Strategy Funds Entire $1 Billion Bitcoin Buy With Hybrid Securities
Treasury Companies
”For the first time since launching its high-yield securities in July, Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. funded its latest $1 billion weekly Bitcoin purchase entirely through the sale of its 'Stretch' perpetual preferred shares. The tokens were acquired in the seven days ended April 12, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin said in an US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. Saylor, who started the Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2020, debuted the variable rate preferred issue last year in a $2.5 billion offering as the company co-founder and chairman sought to diversify funding sources. Strategy has raised tens of billions of dollars from selling common shares over the last several years to buy the digital currency.”
Source: Bloomberg
SEC Carves Out Path For Some Crypto Interfaces to Bypass Broker Registration
Policy
“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said certain user interfaces that allow users to transact and use their crypto wallets may not need to register as broker-dealers if certain conditions are met. On Monday, in their latest effort to clarify their stance on digital assets, the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets released a staff statement on crypto user interfaces. The statement does not constitute a formal rule or guidance. 'This statement is part of an effort to provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to activities involving crypto asset securities,' the SEC said. 'The Staff is providing its views as an interim step while the Commission continues to consider various regulatory issues relating to crypto asset securities activities and the feedback it has received.'”
Source: The Block
Kraken Crypto Exchange Says Criminal Group Claims Access to Some Customer Data
Security
“Kraken, one of the world’s oldest crypto exchanges, said it’s being extorted by a criminal group that claims to have access to some client account information. Client funds were never at risk, Nick Percoco, chief security officer for Kraken, said in a post on the X social network on Monday. The exchange didn’t say how much was being sought by the group. Some limited client information — including names and addresses — may have been stolen when client support staffers took photos and videos of the data during two incidents, in 2025 and earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named because the details haven’t been made public. The company told about 2,000 clients who may have been affected to be careful with outreach to them, the person said.”
Source: Bloomberg
World Liberty Investor Justin Sun Claims Trump Crypto Venture 'Secretly' Installed Tool to Freeze User Holdings
Legal
“A major investor in U.S. President Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture has claimed that the firm 'secretly' implemented a tool to unilaterally freeze and restrict private holdings of its WLFI token. In posts on social media platform X on Sunday, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun said, without offering evidence, that World Liberty had embedded what he described as a 'backdoor blacklisting function' in the blockchain-based contracts used for the tokens. The move, Sun wrote, gave World Liberty 'unilateral power' to 'freeze, restrict, and effectively confiscate the property rights' of any token holder, without cause and without recourse.”
Source: Reuters
ClearBank Secures MiCA Approval, Targets Circle Euro, Dollar Stablecoins For Institutional Clients
Stablecoins
“ClearBank Europe plans to start offering euro- and U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins after saying it's the first Dutch credit institution cleared to provide crypto services under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. The bank, which has more than 270 institutional clients, 1.7 million individual customers and more than $13 billion in assets under management, received confirmation from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) after notifying the regulator of its plans, allowing it to operate as a crypto asset service provider (CASP). That approval allows ClearBank to begin rolling out digital asset services without applying for a new license. Clients will be able to convert between fiat currencies and stablecoins within a regulated banking environment. The setup links traditional clearing systems with blockchain networks, which can reduce settlement times and improve cross-border transfers.”
Source: CoinDesk
