JOON HYOUNG LEE

Mastercard Expands Stablecoin Settlement for Card Payments, Adds USDC and RLUSD

Mastercard is expanding stablecoin-based settlement for card payments. Cointelegraph reported on June 3 that Mastercard plans to let card issuers and acquirers settle some transactions in stablecoins. The new feature will cover card payments made on

Trump Says Iran Talks Are Moving Quickly, Wants to Meet Mojtaba

President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran are moving quickly. In an interview on the New York Post podcast on June 3, Trump said the talks were advancing rapidly. He added that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon and that "other good thin

BOJ's Ueda Says Rate Hikes Needed if Middle East Tensions Gradually Ease

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled the possibility of further interest-rate increases. BlockBeats reported on June 3 that the BOJ would continue raising its policy rate at an appropriate pace if it determines that the likelihood of its baseli

TD Cowen Maintains Buy Rating on Strategy, Sets $400 Price Target

TD Cowen has maintained its buy rating on Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, and set a $400 price target on the stock. Odaily reported on June 3 that TD Cowen recently reiterated its buy rating on Strategy and kept its price t

Binance Offers Up to 50% Fee Discount for US Stock, ETF Trading Launch

Binance is launching a promotion to mark the debut of trading in US stocks and exchange-traded funds on its platform. BlockBeats and other outlets reported June 3 that Binance will offer discounted trading fees on US stocks and ETFs from June 3 throu

Iran Hits Kuwait Airport With Drones, Missiles; Flights Halted

Iran attacked Kuwait International Airport with drones and missiles, halting operations at the airport. Reuters reported on June 3 that Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Iran's drone and missile attack destroyed Terminal 1 at Kuwait

OECD Warns Prolonged Iran War Could Push Global Economy Into Recession

The OECD has warned that a prolonged Middle East conflict could tip the global economy toward recession. In its latest economic outlook published June 3, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said the war involving Iran is already

[Blooming Lunch] Plume’s Kim Su-min Wants to Put Korean Blue-Chip Assets On-Chain

Kim Su-min, Head of Korea at Plume Network “I Got Into Web3 Without Even Knowing What a Wallet Was” Working to Tokenize Korean Assets “You Have to Deal With Licensing, Compliance and Everything” “Meet good people and have good conversations” is the i

Binance to List Perpetual Futures on Dell, IBM and IREN

Binance, the global cryptocurrency exchange, will list new perpetual futures tied to U.S. stocks including Dell, IBM and IREN. BlockBeats and other outlets reported on June 3 that Binance will launch the new contracts later that day. The contracts wi

UK Regulator Warns Premier League Clubs Against Sponsorship Deals With Unlicensed Crypto Firms

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has warned Premier League clubs not to enter sponsorship deals with unlicensed cryptocurrency firms. Reuters reported on June 3 that the FCA sent a letter the same day to Premier League clubs and other British so

Korbit Launches Crypto Transfers Using Mobile Phone Numbers

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit said on June 1 that it launched a "Send to Contact" service that allows users to transfer digital assets using a mobile phone number. The service lets users send cryptocurrency by entering a recipient's pho

Analysis: Binance Posts $1.2 Billion of Stablecoin Outflows in May as Liquidity Declines

Binance, the global cryptocurrency exchange, has seen $1.2 billion of net stablecoin outflows so far this month. Darkfost, a contributor at CryptoQuant, wrote on May 31 that Binance recorded $1.2 billion in net stablecoin outflows in May. The exchang

Key Economic, Crypto Events This Week: US April JOLTS Report Due

<Key Economic Events Next Week> ▶︎June 1 (Mon.): △South Korea May trade balance (9 a.m. Korea time, 8 p.m. US time) △Fed Chair Jerome Powell speech (9:30 a.m. Korea time, 8:30 p.m. US time) △US May manufacturing PMI (10:45 p.m. Korea time, 9:45 a.m.

