Sam Bankman-Fried has formally applied for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump as the disgraced FTX co-founder looks to appeal his 25-year prison sentence. Bankman-Fried was convicted on multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy for stealing, following the collapse of his crypto exchange/ hedge fund, FTX.
Covered by Senior Journalist at Payment Expert Callum Williams, this week’s Blockchain Bulletin explores a number of developments in the payments sector.
Elsewhere, Bybit has launched IPO Express, a tokenised stock trading service allowing traders to subscribe to tokenised representations of initial public offerings. SpaceX, whose IPO is scheduled for the 12 June.
American crypto exchange Coinbase is rolling out a stablecoin-baked credit card in partnership with fintech firm Cardless. The product enables stablecoin payments where traditional credit cards cannot be used.
In Japan, MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho are collaborating on a regulatory framework to support the country’s first yen-backed stablecoin. The collaboration already has the backing of Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
And finally, MetaMask has launched an AI agent wallet designed to give users greater control over their digital assets. The self-custodial wallet supports spending limits, two-factor authentication and a transaction protection programme.
