Fasset, a stablecoin neobank serving 125 countries, has raised $51 million backed by Japan’s SBI Group and Investcorp.

Fasset, a Los Angeles-based digital banking platform, uses stablecoin rails to move money across borders for small and medium-sized businesses, bypassing correspondent banking networks.

The company announced the Series B on May 14, disclosing SBI Group, Investcorp, and Turkish asset manager Arz Portföy as investors. The firm serves over 1,000 business customers across 125 countries, operating primarily in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

“We are building Fasset for a world where money moves as easily across borders as information does,” said Mohammad Raafi Hossain, CEO and co-founder of Fasset. “This funding round strengthens our ability to build regulated banking services and expand into new markets where our services are needed most.”

How Fasset fits the stablecoin payments surge

The raise arrives as institutional interest in stablecoin payment infrastructure reaches a new high. Analysts at Coinbase noted that stablecoins are taking a larger role in delivery-versus-payment structures as regulatory frameworks mature globally in 2026. The global fiat-backed stablecoin supply exceeded $273 billion by March 2026, growing roughly 40 times from $6.8 billion in early 2020.

Observers have cautioned that neobanks built on stablecoin rails face margin compression as near-zero transfer costs make fee-based revenues difficult to sustain at scale. Fasset’s move into lending and trade finance is consistent with the broader neobank pattern of expanding into higher-margin products after establishing a payments base.

Dragonfly Capital’s Haseeb Qureshi predicted that stablecoins would specifically reshape SMB payments by making cross-border settlement faster and cheaper than traditional correspondent banking. Fasset operates a Shariah-compliant model, aligning it with the needs of key markets in the Gulf, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

Bitcoin (BTC) touched $80,000 around Thursday’s Wall Street open as US stocks hit fresh all-time highs and oil retested $100.

Key points:

• Bitcoin rebounded to $80,000 while US stock markets hit new records, ignoring high inflation.
• Risk appetite is “skyrocketing,” analysis says, despite worries over central-bank policy tightening.
• Bitcoin can still head to $85,000 next, traders agree.

Bitcoin recoups losses as US stocks ignore inflation

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD recovering much of the previous day’s losses, which followed some of the highest US inflation data in four years. 

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

US stocks quickly shook off the numbers, despite the implications for future financial policy tightening. 

The S&P 500 posted its highest daily close on record, and continued to surge on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average revisited 50,000 points for the first time since early February.

S&P 500 versus Dow Jones one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Commenting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter reported “skyrocketing” risk appetite among investors.

“Assets under management (AUM) in US leveraged ETFs are up to a record $177 billion. Since the March bottom, total leveraged ETF AUM has surged +$45 billion,” it wrote in its latest analysis on X.

Leveraged ETF AUM data. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X

Kobeissi used the same term to describe global money-supply growth — a crypto and risk-asset tailwind at odds with concerns that central banks were adopting a “hawkish stance.” 

“Meanwhile, US M2 money supply jumped +$1 trillion YoY, or +4.6%, to a record $22.7 trillion,” it continued. 

“Money supply growth is accelerating.”

Global money supply data. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X

As the US-Iran war rumbled on, oil prices seemed unable to crack new highs, with WTI crude retesting the $100 per barrel mark from above.

CFDs on WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

“Most important” BTC price support still in play

Looking at BTC price action, trader Daan Crypto Trades saw the market at a “pivotal level.”

Related: Bitcoin price history suggests 77% odds of new all-time high within a year

“Hanging on to that ~$79.4K level which marked the previous highs in April,” he told X followers.

An accompanying chart showed the 200-period simple (SMA) and exponential (EMA) moving averages trending higher toward the spot price.

BTC/USDT perpetual contract four-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

On the same topic, fellow trader CrypNuevo saw the potential for BTC/USD to head to new multi-month highs at the 50-week EMA should that support hold.

“Bitcoin is at the most important level,” he agreed on Wednesday. 

“If it holds the range highs here, then it’ll push towards the 1W50EMA at $84k-$85k. But a failure to hold this level could trigger a rotation back to the mid-range, potentially exposing range lows if momentum doesn’t shift.”

BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: CrypNuevo/X

TLDR

• Strive will convert its SATA preferred stock into a daily dividend security starting June 16.
• The company will maintain a 13% annual dividend rate with an effective yield of about 13.88% through daily compounding.
• SATA will become the first U.S.-listed preferred stock to distribute cash dividends every business day.
• Strive has eliminated all outstanding debt after repurchasing its long-term notes.
• The firm expanded its bitcoin treasury to 15,009 BTC through acquisitions and market purchases.

Strive Asset Management will convert its SATA preferred stock into a daily dividend security on June 16. The structure will distribute cash every business day while keeping a 13% annual rate. The company said the compounding effect lifts the effective annual yield to about 13.88%.

Strive Introduces Daily Bitcoin-Linked Income Structure

Strive will replace the standard monthly payout model with daily cash distributions. The company will keep the stated 13% annual dividend rate. However, daily compounding across about 250 trading days increases the effective yield to roughly 13.88%. Chief executive officer Matthew Cole said the design aims to reshape income products. He stated, “We designed SATA as a structural innovation for income-focused investors.” He added that the company seeks to position SATA against money market funds and short-duration vehicles.

The company said investors will receive small payments each trading day. As a result, holders can reinvest cash more frequently and improve liquidity management. Strive structured the preferred stock to function as an equity instrument with fixed income features. The company confirmed that SATA can trade above par value in the market. Therefore, Strive can issue more shares and raise capital tied to bitcoin accumulation.

Capital Structure and Bitcoin Treasury Expansion

Strive reported that it eliminated all outstanding debt after repurchasing long-term notes. The company now operates without leverage, margin requirements, or encumbered bitcoin holdings. Executives said the clean balance sheet supports the income strategy linked to digital assets. Strive expanded its bitcoin treasury to 15,009 BTC through acquisitions and open market purchases. The company also issued equity through an at-the-market program to support purchases.

The firm reported a net loss of $265.9 million in the first quarter. It attributed most of the loss to mark-to-market declines in bitcoin holdings. The company said the accounting treatment reflected price changes rather than realized losses. Strive shares have gained about 10% this year and over 30% in the last month. The stock trailed Strategy during that period but outperformed Bitcoin.

Myanmar has proposed introducing the death penalty for violent criminals who coerce victims into crypto scam center operations.

Singapore news outlet CNA reports that draft legislation for the “Anti-Online Scam Bill” was published today. 

The legislation states that the death penalty would apply to criminals using “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams.”

The bill will reportedly be scrutinized when Myanmar’s current military government, which came to power in a 2021 coup, returns to sit in Parliament in June. 

Read more: Starlink a lifeline for Myanmar scam compounds, report

Local media also reports that those found to run scam centers or carry out crypto scams will also face a potential life sentence in prison. 

It’s unclear if this same sentence would apply to victims forced to undertake scams against their will.

Just last month, Myanmar’s president Min Aung Hlaing commuted all death sentences to life sentences. 

$1 billion of assets linked to alleged scam kingpin frozen 

The billion-dollar crypto scam industry has set up numerous compounds along Myanmar’s borders as well as across Southeast Asia in countries such as Cambodia and Laos. 

One alleged kingpin is Prince Group CEO Chen Zi. Today, the Hong Kong High Court reportedly ordered the freezing of HK$9 billion ($1.15 billion) in assets under Chen’s ownership. 

Chen is currently in custody in China after he was extradited from Cambodia in January. He’s accused of running a mammoth criminal enterprise that included the operation of crypto scam centers.