TownSquare Completes Pre-A Round, Total Funding Reaches $16.25 Million
PANews reported on May 21 that RWA yield protocol TownSquare announced the completion of a Pre-A round of financing, bringing its total financing to approximately $16.25 million. The funds will be used to advance institutionally-backed yield products and cross-chain brokerage businesses.
The protocol focuses on bringing institutionally-backed on-chain asset yields to ordinary users. Currently, the scale of institutionally-backed assets on the chain is approximately $36.00 billion, with yields exceeding the traditional 3%–5% level of US Treasury bonds.
TownSquare will build yield vaults around stablecoin USD1, tokenized gold, USDC, cbBTC, and other RWAs, and will work with partners such as World Liberty Financial to advance a USD1 pipeline plan with a scale of approximately $100.00 million.
[The Block]
Kawasaki Heavy Industries collaborates with NVIDIA to advance Physics AI and plans to establish a robotics center in the United States.
On May 21, according to the Nikkei Asian Review, Kawasaki Heavy Industries will deepen its collaboration with NVIDIA to jointly develop “Physical AI” technology and plans to establish a robotics R&D center in the United States.
Both parties will leverage NVIDIA’s simulation and digital twin technologies to enhance robots’ training and validation capabilities within virtual environments, thereby accelerating real-world deployment.
The report notes that NVIDIA’s related simulation platforms will also be applied to Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ developing quadruped robot “Corleo” to optimize its motion control, autonomous navigation, and environmental adaptability.
[PANews]
Morgan Stanley’s total Bitcoin holdings increased to 3,472 coins.
According to Arkham monitoring, MSBT, the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) operated by Morgan Stanley, has again increased its BTC holdings by 82.996 BTC, valued at $6.57 million.
Its total Bitcoin holdings have now reached 3,472 BTC, valued at $268 million.
[Odaily]
Precious metals get a digital makeover as defensive assets see renewed interest
Investment platform iTrustCapital brings precious metals and crypto together in a single dashboard, where users can buy and sell assets within self-directed retirement accounts 24/7.
Gold and silver are back in focus as investors look for defensive assets amid market volatility and persistent inflation concerns. More people are exploring alternatives outside the traditional stock-and-bond mix in search of diversification and stability.
But while demand for precious metals is growing, many legacy Gold IRA models still come with familiar friction points: heavily marked-up coins, pressure from commission-driven salespeople, and limited liquidity when it comes time to sell metals. For many investors, the biggest concern is cost. Some companies charge steep premiums on coins while overstating the potential benefits of certain products, making it difficult for customers to fully understand what they are paying for.
At the same time, investor expectations are evolving. People who can buy Bitcoin from a dashboard at any hour now expect the same level of accessibility and control from physical commodities. As alternative assets become more mainstream, features like straightforward pricing, 24/7 account access, and the ability to manage multiple asset types from a single platform are quickly becoming baseline expectations.
iTrustCapital is a fintech software platform for alternative assets. It gives investors access to self-directed retirement accounts through an easy-to-use online platform. Through self-directed IRAs and taxable accounts, users can access crypto, gold, silver and soon stocks from one platform. Once funded, users can start buying and selling 24/7. That access also applies to gold and silver, which are typically associated with slower legacy IRA processes.
iTrustCapital lets users buy and sell physical precious metals through the same interface for their crypto. Gold and silver positions are backed by physical metal and ownership is ledgered through Tradewind’s VaultChain™.
The underlying bullion is stored at the Royal Canadian Mint through Kitco Metals, giving investors digital access to physical precious metals without reducing ownership to a paper-only claim. VaultChain™ records fractional ownership of institutional-grade bullion, allowing investors to gain metals exposure without relying on heavily marked-up limited-mintage coins that may offer little added value.
Execution is designed to mirror the digital investing experience many investors already use today. Users can view live metal pricing, review the quoted cost before placing an order and manage transactions from the same dashboard used for digital assets. The process removes much of the friction traditionally associated with precious metals investing, including phone-based quotes and pressure from commission-driven salesmen.
