That makes the performance of its capital-raising machinery more than a side plot for bitcoin traders. It is part of the company’s broader acquisition engine.

STRC has roughly $10.49 billion in notional outstanding. It is listed on Nasdaq and available through most brokerages, making it easy for retail and institutional investors to access, but accessibility does not make it a money market fund in a tuxedo.

Strategy’s own disclaimers are central here. Dividends are not guaranteed, the rate can be adjusted lower, and the preferred securities are not directly collateralized by the company’s bitcoin holdings. They have a preferred claim on residual assets after debt, which is standard preferred equity territory, not a vault receipt for BTC.

Saylor’s AI-Designed Credit Experiment

The drama also revived old clips of Saylor discussing how AI helped him iterate on Strategy’s preferred stock lineup. In the interview, Saylor has described using AI to explore structures for a preferred product designed to remain stable around $100 while feeding Strategy’s bitcoin accumulation strategy.

That anecdote now has meme fuel. Bulls see a novel financing tool being stress-tested in public, with the variable rate doing what it was built to do by compensating investors as price weakens. Critics, like gold bug Peter Schiff, see a young credit experiment wobbling beneath leverage, competition, and questions about dividend coverage.

“Crickets today from CNBC on the collapse of STRC, the selloff in MSTR, its widening discount to NAV, and what that portends for future common stock or bitcoin sales,” Peter Schiff wrote on Thursday. “CNBC provided Saylor with lots of airtime to scam their audience. The least they can do is report their losses.”

Schiff added:

“STRC traded down to 82.53 today. That’s a decline of 17.5% from what most investors paid last month, and a new record-low price for what was promoted on CNBC as a safe investment with little downside risk.”

Competition is part of the story. Strive’s SATA has been cited in recent market discussion as a rival product that has stayed closer to par while offering daily dividends and a slightly higher yield. That comparison is not flattering when STRC is wandering in the $80s.

There are also questions about how far the rate can rise before the math becomes less charming. The dividend mechanism may attract buyers, but if higher payouts fail to restore confidence, the structure could face tougher scrutiny from investors watching coverage, issuance, and bitcoin-related market volatility. Colin Talks Crypto may not be wrong.

For now, STRC’s Thursday close at $88.59 offered relief from the intraday low, but not a clean victory. The instrument survived the session, yet the market sent a blunt message: Digital credit may be inventive, but it still trades in the same arena where leverage, fear, and liquidity enforce their own etiquette.

Hero image credit/attribution: Gage Skidmore

Perps Should Be Classified as Swaps, Says CME Boss

CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy said June 17 he plans to sue the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over its decision to approve perpetual futures trading in the United States, escalating a regulatory clash over one of crypto’s fastest‑growing derivatives.

Duffy told CNBC the lawsuit will be filed on Thursday, June 18, and will argue that perpetual futures should be classified as swaps under the Dodd‑Frank Act. That designation, he said, would require such products to be listed through CME.

“We have an exclusive license with every single provider of the benchmarks. So all of these would have to go through CME regardless of the perpetual,” Duffy said. “They would have to list them as swaps, if that’s the way that it came out.”

Duff added that he and the CME board have been preparing the challenge for eight months. “I’ve never shied away from one, and I won’t shy away from this,” he said. “We are not taking this lightly.”

The CME boss’ remarks follow CFTC Chair Michael Selig’s defence of the agency’s decision earlier this week, saying the commission aims to bring internationally popular products onshore under U.S. regulatory oversight.

Selig said incumbents “will always fear the future,” but argued that perpetual futures should be available in a regulated environment. “It’s time to approve regulated futures contracts that have no expiration date,” he said. “We’re going to make sure the product’s available, but it’s well regulated here in the U.S.”

He dismissed concerns raised by Duffy about leverage risks, noting that complexity alone is not a reason to block new products. “The notion that we should be paternalistic and allow for one type of product, because it’s easier to understand, I think that’s frankly a misunderstanding itself,” he said. “Options are very complicated.”

