OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reportedly discussed giving the US government a 5% equity stake as artificial intelligence oversight in Washington intensifies.

The company raised the idea in early discussions with the Trump administration as it seeks to navigate a tougher political environment ahead of a potential public listing, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman argued that giving the public a financial stake in the company would be the best way to share the economic benefits of the booming AI industry.

The report comes weeks after OpenAI announced it had confidentially submitted an S-1 for a US initial public offering, joining Anthropic in preparing for a Wall Street debut this year. It also comes as the US government takes a more active role in overseeing advanced AI models.

Proposal extends to other AI companies

The proposal would see several leading US AI companies contribute a 5% equity stake to a public investment vehicle. However, it remains unclear whether companies such as Anthropic, Google and Meta would support the idea.

The Financial Times reported that Altman modeled the proposal on Alaska’s Permanent Fund, which invests the state’s oil revenue into stocks and pays dividends to residents. Under a similar approach, Americans could share in the economic gains generated by AI.

According to the report, Altman has been in talks with President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He also reportedly spoke with Senator Bernie Sanders, who in June proposed a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies to create a nearly $7 trillion sovereign wealth fund for Americans.

Source: Vivek Sen

Washington steps up AI oversight

The White House is preparing voluntary standards for frontier AI models following its intervention in the rollout of recent systems from OpenAI and Anthropic.

The guidance is expected to be announced as early as next week and would set security benchmarks, establish review timelines and clarify who can access the most advanced AI models in the US and abroad.

The Trump administration reportedly requested a staggered rollout of OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 and temporarily imposed export controls on Anthropic’s latest models over cybersecurity concerns before lifting the restrictions.

Related: Anthropic to bring back Fable 5 as US lifts export controls

Cointelegraph reached out to OpenAI for comment on the reported discussions but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

Europe’s stablecoin market entered a stricter phase as MiCA reached its full enforcement deadline across member states and licensed platforms. The July 1, 2026, cutoff removed USDT from regulated exchange access across the bloc’s licensed venues. The shift redirects licensed liquidity toward USDC, EURC, and new euro-backed tokens under tighter EU supervision and clearer reserve controls.

USDT Loses Its Regulated EU Route

Europe has removed USDT from regulated crypto trading as MiCA now reaches full force across licensed markets and service providers. The deadline blocks non-compliant stablecoins from licensed EU exchanges, brokers, and trading venues under the new regime for stablecoin issuers. That decision ends Tether’s direct regulated access to the bloc’s main crypto platforms and order books.

The change followed months of phased exchange action rather than one sudden cutoff. Coinbase Europe removed USDT in December 2024, and Crypto.com followed in January 2025 under the same compliance pressure. Binance later restricted EU USDT pairs, while Kraken moved from sell-only trading to paused support for regional clients.

Tether did not seek approval as a MiCA e-money token before the final deadline, despite the market size. The company opposed the reserve rule requiring large deposits inside European banking institutions and supervised accounts under EU oversight. Therefore, USDT lost its regulated pathway despite its leading role in global stablecoin trading liquidity and offshore demand.

USDC Takes The Main Dollar Route

Circle used the same rulebook to strengthen its position inside the European crypto market under MiCA and local oversight. The company secured a French Electronic Money Institution license before the hard deadline took effect across the bloc. As a result, USDC can operate across all 27 EU member states through passporting rights and local supervision.

USDC now stands as the leading compliant dollar stablecoin on licensed European exchanges and broker platforms. Platforms can list it without the legal pressure now attached to USDT in Europe after the cutoff. Consequently, trading desks and market makers must rebuild liquidity around new compliant pairs and settlement routes for clients.

The transition may tighten short-term liquidity because USDT still drives large global volumes. Yet regulated EU exchanges now need tokens that fit MiCA’s stablecoin rules and reserve standards for issuers. That requirement gives USDC a stronger role in euro-area crypto trading and settlement flows.