Crypto sits alongside metals inside the same account environment. iTrustCapital says users can buy and sell more than 95 digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana. Retirement investors can buy and sell metals and selected digital assets without splitting the strategy across disconnected platforms.
Fees are shown before execution. iTrustCapital requires no monthly, annual, startup and exit fees and offers a 1% transaction fee for crypto transactions. Precious metals transactions carry transaction fees over spot per ounce.
Self-directed access gives the model its utility. Investors choose allocations directly and rebalance on their own schedule. When markets move, they can adjust through the platform interface.
iTrustCapital is preparing to move beyond crypto and metals. The company will be adding stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to the platform, bringing traditional equities to its existing mix of alternative assets.
Retirement accounts have often separated equities, physical commodities and digital assets into different systems. Unified interfaces compress those workflows. Costs are easier to analyze. Execution becomes faster. Portfolio changes no longer require investors to move between custodians, brokers and metals dealers.
Investors are pushing retirement platforms toward a simpler model: broader asset access, clearer costs and faster control over allocation changes. Platforms like iTrustCapital could potentially lead this transition and establish the single-dashboard approach as the definitive standard for the modern self-directed investor.
iTrustCapital is a fintech software platform for alternative assets. iTrustCapital is not an exchange, funding portal, custodian, trust company, licensed broker, dealer, broker-dealer, investment advisor, investment manager or adviser in the United States or elsewhere. iTrustCapital is not affiliated with and does not endorse any particular digital asset, precious metal or investment strategy.
This post is commissioned by Blockman and does not serve as a testimonial or endorsement by The Block. This post is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment, tax, legal or other advice. You should conduct your own research and consult independent counsel and advisors on the matters discussed within this post. Past performance of any asset is not indicative of future results.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. [The Block]
In the past 24 hours, the entire network contract爆仓 was $262.00 million, mainly爆仓 short orders.
May 21st news, according to CoinAnk data, the total liquidation of cryptocurrency contracts across the entire network in the past 24 hours was $262.00 million, of which long positions accounted for $98.67 million and short positions accounted for $164.00 million.
The total liquidation amount of BTC was $39.76 million, and the total liquidation amount of ETH was $39.57 million.
[PANews]
MoonPay Launches MoonPay Trade to Enter the Tokenized Assets and DeFi Market
MoonPay has announced the launch of a new platform, MoonPay Trade, aimed at banks, fintech companies, and enterprise clients, providing unified access to tokenized assets, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and stablecoin liquidity, covering over 200 blockchain networks.
It is reported that MoonPay Trade will become the core execution layer of its institutional business, MoonPay Institutional, supporting tokenized fund subscriptions, collateral transfers, and integration with DeFi protocols such as Aave, Morpho, and Maple Finance, enabling institutions to directly conduct lending and yield-generating operations on-chain.
[CoinDesk]
The final draft of the US-Iran agreement has been reached and is expected to be released in the coming hours.
According to Al Arabiya TV, as cited by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) of Iran, the final draft of the U.S.-Iran agreement has been reached under Pakistan’s mediation and is expected to be announced within the next few hours.
[Odaily]
AI startup Hark completes a $7.00B Series A funding round at a $6.00B valuation, led by Parkway Venture Capital
AI startup Hark announced the completion of a $700 million funding round, achieving a post-money valuation of $6 billion. This Series A round was led by Parkway Venture Capital, with participation from NVIDIA, AMD Ventures, ARK Invest, Brookfield, Greycroft, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.
Hark stated that it will use these funds to expand its GPU infrastructure, accelerate large model development, grow its team from approximately 70 to 200 engineers, and develop next-generation AI hardware—aiming to build a personal intelligent system capable of voice interaction, visual understanding, persistent memory, and high personalization.
[PANews]
What is The Most Profitable Asset of 2026? It’s Not Bitcoin or Gold
SanDisk stock is the best-performing asset of 2026 so far. The shares have gained 509% between January 1 and May 20. A $1,000 investment on day one is worth about $6,090 today. That makes SanDisk the clear winner across stocks, crypto, commodities and indices. The runner-up is a crypto token called DeXe, up 363%. Intel comes third at 209%, followed by Seagate at 183%.
