SpaceX priced its initial public offering at $135 a share and starts trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker SPCX. The $75 billion raise is the largest IPO in history. It values the company near $1.75 trillion and puts Musk on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.

Demand topped $250 billion, with retail orders alone above $100 billion.

Crypto took the cue higher. Bitcoin rose about 1.6% to roughly $63,550 and is now green on the week, per CoinDesk data, recovering the ground it lost in the early-June selloff. Solana added 3%, XRP and dogecoin each rose 2.3%, and Hyperliquid bounced 7.6% on the day.

Dogecoin barely stood out. It rose 2.3%, in line with the broad market. The token has spent years jumping on Musk and SpaceX headlines, and this was the biggest SpaceX event ever.

The real signal comes when SPCX prints its first trade. A strong debut confirms the risk-on turn, while a weak one tests it.

XRP bounced sharply from last week’s selloff, reclaiming $1.14 on its strongest volume in weeks. Buyers pushed the token through resistance near $1.12 and kept buying into the close, a change from the short-lived rebounds that have repeatedly faded since February.

The next test sits higher up, as every major recovery this year has stalled before reaching the $1.20-$1.25 area.

News Background

• Ripple said Bitso’s MXN-backed stablecoin MXNB will launch on the XRP Ledger and integrate with its Payments on Decentralized Exchange infrastructure, expanding regulated cross-border settlement between the U.S. and Mexico.

• Ripple’s RLUSD and Bitso’s MXNB are designed to provide on-chain dollar and peso liquidity for enterprise payment flows, adding another institutional use case for XRPL infrastructure.

• The initiative builds around XRPL’s Permissioned DEX, a framework aimed at regulated financial participants rather than retail users.

Price Action Summary

• XRP rose from $1.1080 to $1.1442 during the 24-hour session, gaining 3.3%.

• The key move came during the June 11 17:00 UTC session, when volume surged to 120.2 million XRP, more than 160% above average, pushing price through resistance near $1.1220.

LG Electronics has teamed with Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrum to explore a blockchain-powered advertising network designed to streamline the buying, selling, and tracking of digital ad inventory. Fortune reported on Thursday that the collaboration aims to provide a shared database for advertisers and publishers and to automate how audiences interact with ads, with a potential market rollout this year.

“We are evaluating whether this approach can deliver meaningful value to advertisers, publishers and audiences,” said Samuel Byungsun Park, head of LG Electronics’ blockchain research lab. The venture, still in the exploration stage, underscores a broader push within the tech industry to apply blockchain and automation to the sprawling digital advertising ecosystem.

Arbitrum would supply the network’s backbone—an automated, software-driven system intended to reduce reliance on traditional intermediaries that currently mediate ad buys between brands and publishers. By consolidating inventory data and consumer interaction signals on a blockchain-based ledger, the partners hope to provide greater transparency and efficiency for buyers and sellers alike. As Steven Goldfeder, Arbitrum’s co-founder, put it to Fortune, the goal is to enable markets to operate in an automated fashion, reducing the need for manual intervention.

On the market reaction, Arbitrum’s token ARB rose about 5.44% on Thursday in response to the news of the collaboration and the broader Layer-2 development it represents. Arbitrum confirmed the update on X, underscoring momentum around the network as it expands into new usage scenarios beyond its core scaling role for Ethereum.

Cointelegraph reached out to both Arbitrum and LG Electronics for comment on the initiative and its timing.

LG has long explored cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, testing the waters with internal ventures and consumer-facing products. In 2018, LG CNS, the company’s solutions arm, launched its own blockchain platform called Monachain, aimed at business-to-business use cases such as digital authentication, payments and supply chain management. More recently, LG Electronics built a decentralized wallet called Wallypto on the Hedera Hashgraph network, designed to accompany the LG Art Lab NFT platform that showcased digital artworks on televisions. The NFT project was shut down in June 2025, part of a broader wave of NFT marketplace closures that year, and LG subsequently terminated Wallypto in September 2025.

The evolving LG crypto portfolio reflects a cautious, testing approach rather than a full-scale pivot. The company’s history highlights both the potential for big-tech players to innovate in digital advertising through blockchain-enabled networks and the practical challenges that accompany consumer-facing crypto products in a fast-changing market.

Key takeaways

• LG Electronics and Arbitrum are jointly exploring a blockchain-enabled advertising network intended to unify ad inventory and automate measurement of audience interactions, potentially reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries.
• The project could reach market within the year, according to Fortune, with Arbitrum providing the shared data backbone and automation.
• ARBI’s token rose about 5.44% on Thursday following the news, reflecting investor interest in Layer-2 applications expanding beyond scaling Ethereum.
• Digital ad spend is enormous and growing; global estimates place 2025 spend at around $679 billion, representing roughly two-thirds of total ad expenditure, which helps explain why advertisers are watching blockchain-enabled ad networks closely.
• LG’s crypto experiments show a pattern of methodical exploration: Monachain (2018), Wallypto on Hedera, and the LG Art Lab NFT platform, with mixed outcomes and eventual pivots or shutdowns in later years.

