The Block

Memefund ai16z planned to launch an AI token inspired by the ELIZA chatbot with a partner, but the project was frontran with “ai16zeliza” created by another entity.After ai16z partner “Shaw” posted that Eliza had been “set free,” launching a competing ELIZA token, whipsawing price action ensued, sparking a community debate.

Quick Take Lattice, Anagram, Heartcore, DCG and Daedalus Angels also contributed to Barter’s seed financing. Barter intends to use the funds to grow its team and to continue developing AppChain, the firm’s DeFi tool that connects liquidity and order flow.

Quick Take The finalized rule would mean that “DeFi brokers” will follow the same rules as brokers that handle securities, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday. The rulemaking has drawn criticism from crypto industry participants who say crypto is different from traditional assets.

Quick Take When clients open accounts with Dakota, the platform automatically converts the funds into an “on-platform” stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasurys. Clients can also avoid paying fees when making ACH, Fedwire, SWIFT or SEPA transfers.

Quick Take BIT Mining will pay a total criminal penalty of $10 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the alleged bribery of Japanese officials. In a parallel action, the firm also agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty to settle similar U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges, credited against the DOJ figure.

Quick Take Securitize has introduced a new way to gain liquidity from real-world assets while still earning yield called the “sToken.” The token architecture, which uses the ERC-4626 standard, was built in collaboration with makers of the deUSD synthetic dollar, Elixir. BlackRock’s BUIDL token will be the first token issued by Securitize to be part of this “deUSD RWA Institutional Program,” with other assets planned to be introduced later.

Quick Take Montenegro’s minister of justice signs off on Terra co-founder Do Kwon’s extradition to the U.S. This comes after the Supreme Court delegated the extradition decision to the justice minister following conflicting lower court rulings on whether Kwon should go to South Korea or the U.S.

Quick Take Bitcoin holds steady above $96,000 as ETF inflows highlight growing institutional confidence in the digital asset sector, analysts said. Investors are turning to crypto-AI and DeFi tokens like HYPE and ai16z, signaling a shift toward emerging trends beyond major crypto tokens.

Quick Take Newly introduced amendments from the Russian government classify crypto income as property, with a maximum tax rate of 15%.