Why Did SanDisk Stock Surge 500% This Year? The driver behind SanDisk’s surge is the AI boom. The company makes memory chips that power data centres training large AI models. On April 30, it reported revenue of $5.95 billion, up 251% from a year earlier. In the same earnings release, SanDisk disclosed a $42 billion order backlog from cloud customers. The stock then jumped to an all-time high of $1,562 on May 8. It now trades near $1,383.
By contrast, Bitcoin disappointed investors this year. The token opened in 2026 at $87,600 and has since fallen to about $76,800. That is a 22.9% loss, turning a $1,000 stake into $771. Gold also failed to live up to its early promise. The metal briefly hit an all-time high of $5,589 on January 28. It has since dropped back to around $4,500, leaving holders with only a 6.5% gain for the year.
Oil tells a more dramatic story. Brent crude started the year at $60.59 a barrel and now trades near $113. That is an 86% jump, driven mainly by tensions around the Strait of Hormuz in April. Value of $1,000 Investment in Each Asset Today.
Copper Leads in Precious Metals. Industrial metals also had a strong run. Copper has climbed 42% on the London Metal Exchange, supported by demand from AI data centres and electric vehicles. Silver, however, rose only 3.4% after a sharp January spike faded.
Broader stock indices delivered steady but unspectacular returns. The Nasdaq 100 is up 16%. The S&P 500 is up 9.1%, and the Dow Jones has gained 3.9%. Importantly, the household-name AI stocks did not lead the rally. Nvidia underperformed its own sector, and Microsoft is actually down for the year. Instead, investors rotated into less obvious AI suppliers like SanDisk, Intel and Seagate.
Risk also matters in any honest comparison. SanDisk’s gains came with sharp swings, and the stock has already pulled back more than 11% from its May peak. Even so, it has outpaced the Nasdaq 100 by more than 30 times this year. In short, 2026 has rewarded a narrow group of AI-linked names and punished the assets most retail investors expected to lead.
MoonPay launches MoonPay Trade through the acquisition of Decent
MoonPay has acquired Decent.xyz, a cross-chain routing and liquidity company backed by Y Combinator (YC). This marks at least the company’s fourth acquisition this year, and according to sources familiar with the matter, the deal is an eight-figure transaction.
Through this acquisition, MoonPay has launched MoonPay Trade—a product positioned as an institutional-grade unified API enabling on-chain execution, settlement, conversion, and payments across more than 200 chains and protocols.
MoonPay Trade leverages Decent’s proprietary routing algorithms, bridging infrastructure, and liquidity layer—combined with MoonPay’s existing fiat on-ramp and off-ramp channels and compliance infrastructure—to deliver “one-click” trading. The tool will also support the tokenization efforts of MoonPay Institutional.
[Foresight News]
Loracle continues to reduce its HYPE short positions, with current unrealized losses exceeding $28.00 million.
Hyperbot data shows that Loracle, an early contributor to Hyperliquid, continues to reduce its HYPE short position.
Its current 5x-leveraged HYPE short position holds 1,832,858.99 HYPE tokens, with a floating loss exceeding $28 million and a liquidation price of $74.10.
[Odaily]
MoonPay Acquires Decent to Launch Unified On-Chain Trading API “MoonPay Trade”
May 21st, MoonPay announced the acquisition of cross-chain routing and liquidity company Decent.xyz, with the transaction amount being in the eight-figure USD range according to sources.
The acquisition coincides with the launch of MoonPay Trade, an institutional-grade unified API product that integrates Decent’s cross-chain routing algorithm, bridging infrastructure, and liquidity layer, as well as MoonPay’s existing fiat on/off-ramp and compliance system. It provides one-click execution, settlement, exchange, and payment capabilities for over 200 chains and protocols, and provides underlying execution layer support for MoonPay Institutional’s asset tokenization business.
MoonPay has recently acquired infrastructure projects such as DFlow, Dawn, and Sodot in succession to build an end-to-end crypto-fiat infrastructure stack.
[PANews]
Senator Lummis Reiterates Call to Advance the Clarity Act, Emphasizing Regulatory Void Means No Recourse
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming stated, “No rules do not mean no harm; they mean no recourse.”