LG, Arbitrum and the ad-tech disruption thesis

The collaboration between LG Electronics and Arbitrum sits at the intersection of two big trends in crypto and tech: enterprise-scale adoption of blockchain for operational efficiency, and the ongoing transformation of digital advertising through data transparency and automation. By offering a shared ledger of ad inventory and audience interactions, the envisioned network could in theory reduce duplication of data across platforms, lower reconciliation costs, and provide advertisers with clearer insight into reach and effectiveness.

On the efficiency front, the promise is straightforward: automate the core processes that currently require human oversight and multiple middlemen. In the traditional ad-tech stack, agencies, exchanges, networks, and data providers orchestrate ad placements and measurement, often resulting in opaque pathways and higher costs. A blockchain-backed approach could, in theory, give advertisers and publishers a single source of truth and faster settlement, while enabling more granular targeting and measurable outcomes.

However, the venture also hinges on practical considerations. Adoption by marketers and publishers, integration with existing demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs), data privacy compliance, and the ability to scale across ecosystems are all critical factors. The Fortune report notes the initiative is in the evaluation stage, with a possible market introduction later in 2026, but concrete product details and governance models remain to be announced.

From an investor perspective, the immediate reaction is twofold. First, there is interest in the potential efficiency gains and transparency benefits that blockchain could deliver to an ad market long plagued by friction and opaque metrics. Second, there is caution about execution risk and the challenge of achieving broad industry-wide adoption, given the inertia of established ad-tech stacks and the regulatory environment governing data usage and online advertising.

LG’s crypto journey: lessons from a cautious, experimental approach

LG’s longer association with crypto and blockchain has been characterized by measured experimentation rather than a rapid pivot to consumer products. The 2018 Monachain project positioned LG CNS to showcase enterprise blockchain capabilities, including digital authentication and supply chain use cases. The Wallypto wallet, built on Hedera Hashgraph, served as a companion tool for the LG Art Lab NFT platform, which was designed to display digital artworks on LG televisions. The NFT platform was shuttered in June 2025, amid the broader NFT market retrenchment, and Wallypto was terminated in September of the same year.

These moves illustrate LG’s willingness to explore crypto-related technologies while maintaining a cautious portfolio approach. The current advertising network project with Arbitrum signals a shift toward applying blockchain to core business operations—advertising and marketing—where the potential for efficiency gains and new data paradigms could be significant if the project proves scalable and broadly adopted.

Industry observers will be watching how the LG-Arbitrum initiative addresses critical questions: What governance mechanisms and data-sharing rules will be used? How will user privacy and consent be handled? What performance benchmarks will define success for advertisers and publishers? And, perhaps most importantly, will a blockchain-enabled ad network achieve the level of transparency and automation needed to displace parts of the traditional ad-tech stack?

What comes next for blockchain-enabled advertising

As with any frontier technology in advertising, the path from concept to widespread adoption is likely to be incremental. The LG-Arbitrum project provides a concrete example of large corporate experimentation with blockchain to reimagine a principal revenue driver: digital advertising. While the exact rollout timeline remains uncertain, the partnership underscores a broader industry interest in leveraging distributed ledgers to streamline data flows, cut costs, and offer clearer metrics for advertisers and publishers alike.

Investors and industry participants should monitor how this initiative progresses alongside ongoing regulatory developments around data privacy, consumer consent, and platform interoperability. If the early signs hold—transparent inventory, automated market operation, and measurable efficiency gains—the collaboration could become a notable case study in how big-tech brands collaborate with specialized Layer-2 networks to reshape ad tech.

For readers, the next milestones to watch are concrete product milestones, governance models, and any pilot deployments with participating brands or publishers. As with many blockchain-at-scale experiments, real-world traction will determine whether this remains an exploratory project or becomes a reproducible blueprint for the future of digital advertising.

LG Electronics and Arbitrum declined to comment further beyond the statements already shared with Fortune and other outlets, and the industry will be awaiting more details as they become available.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed removing two key Regulation NMS rules, opening a new debate over tokenized U.S. stocks and DeFi trading.

The SEC said on June 11 that it proposed rescinding Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation National Market System. The rules have shaped U.S. equity trading since 2005.

Rule 611 blocks trade-throughs in national market system stocks. In simple terms, a trading venue cannot execute a stock trade at a worse price when a better protected quote is available on another venue.