EURC And Euro Tokens Push Local Control

Circle’s EURC also gains from the same regulatory approval and passporting rights across Europe. The euro-pegged token gives exchanges a compliant local currency stablecoin option under MiCA and local oversight. In turn, platforms can reduce reliance on dollar pairs for selected regional trading activity inside Europe.

Tether still has indirect exposure to Europe through other regulated token projects and partners. StablR and Oobit launched MiCA-compliant tokens using Tether’s Hadron tokenization platform for compliant issuance. Their EURR and USDR products show how Tether can support compliant issuers without listing USDT on regulated venues.

Banks are also preparing a larger euro stablecoin push under the new framework. A group of 37 European banks, including BNP Paribas and ING, is developing Qivalis. MiCA now sets the rulebook, and July 1 resets regulated European stablecoin trading.

Ethereum’s push to win broader institutional involvement just gained a new coordinating body. On Wednesday, a new independent nonprofit called Ethereum Institutional was launched with backing from Ether treasury companies BitMine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink, along with Joe Lubin and other contributors, aiming to build a more formal “front door” between Ethereum and mainstream financial firms.

The timing reflects a familiar tension in the market: Ethereum remains the leading platform for institutional-facing crypto use cases like stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), yet the ecosystem is also facing intensifying competition from other blockchains that are actively courting banks and asset managers.

Key takeaways

• Ethereum Institutional is designed to coordinate outreach to financial institutions with education, standards development, research, and industry events.
• The nonprofit plans to expand beyond early hubs including New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore to additional financial centers.
• Ethereum’s institutional narrative is supported by market concentration in stablecoins and tokenized RWAs, according to DeFiLlama and Token Terminal.
• Launches arrive while parts of Ethereum’s treasury-heavy constituency face ETH price pressure, underscoring how institutional strategy and token volatility remain intertwined.
• Industry observers link the new organizations to renewed efforts around Ethereum’s long-term ecosystem development alongside layer 1, layer 2, and DeFi.

A new “front door” for TradFi engagement

According to a Wednesday announcement from Ethereum Institutional on X (available at https://x.com/ethereuminsti/status/2072304960142729373?s=20), the group was created because the Ethereum ecosystem lacked what it described as a “credible, independent front door” for engaging financial institutions.

Ethereum Institutional says it intends to support institutional adoption by offering multiple layers of engagement: education for traditional finance participants, standards development work, industry research, and institutional events. The organization also signals an outward geographic push, with plans to go beyond its initial focus on New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

For investors and market participants, the practical value is less about a single announcement and more about what institutional firms typically need before they allocate resources: clear points of contact, consistent educational material, and credible pathways for discussing standards and risk. An independent nonprofit structure may also help reduce perceived conflicts of interest that can arise when outreach is perceived as coming directly from token-driven incentives.

Ethereum’s institutional use cases remain hard to ignore

While other networks have been increasingly vocal about winning institutional attention, the underlying activity on Ethereum continues to anchor the institutional narrative. The article’s data points emphasize that Ethereum retains strong market share in tokenized finance.

According to Token Terminal, Ethereum hosts nearly 58% of the tokenized RWA market. In parallel, DeFiLlama data cited in the report indicates Ethereum accounts for roughly half of the $311 billion stablecoin market—a scale that matters because stablecoins remain one of the most direct onchain interfaces for many financial institutions.

That dominance can influence how institutional outreach groups prioritize where to engage. Even if traders respond quickly to price moves, institutions often plan more slowly, following the liquidity and settlement rails that already exist. Ethereum’s concentration in these categories—stablecoins and tokenized RWAs—helps explain why an institutional coordination effort targeting mainstream finance is arriving now, rather than after a competitor has already established similar entry points.

ETH volatility adds urgency to the strategy

Institutional expansion is happening alongside continued uncertainty around ETH itself. The same report notes that Ether prices have been under pressure, weighing on the balance sheets of companies that hold large ETH treasuries.