Selig added that brokers remain responsible for evaluating customer suitability and ensuring proper disclosures. He also rejected suggestions that the approval was politically motivated by President Donald Trump’s administration or influenced by Donald Trump Jr., who serves as a strategic adviser to Kalshi. “That’s absolutely absurd, that insinuation,” he said.

The CFTC’s late‑May approval allowed prediction‑market operator Kalshi to offer bitcoin perpetual futures — the first time the product has been permitted in the U.S. The platform has since expanded its offerings to other cryptocurrencies.

Demand has been strong. At a recent event marking the launch, Kalshi said its perpetual futures had generated more than $3 billion in notional volume in just over a week of beta testing. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said last week that the platform’s maximum leverage is lower than the leverage available on some CME futures contracts.

Coinbase’s IQMM Investment Points to a New Reserve Era for Stablecoins

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN) announced on June 2 that it invested in Proshares’ GENIUS Money Market ETF, IQMM. The fund is built for stablecoin reserve eligibility under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act). The move pushes Coinbase deeper into stablecoin cash management.

Issuers now face rising pressure to hold liquid, high-quality assets. The GENIUS Act set a 1-to-1 backing standard for payment stablecoins. IQMM is structured around short-term U.S. Treasurys with maturities of 93 days or less, cash, and cash equivalents.

Coinbase said:

“As stablecoins become core to financial infrastructure, the industry needs better ways to manage the money that supports them.”

For the crypto firm, the fund adds another piece to its stablecoin strategy. That strategy already includes payments, distribution, and developer tools. Stablecoin competition may increasingly depend on reserve quality, redemption reliability, and institutional cash-management options as the market becomes more regulated.

The investment also reflects a broader push toward responsible stablecoin growth. Policy is beginning to define acceptable reserve assets and operating standards for issuers that want to serve mainstream financial users.

The GENIUS Act passed the Senate on June 17, 2025. The House passed the bill on July 17, 2025. President Donald Trump signed it into law on July 18, 2025, creating a federal framework for payment stablecoins.

Proshares ETF Infrastructure Could Help Bridge Crypto and Traditional Markets

Proshares’ fact sheet describes IQMM as the world’s largest money market ETF and the first designed to meet GENIUS Act requirements. As of March 31, 2026, the fund carried a 3.48% 30-day SEC yield, weekly distributions, and a 0.15% net expense ratio.

Its holdings centered on Treasury bills, with 100% daily and weekly liquid assets. That structure gives stablecoin issuers an ETF-based vehicle tied to short-duration government debt. It also shows how ETF products may become part of the reserve toolkit for digital-dollar markets.

Coinbase said:

“IQMM is built around a simple idea: as stablecoins scale, issuers need reserve tools built for this market.”

Proshares brings two decades of ETF experience to a market that overlaps with crypto, money markets, payments, and capital markets. Coinbase’s support for IQMM signals that stablecoin reserve management may move beyond narrow banking channels as issuers seek more flexible options.

Coinbase expects future creation and redemption activity to use a broader mix of cash-like instruments. Those instruments may include Treasurys, ETFs, money market funds, and tokenized versions of those products. That shift could connect stablecoin operations more closely with traditional-market plumbing.

Hyperliquid ETF Debut Puts THYP in Focus

Asset management firm 21shares announced on May 12 the launch of the 21shares Hyperliquid ETF (Nasdaq: THYP), offering U.S. investors spot exposure to HYPE and integrated staking rewards. The issuer also introduced the 21shares 2x Long HYPE ETF (Nasdaq: TXXH) on the same day as a leveraged companion product.

First-day trading details posted on X by 21shares US showed THYP recorded $1.8 million in trading volume and about $1.2 million in net inflows. The post also listed a 0.3% management fee and described THYP as having the lowest management fee for a Hyperliquid ETF as of May 12. THYP trades on Nasdaq with the ISIN US90137V1089 and a May 4 inception date. TXXH was introduced alongside THYP and carries a separate 1.89% management fee, with an April 30 inception date.