Rule 610(e) deals with locked and crossed quotations. These rules require trading centers to avoid quotes that equal or cross the national best bid and offer in U.S. stocks.

The SEC said the proposal would also remove related definitions from Rule 600 and make other matching changes. The public comment period will stay open for 60 days after the proposal appears in the Federal Register.

SEC Chairman Atkins says rule change could cut costs

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the plan aims to simplify equity market structure after two decades of Rule 611. He said the rule may have created problems that limited market growth.

“After two decades of Rule 611, it is high time that the Commission review its unintended consequences that have hindered — rather than enhanced — the long-term growth of our markets,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins.

“This proposal is intended to simplify market structure and reduce costs for market participants while allowing competition, innovation, and other market forces to shape the continuing evolution of our equity markets,” Atkins added.

The proposal does not approve tokenized stock trading by itself. It starts a rulemaking process and gives market participants a chance to comment before the agency decides whether to finalize the rescission.

Analysts point to tokenized stocks

Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn said the proposal could remove a major barrier for tokenized U.S. equities in DeFi. He argued that automated market makers cannot easily follow Rule 611 because they execute trades through liquidity pools and bonding curves.

“An AMM cannot comply with 611 by construction. It executes against a bonding curve at whatever the pool price is, with slippage, at block-time granularity,” Thorn wrote.

The issue is that DeFi pools cannot check every stock exchange quote in real time before each swap. They also cannot route orders across markets in the same way as traditional trading systems.

Thorn also said Rule 610(e) creates similar issues. AMM prices move with trading flow, which means tokenized equity pools could often lock or cross displayed quotes in the traditional market.

Tokenized equities still face other rules

If the SEC removes the rules, analysts say broker-level best execution duties may play a larger role. FINRA Rule 5310 requires brokers to seek the best available terms for customer orders.

That framework may fit tokenized markets better than trade-by-trade price protection rules. Still, tokenized stocks face other hurdles, including exchange registration, ATS rules, clearing, settlement, and investor rights.

As previously reported, the SEC has been studying an innovation exemption that could allow tokenized public stocks to trade on blockchain platforms. The plan may require tokenized shares to carry the same rights as normal shares, including dividends and voting rights.

Moreover, as reported by crypto.news, Commissioner Hester Peirce has also said any exemption may stay limited in scope. She said it would likely apply to digital versions of existing public equities, not synthetic stock tokens without shareholder rights.

The SEC proposal adds a new step to that wider policy shift. It could reduce one market structure barrier, but the final rules will depend on the comment process and further agency action.

The Avalanche Treasury Company saw a rocky start as it debuted on Nasdaq under the ticker AVAT on Thursday, with shares dropping 16% by the end of the day.

The new company gained access to the Nasdaq after merging with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Mountain Lake Acquisition in a $675 million deal first announced in October. 

The company, with support from institutional backers including Dragonfly, Pantera, ParaFi Capital, VanEck, Galaxy Digital and Kraken, aims to give investors exposure to the Avalanche blockchain ecosystem without holding the cryptocurrency. 

Bart Smith, Avalanche Treasury CEO and former Susquehanna executive, said Thursday that it wasn’t a bet on price, but an investment that “represents meaningful potential for the repositioning of institutional finance.”

Avalanche launched in 2020 with proof-of-stake consensus, high throughput and a multi-chain architecture. Today, more than 550 projects are building in the ecosystem, with more than $1 billion in institutional funds deployed and more than $1.65 billion in real-world assets tokenized on the network.

Tough first day trading for AVAT

AVAT shares fell 16% from their open at $2.20, ending the day at $1.85, according to Google Finance. This has been a typical pattern for crypto company initial public offerings, especially in a bear market. 

Related: SpaceX IPO nears 4 times oversubscribed, squeezing crypto and tech

AVAX saw a small 3.4% gain on the day, but the asset has lost 33% over the past 30 days and remains down 95% from its November 2021 all-time high. It is currently trading at its lowest level since early 2021, at $6.61, according to TradingView. 

Altcoins have been crushed in 2026, and AVAX is at a five-year low. Source: TradingView

DATs are having a rough ride

Avalanche is the latest crypto ecosystem to launch a publicly listed company, but it comes amid a difficult time for crypto treasury firms. 

The weekly net flow of BTC into digital asset treasuries has declined to around $266 million this week, following weekly highs of over $2 billion in April and May, according to Coinglass. 

The world’s largest BTC treasury, Strategy, has seen its stock value tumble 69% over the past 12 months as the Bitcoin bear market deepens. 

Bitmine Immersion Technologies pivoted from BTC mining to an Ethereum treasury in mid-2025. Its shares (BMNR) saw explosive growth, reaching an all-time high of $135 in July that year, but have since tanked by 88% to $16.50 a year later. 