It states that BitMine and SharpLink are both facing “sizable unrealized losses,” and references ETH trading around $1,620 at last check on Wednesday, with market cap data of $195.4 billion from CoinGecko (https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum). It also points out that ETH had been above $4,000 as recently as Oct. 27.

For readers, this matters because institutional outreach and token performance are not independent variables. When large holders see drawdowns, it can shift internal priorities toward risk management, governance questions, and long-horizon development—yet it can also strengthen the case for structured engagement with traditional finance, where firms often expect clearer frameworks around custody, compliance, and operational reliability.

The report also cites 21shares, arguing that current asset prices have not fully reflected growing demand from portfolio managers, asset managers, and financial institutions.

Governance shake-ups and new ecosystem organizations

Ethereum Institutional’s launch comes while the Ethereum Foundation is undergoing internal changes. The report describes a broad organizational overhaul, including leadership turnover, internal debates over governance and development priorities, increased competition from other blockchains, and criticism tied to ETH market performance.

Earlier coverage referenced in the report notes that Hsiao-Wei Wang, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, stepped down last month. It also highlights reported departures from the foundation this year and a restructuring that included laying off 20% of staff, as covered previously by Cointelegraph.

At the same time, the report frames the emergence of additional independent efforts as part of a broader shift: rather than consolidating all ecosystem-facing work under one umbrella, multiple specialized nonprofits are taking on distinct roles. It points to Ethlabs, launched in June by backers associated with Ethereum Institutional—also supported by BitMine, SharpLink, and Joe Lubin—described as a nonprofit research organization focused on advancing Ethereum’s scalability.

In other words, Ethereum Institutional appears to focus on institutional readiness and engagement, while Ethlabs targets technical R&D. The combination suggests a coordinated attempt to separate “market-facing trust building” from “protocol and performance development,” even as governance and staffing transitions continue within the Foundation itself.

Banking eyes: “commercialisation” as TradFi scales in

Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick highlighted the potential overlap between these nonprofit efforts and Ethereum’s broader ecosystem roadmap. In a Wednesday note to clients cited in the report, Kendrick said the announcement—paired with the earlier launch of Ethlabs—has “direct positive implications for both Ethereum layer 1, layer 2s and the Ethereum originated DeFi protocols.”

Kendrick also pointed to the composition of the anchor funders, calling them “the three commercial giants in the Ethereum ecosystem,” and argued their expertise should help drive commercialization of Ethereum as “TradFi is entering at scale.”

Separately, the report notes Kendrick reaffirmed ETH price forecasts of $4,000 at the end of 2026 and $40,000 at the end of 2030—figures that remain predictions rather than commitments, but they reinforce the bank’s bullish framing around Ethereum’s institutional trajectory.

What to watch next is how Ethereum Institutional operationalizes its stated mission: which standards it prioritizes, what education or research outputs it produces, and how quickly it can translate outreach into measurable commitments from banks and asset managers. Equally important will be whether governance turbulence inside core institutions (like the Ethereum Foundation) stabilizes enough to ensure these new nonprofit tracks complement rather than compete with each other.

Several US states have tightened cryptocurrency ATM rules, with Tennessee and Georgia having brought new restrictions into force as bans and compliance measures continue to expand across the country.

According to state laws that took effect on July 1, Tennessee has prohibited the installation and use of cryptocurrency ATMs, while Georgia has introduced new operating requirements that include transaction limits, customer warnings and refund obligations for certain fraud victims.

New rules enforced in Tennessee and Georgia

Under the Tennessee law signed by Governor Bill Lee in April, cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks can no longer be installed or operated anywhere in the state. 

Georgia has taken a different approach by allowing the machines to continue operating under stricter consumer protection rules. The law requires operators to cap the amount users can send, provide fraud warnings before transactions and, in certain cases, reimburse customers who were deceived by scammers.

These measures add to a growing list of state actions targeting crypto ATMs. Indiana’s statewide ban came into force in March, while Minnesota is scheduled to begin enforcing its own prohibition on Aug. 1. Delaware and New Jersey have also advanced legislation that would prohibit crypto ATMs, although those proposals have not yet become law.

