On Friday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he is no longer closely aligned with the Future of Life Institute, which received Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens from him in 2021 that were later cashed out for around $500 million. He explained that the group’s focus shifted from a wide agenda on existential risks to cultural and political advocacy around AI, and he criticized proposals that rely on safeguards in biosynthesis tools and AI models as too fragile. Buterin added that he had expected the institute to liquidate no more than $10–25 million worth of the SHIB instead of the much larger amount it ultimately realized.

Chinese investors defrauded in the Zhimin Qian scheme are urging the UK High Court to overturn a proposed redress plan for more than 61,000 seized Bitcoin, arguing it could strip them of gains in the crypto's value. The holdings, seized in a London money-laundering probe linked to Qian and associate Jian Wen, are now valued at about 3.2 billion pounds, while a July hearing will decide whether English or Chinese law governs recovery claims.

In 2026, the value of tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains has expanded about 66% to roughly $23.6 billion, led by tokenized funds, gold, commodities and equities. Data indicates tokenized funds now represent the largest segment at $10.5 billion, while market participants highlight growing demand for assets that can trade and settle around the clock.

Tokenized equities on public blockchains have exceeded $1 billion in value, with data indicating that Ondo controls about 58% of the market and xStocks around 24%. A report released on Tuesday by Foresight Ventures says regulatory hurdles, liquidity structures and tokenization models are pushing the sector toward consolidation around these early leaders. The study also notes that tokenized real-world assets beyond stablecoins have reached roughly $26 billion in value, while tokenized U.S. Treasurys recently passed $10.8 billion in market capitalization.

Nigel Farage has invested 215,000 pounds (around $286,000) into London-listed Bitcoin treasury firm Stack BTC, acquiring a 6.31% shareholding via his media vehicle. The move deepens the Reform UK leader's involvement in digital assets as the UK continues to debate rules on crypto donations and political funding.

Bitcoin recovered from a slide to about $65,725 and briefly approached $68,000 as crude oil retreated from an overnight jump of nearly 25% above $117 to roughly $100. The rebound followed reports that G7 finance ministers planned an emergency call to consider a coordinated release of 300–400 million barrels from strategic reserves, while onchain oil-linked trading volumes on Hyperliquid and Tradexyz hit fresh weekend records.

Social platform X will bar creators from its revenue-sharing program for 90 days if they post AI-generated war footage without clearly labeling it as artificial. The rule, announced by X's head of product Nikita Bier, ties monetization eligibility to transparent AI disclosure and specifically targets videos depicting armed conflicts amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.

Sentient has launched Arena, a production-style benchmarking platform for testing AI agents on enterprise-oriented workflows, with Pantera Capital and Franklin Templeton's digital assets arm participating in the inaugural cohort. The platform evaluates agents on standardized tasks involving long documents, incomplete data and conflicting information, tracks failure categories such as hallucinations and missing evidence, and plans a public leaderboard, as firms across finance and crypto explore more autonomous AI systems.

U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $1.02 billion in net inflows from Tuesday to Thursday, while Bitcoin traded below its all-time high. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust led the rebound after five weeks of net outflows, and spot Ether and Solana ETFs also recorded positive flows over the same period. Several analysts noted that the roughly 50% drawdown in Bitcoin may be nearing exhaustion, although they warned a sharp V-shaped recovery remains unlikely.