Gravity Bridge Suffers $5.4 Million Hack, Asks Validators to Halt Operations

Gravity Bridge, a Cosmos-based cross-chain bridge, has suffered a hack worth about $5.4 million. Cointelegraph reported on May 31 that on-chain analyst Spreek wrote on X that Gravity Bridge’s contract key appeared to have been compromised and that $5

Analysis: US Institutional Bitcoin Buying Still Absent, Weakening Case for Further Gains

Buying by US institutional investors has yet to return to Bitcoin, according to a CryptoQuant analysis. CryptoQuant contributor Rich_dady wrote on May 31 that the market is currently being driven by institutional sellers rather than institutional buy

NYT Says Trump Rejected Iran Ceasefire MOU Draft, Sent Tougher Revision

President Donald Trump did not approve a draft memorandum of understanding, or MOU, aimed at ending the war with Iran, the New York Times reported on May 30. The newspaper said Trump withheld approval from a ceasefire MOU that US and Iranian negotiat

Backpack Founder Says Binance’s Rumored US Stock Trading Push Would Reshape Brokerage Market

Armani Ferrante, founder and chief executive officer of crypto exchange Backpack, said reports that Binance may offer US stock trading would be a market-shifting development if true. Writing on X on May 31, Ferrante said the crypto industry already h

Vietnam Seeks to Let SMEs Use Crypto as Bank Loan Collateral

Vietnam is seeking to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to use cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as collateral for bank loans. Vietnam News and other local media reported on May 31 that a draft amendment to the Law on Support for Small

Trump Says US, Iran Near ‘Very Good Deal,’ Says Pentagon Could Step In if Talks Fail

President Donald Trump said the US is close to what he called a “very good deal” with Iran. In a Fox News interview on May 30, Trump said the one guarantee he must secure is that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. He said Iran had agreed to that con

BNB Jumps 13%, Triggers $12 Million in 24-Hour Liquidations

BNB surged about 13%, triggering roughly $12 million in liquidations in the futures market. According to CoinMarketCap, BNB was trading at $739.85 as of 12:40 p.m. in Korea on May 31, up 12.61% from a day earlier. The token has climbed nearly 20% ove

Hyperliquid Extends Record Run; Polymarket Prices Nearly 40% Odds of $100 in 2026

Hyperliquid's HYPE token extended its record-setting rally. CoinMarketCap data on May 31 showed HYPE trading around $68.5, up about 5% from a day earlier. It was the first time the token traded above $68.5. On Polymarket, the odds of HYPE topping $10

Axios Says Trump Seeks Changes to Nuclear, Hormuz Terms in Iran Ceasefire MOU

President Donald Trump has sought changes to clauses covering Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz in a ceasefire agreement with Tehran, Axios reported. Axios reported on May 31 that Trump instructed aides at a White House meeting on May 2

Binance to Add US Stock Trading Next Month

Binance, the global cryptocurrency exchange, is set to add US stock trading next month. BlockBeats reported on May 31 that the new feature Binance previously teased for June 1 will likely add US stock trading to its main platform and introduce bStock

Trump Tightens Terms of Iran Ceasefire Proposal, NYT Says

President Donald Trump has toughened the terms of a ceasefire proposal with Iran, the New York Times reported. Citing multiple sources, the newspaper reported on May 30 that Trump recently added stricter conditions to a tentative agreement aimed at s

Canada Enters Technical Recession in First Quarter, First Time Since 2020

Canada entered a technical recession in the first quarter, marking the first time since 2020. Statistics Canada said on May 29 that real gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 0.1% in the first quarter, after a 1% contraction in the fou

Sui Hit by Second Mainnet Outage in Two Days as Cause Is Probed

Sui's mainnet suffered a second network outage in two days. The Block reported on May 29 that the Sui blockchain was experiencing a temporary disruption. Based on Suiscan data, the network failed to process new blocks for about two hours. Sui wrote o

CFTC Approves Kalshi Bitcoin Perpetual Futures Listing in First for US Exchange

US regulators have approved the listing of a Bitcoin perpetual futures contract on Kalshi, the prediction-market platform. CoinDesk reported on May 29 that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi to list and trade the Bitcoin perpetu

CFTC Approves Coinbase Listing of Bitcoin Perpetual Futures

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved Coinbase’s listing and trading of Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts. CoinDesk and other outlets reported on May 29 that the CFTC cleared Coinbase to list and trade the contracts. Coinbase Chi

Aeternum Holds Unchained Summit Vietnam in Da Nang as Official, Institutional Participation Grows

Aeternum said on May 29 that it held the two-day Unchained Summit Vietnam cryptocurrency conference in Da Nang, Vietnam, from May 28. The event was co-hosted with the Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Center. Participants included the Da Nang People

Danish Pension Fund Blacklists SpaceX as 'Excessively Overvalued'

Danish pension fund AkademikerPension has excluded Elon Musk-led space company SpaceX from its investment universe. Anders Schelde, the fund's chief investment officer, told Bloomberg on May 29 that AkademikerPension will not invest in SpaceX. The fu