Fraud complaints have remained central behind these legislative actions. According to previously released data from the FBI, the agency received 13,460 crypto kiosk complaints during 2025 involving more than $388.9 million in reported losses, with people over the age of 50 accounting for more than half of all complaints.

Outside the United States, similar concerns have emerged in Canada. Earlier this year, CBC News reported that the Canadian federal government proposed a nationwide ban on crypto ATMs after describing the machines as a major channel used by scammers to obtain money from victims and process illicit cash. 

The proposal followed investigations cited by CBC News and earlier findings from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, which linked crypto ATMs to recurring fraud schemes.

As a result of these state actions, many crypto ATM operators have also come under financial strain. For instance, in May, Nasdaq-listed crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after citing increasing regulatory requirements, litigation, and enforcement actions. The company had previously warned that changing state regulations could significantly reduce revenue before shutting down its ATM network during the bankruptcy process.

Key Points

• OpenAI is negotiating to provide the U.S. government with a 5% ownership position
• Sam Altman has engaged in discussions with President Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
• Additional American AI companies may be requested to provide comparable equity stakes, though their participation remains uncertain
• This development aligns with Senator Bernie Sanders’ advocacy for public participation in AI-generated prosperity
• The current administration has previously acquired stakes in Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and Trilogy Metals

According to a Thursday report from the Financial Times, OpenAI is negotiating a deal that would grant the U.S. government a 5% ownership stake in the company. This initiative represents part of a strategic effort to strengthen relationships with the current administration.

Sam Altman, the company’s CEO, has conducted meetings with high-ranking government figures, including President Donald Trump, along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Sources indicate Altman has also engaged in conversations with Senator Bernie Sanders regarding this equity arrangement.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm these details. Neither OpenAI nor the White House provided responses to inquiries.

Expanding the Framework for AI Profit Sharing

The equity offer extends beyond OpenAI alone. This framework could potentially require other U.S.-based artificial intelligence companies to provide comparable 5% stakes to the federal government, although whether these companies would voluntarily participate remains undetermined.

This proposal ties into larger discussions surrounding AI wealth distribution. Back in April, OpenAI suggested establishing a public wealth fund designed to provide every American citizen with ownership in AI-fueled economic expansion.

Sanders has actively championed legislation supporting these principles. His American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act could potentially reach approximately $7 trillion in value. He has consistently maintained that profits generated by AI technology should not remain concentrated among a limited circle of tech executives.

AI corporations are simultaneously encountering increased scrutiny from lawmakers concerning data center proliferation, workforce automation concerns, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Government Equity Acquisitions Under Current Administration

This wouldn’t mark the first instance of the Trump administration securing ownership stakes in private enterprises.

During 2025, the government obtained a 9.9% ownership position in Intel through the purchase of 433.3 million shares priced at $20.47 per share. This $8.9 billion transaction was connected to CHIPS Act funding.

Given Intel’s current trading price near $127, that investment has grown to approximately $55 billion in value — representing roughly a 6.2x return on the initial capital deployed. Trump has publicly expressed regret about not negotiating for a more substantial ownership percentage.

The administration has also secured a 15% stake in rare earth mining company MP Materials, alongside a 10% position in Lithium Americas, a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals, and a “golden share” arrangement in U.S. Steel that provides veto authority over significant corporate decisions without traditional equity ownership.

These discussions with OpenAI remain in preliminary phases. As of Thursday morning, neither OpenAI nor the White House has provided official confirmation regarding these negotiations.

Metaplanet has added 2,823 Bitcoin to its treasury, raising its total holdings to 43,000 BTC while second-quarter revenue from its Bitcoin income business fell.

According to Metaplanet’s July 2 disclosure, the Tokyo-listed company purchased 2,823 BTC at an average price of 12.7 million yen per coin, lifting its total Bitcoin balance to 43,000 BTC. The company said its overall average purchase price now stands at 15.3 million yen per Bitcoin.