She reiterated the original intent behind her years-long advocacy for the Digital Asset Clarity Act, emphasizing that the bill aims to provide a clear regulatory framework for the development of digital assets within the United States.
[Foresight News]
Today, U.S. Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow of 942 BTC, and Ethereum ETFs saw a net outflow of 15,222 ETH.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, today the US Bitcoin ETF had a net outflow of 942 BTC, worth $72.66 million, and a 7-day net outflow of 15,915 BTC, worth $1.23 billion.
Ethereum ETF had a single-day net outflow of 15,222 ETH, worth $32.44 million, and a 7-day net outflow of 114,871 ETH, worth $244.79 million.
Solana ETF had a single-day net inflow of 8,312 SOL, worth $723,000.00, and a 7-day net inflow of 203,326 SOL, worth $17.69 million.
[Odaily]
U.S. Congressman Nick Begich introduces the “American Reserve Modernization Act,” which aims to list digital assets as national reserves.
U.S. Congressman Nick Begich has introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA).
The bill aims to integrate digital assets held by the U.S. government within the government and protect them as reserve assets for the benefit of future generations, thereby protecting these assets from arbitrary disposal by Congress or future governments.
[Foresight News]
White House Postpones AI Executive Order Signing Ceremony
According to market news, the White House has postponed the signing ceremony for the artificial intelligence executive order.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang previously stated that artificial intelligence will become a trillion-dollar industry, the ROI of artificial intelligence is very clear, and its performance is extremely outstanding. Nvidia’s (NVDA.O) stock price performance is “a mystery in the universe.”
[Odaily]
Today’s Market Pulse
Institutional capital flows are accelerating across both traditional and crypto asset classes, with significant funding rounds for RWA protocols and AI infrastructure coinciding with regulatory developments and ETF outflows.
Key Themes
Institutional Adoption & Infrastructure
– What’s happening: Morgan Stanley increased Bitcoin holdings to 3,472 BTC despite ETF outflows. MoonPay launched institutional-grade MoonPay Trade via acquisition of Decent, unifying access to tokenized assets across 200+ blockchains.
– Why it matters: Signals growing sophistication in institutional crypto infrastructure beyond simple spot ETFs, enabling complex yield strategies and tokenization.
– Implication: We’re entering a phase where institutions demand more comprehensive crypto exposure beyond spot price exposure, driving infrastructure development.
Real World Assets Integration
– What’s happening: TownSquare secured $16.25M in funding for RWA yield products targeting institutional yields exceeding Treasuries. iTrustCapital unified precious metals and crypto in a single dashboard.
– Why it matters: Bridges traditional finance yields with DeFi, offering superior returns and diversification options.
– Implication: RWA protocols could emerge as the primary bridge between traditional finance and crypto, potentially reshaping yield markets.
Regulatory & Geopolitical Shifts
– What’s happening: Senator Lummis reiterates need for regulatory clarity, while Congressman Begich introduces bill to list digital assets as national reserves.
– Why it matters: Regulatory developments could either accelerate or hinder institutional adoption depending on outcomes.
– Implication: Regulatory clarity remains the key catalyst for next wave of institutional capital, with national reserve status representing a significant milestone.
Market Structure & Performance
– What’s happening: Crypto contracts saw $262M in liquidations (mostly shorts). SanDisk emerged as 2026’s top-performing asset (509% gain) versus Bitcoin’s underperformance (-22.9%).
– Why it matters: Market structure is evolving with sophisticated trading products, while traditional AI-linked assets outperform crypto.
– Implication: Crypto’s narrative may need to evolve beyond pure speculation to compete with institutional-grade alternatives.
RichSilo Verdict
Smart money should monitor RWA adoption rates and tokenization pipelines as the primary growth vectors, with MoonPay’s institutional expansion and TownSquare’s yield vaults representing early indicators of institutional sophistication. Key catalysts include the Digital Asset Clarity Act progress and potential US Treasury digital asset announcements, while risks include regulatory overreach and ETF outflow persistence.