SOL Strategies Inc., a Solana-focused DAT, began trading in September 2025 under STKE, but share prices have also collapsed by 92% over the past 12 months. 

Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?

Crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a tool that allows artificial intelligence agents to make payments and trade crypto on behalf of users, as crypto companies look to ride a wave of interest in AI.

Coinbase said Thursday that it is launching Coinbase for Agents, which will allow AI models like ChatGPT and Claude to connect with a user’s exchange account and be prompted to make trades or execute strategies.

AI agents can also make payments using Coinbase’s AI payments protocol x402, allowing the bots to pay for data services to gather information for carrying out trading strategies without human intervention.

Crypto companies have been positioning the technology as a means to support the high-frequency microtransactions that agents typically carry out. AI agents have grown in popularity with the release of better models, with more traders trusting them to autonomously execute trading strategies.

Coinbase said the tool is available via both a model context protocol (MCP), allowing AI models to connect with a user account, and a command-line interface for developers.

Source: Coinbase

The company said it also introduced Coinbase Advisor, an AI agent integrated into its app that it says is a US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission-registered financial adviser that can give guidance on trades.

Coinbase said the tool could help users manage their crypto “without the constant manual oversight” and can undertake tasks like allocating funds to reward programs or making recurring buys.

“Imagine you want to dollar-cost average into ETH at the optimal time of day. Just tell your agent your target and timeframe. It can pull 30 days of hourly price data to identify when ETH historically trades lowest, set a recurring $20 market buy at that time, and schedule it to run daily for the next two weeks,” the company explained.

While many companies are pitching for investors to start using AI, a study published last month found that users of AI agents are losing money, and the agents themselves may not really be working alone.

Researchers at Pantera Capital, Stanford University, Ava Labs and the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts studied over 925,000 token holders and found that agent treasuries made gains of $30 million on paper, while their token holders collectively lost $191.7 million.

It also found that many of the projects it studied “do not yet provide clear evidence of autonomous trade execution” with a “substantial share” of projects being “basic API integrations.”

Related: AI agents with crypto could escape and become ‘unstoppable,’ experts warn

Coinbase is the latest to bet that AI agents will interact with and transact across multiple services. 

Stablecoin issuer Circle last month launched tools letting AI agents use wallets, discover services and make programmable payments with its token. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has predicted that billions of AI agents will use stablecoins within five years.

Earlier this month, the stablecoin and wallet infrastructure provider Crossmint launched a service that enabled AI agents to make payments using eligible Visa credit and debit cards.

Crypto investment firm Keyrock said in a report in May that AI agents had quickly created a “developed ecosystem,” and had settled $73 million across 176 million transactions between May 2025 and April 2026.

AI Eye: How AI just dramatically sped up the quantum risk for Bitcoin

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics is working with the Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum to build a blockchain-based advertising network aimed at serving the digital ad industry. 

Arbitrum would give advertisers and publishers a shared database of ad inventory and track how customers interact with advertisements, with the company exploring how to bring the service to market this year, Fortune reported on Thursday.

“We are evaluating whether this approach can deliver meaningful value to advertisers, publishers and audiences,” said Samuel Byungsun Park, the head of LG Electronics’ blockchain research lab. 

LG Group’s headquarters is in Seoul, South Korea. Source: Seoul Institute

Digital ad spend is estimated to have reached $679 billion in 2025, making up 68% of worldwide ad spend, according to global advertising giant Dentsu. 

Traditional ad networks require costly intermediaries to automate and manage the buying and selling of ad space between advertisers and publishers.

A blockchain-based ad network would cut out intermediaries, aiming to make ad buys more efficient and provide transparency to advertisers about who their ads have reached. 

“It means that you can basically run the market in an automated way in software,” Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder told Fortune. “You don’t need manual intervention.”

The price of Arbitrum (ARB) gained 5.44% on Thursday on news of the new layer-2 blockchain, which Arbitrum confirmed on X. 

Cointelegraph contacted Arbitrum and LG Electronics for comment. 

Related: Citi launches blockchain marketplace for private companies’ shares: Report

LG has been exploring opportunities in crypto for nearly a decade. 

In 2018, LG CNS, a subsidiary of the LG Corporation, launched an in-house blockchain called “Monachain” aimed at businesses that could be used for digital authentication, payments and supply chain management. 

LG Electronics developed a decentralized crypto wallet called Wallypto using the Hedera Hashgraph network at the height of the 2022 NFT boom. It served as a companion wallet for the LG Art Lab, an NFT platform that allowed users to display digital artwork on their TVs. 

The NFT platform was shut down in June 2025, adding to a wave of NFT marketplace closures that year, while LG Electronics terminated Wallypto a few months later in September. 

Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?