The company stated:

“The funds are the first U.S. ETFs designed to provide investors with exposure to HYPE, the native token of Hyperliquid, a next-generation decentralized exchange ( DEX) that has emerged as a significant liquidity hub for 24/7 on-chain trading infrastructure.”

Distribution schedules released for THYP show expected quarterly staking reward payments beginning June 30. Additional payable dates are listed for Sept. 30 and Dec. 30. THYP is structured as a 33-Act spot exchange-traded product and does not carry the same investor protections as registered funds. TXXH operates as a 40-Act exchange-traded fund with additional oversight requirements.

Staking Rewards and Risk Disclosures Define THYP

Product materials said THYP may stake part of its holdings to generate rewards. That structure introduces risks tied to lock-up periods, unbonding periods and possible slashing penalties if a validator fails to perform or engages in misconduct. Staking rewards are paid to the trust and are not guaranteed. THYP shares trade at market prices instead of net asset value and are not individually redeemable directly with the fund.

Hyperliquid processes roughly $8 billion in daily volume and commands more than 50% of decentralized exchange perpetual open interest, based on data cited by 21shares. The issuer also cited more than $56 million in monthly trading fees and said more than 95% goes toward daily open-market HYPE buybacks. More than 76% of tokens are allocated to the community, while team tokens are locked until 2028.

Andres Valencia, EVP, Investment Management at 21shares, said:

“Having pioneered the first Hyperliquid exchange-traded product in Europe, we have seen the protocol evolve into a de facto global liquidity hub for decentralized derivatives.”

Key Takeaways:

SBI and Visa launched credit cards that convert spending points into a user-selected cryptocurrency ( BTC, ETH, or XRP). Gold users can earn up to 10%, while standard users can receive up to 2.5% through a limited-time launch campaign. Campaign rewards depend on spending through Aug. 5, with point caps applied to both card tiers.

Crypto Rewards Cards Connect SBI Payments and Assets

SBI Group, one of Japan’s most prominent financial conglomerates, announced on May 1, 2026, that it has begun issuing the SBI Visa Crypto Card and its Gold version, which automatically convert spending points into a user-selected asset from BTC, ETH, or XRP. The cards are designed to link routine payments with crypto accumulation.

Users must select one asset at the time of application, choosing from BTC, ETH, or XRP. The announcement states, as translated from Japanese:

“When applying for this card, you can choose one cryptocurrency to accumulate from three options: bitcoin ( BTC), ethereum ( ETH), and XRP.”

Once selected, points earned from card spending are automatically converted into the chosen asset on a monthly basis without exchange fees. Users must hold an account with SBI’s crypto asset service to receive rewards, though existing account holders do not need to open a new account. The structure keeps accumulation consistent and directly tied to spending activity.

The cards also extend into investing through SBI Securities’ credit card investment trust accumulation service. The company stated: “First in Japan! Earn cryptocurrency with credit card investment trust savings!” This feature enables crypto accumulation alongside monthly investment contributions.

Rewards, Fees, and Campaign Structure

The two cards differ in base rewards, fees, and benefits. Standard users can earn up to 0.8%, while Gold users can earn up to 1.3% under normal conditions. The standard card is free in the first year, then costs ¥1,650 annually, with the fee waived after ¥100,000 in yearly spending. The Gold card is also free in the first year, then costs ¥6,600 annually. Users who spend at least ¥2 million per year on the Gold card receive crypto equal to the annual fee.

Both cards include theft and loss protection, while the Gold version adds travel accident insurance, shopping protection, and airport lounge access, capped at three uses yearly. These benefits apply independently of the promotional campaign.

The launch campaign runs for users who apply between May 1 and May 31, 2026. Spending through Aug. 5 determines campaign rewards. Standard users can receive up to 2.5%, capped at 1,500 points, while Gold users can receive up to 10%, capped at 5,000 points. The promotion temporarily increases reward rates above standard levels.