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UK invites crypto giant Bybit to London to win over some of UAE’s innovation shine

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UK invites crypto giant Bybit to London to win over some of UAE’s innovation shine

Economic development officials with links to the U.K. government invited Bybit leadership to London this week in what appears to be a bid to emulate the momentum of Dubai, where the cryptocurrency exchange is based, and the rest of the United Arab Emirates.

CEO Ben Zhou said the message from the U.K. is “they are very eager to invite big business to establish bases and create jobs,” and discuss forthcoming pro-crypto regulation.

Bybit was founded by Zhou in 2018, and four years later moved its headquarters to Dubai from his native Singapore. It is ranked the second-largest crypto exchange by CoinGecko, trailing only Binance, which set up in the UAE in 2025.

The arrival of crypto giants like Bybit and Binance acted as a magnet to attract smaller crypto companies to the region, something the U.K. would like to emulate, Zhou said.

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“One interesting thing is there hasn’t been any momentum built in the U.K.,” Zhou said in an interview at Paris Blockchain Week. “If you look at UAE, where there are big exchanges like Bybit or Binance, once we announced we’re going to be there, smaller players followed, and that created this momentum.”

Zhou’s invitation includes meetings with the Financial Conduct Authority and representatives of the House of Lords, and coincides with UK Fintech Week and a Treasury plan to revamp payment systems with stablecoins and the spread of tokenization.

“I have meetings with FCA. I have meetings with the House of Lords just to discuss what do you want to do with crypto,” Zhou said, without naming the U.K. government department that extended the invitation.

“We were invited specifically by some economic development board who said ‘We can get a direct line to the prime minister.’ There is an agenda to push for innovation, especially in crypto,” Zhou said.

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Neither the Treasury nor Lucy Rigby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, responded to requests for comment. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology also did not respond to requests for comment. The FCA had not replied by press time.

The invitation’s timing is interesting as the UAE has suffered direct attacks from Iran during the U.S.-Israel war that started Feb. 28, prompting tens of thousands of residents and tourists to leave the country. One in eight British residents has left, the Financial Times reported earlier this month.

The U.K. government has seen “the outflow of money and companies going to the UAE. They want to win it back. Precisely, now is good timing,” Zhou said.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin price climbs to $77,500 on Trump ceasefire extension, Strategy’s $2.5 billion buy

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Bitcoin heads into holiday weekend exposed as ETF and CME flows go offline

Bitcoin is breaking out of the Iran-headline chop.

Bitcoin traded at $77,541 on Wednesday morning, up 2.2% over 24 hours and 4.3% on the week, after Trump said he would extend the Iran ceasefire indefinitely and Strategy disclosed the purchase of 34,164 BTC for $2.54 billion. Ether rose 2.1% to $2,366, BNB climbed 1.3% to $640, and Solana gained 1.8% to $87. The only red in the top 10 was a trickle of 0.1% declines in stablecoins and Tron.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.6% after Trump’s extension, though the underlying benchmarks closed lower Tuesday as talks briefly wobbled. Brent crude hovered near $98 a barrel. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.7% as investors weighed how long the Middle East conflict runs.

Trump blamed negotiation collapses on what he called a “seriously fractured” leadership structure in Tehran, and said the US would hold off on fresh attacks while keeping its Strait of Hormuz blockade in place.

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Strategy’s buy is the largest bitcoin purchase by the company since November 2024. The 34,164 BTC acquisition at an average $74,395 per coin brings the firm’s holdings to 815,061 BTC, bought for $61.6 billion at an average cost basis of $75,527. With bitcoin at $77,541, the position is now modestly in profit for the first time in months.

Spot flows back the move. Global crypto funds pulled in $1.4 billion last week according to CoinShares, the strongest week of inflows since mid-January. Bitcoin took $1.12 billion, Ethereum $328 million, Chainlink $5 million, and Sui $2 million. XRP saw $56 million in outflows and Solana $2 million, despite both trading higher on price.

Two structural signals point the same direction. Bitcoin is now holding above the realized price of short-term holders at around $69,400 per analyst Darkfost, the level at which recent buyers are sitting on gains rather than losses, which historically reduces the odds of a cascade liquidation if sentiment reverses.

Separately, a Nomura survey found 65% of Japanese institutional investors now hold bitcoin for portfolio diversification, with 31% viewing the market outlook positively and most planning 2% to 5% allocations over the next three years.

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Whether bitcoin can hold $77,000 through the European session depends on how markets price the ceasefire extension against continued Strait of Hormuz disruption.

A clean break above $80,000 would confirm the 46-day funding rate compression is flipping into a short squeeze. A reversal below $75,000 would mean the extension already priced in and the rally needs a fresh catalyst.

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Tron founder Justin Sun Sues World Liberty Over Token Freeze

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Tron founder Justin Sun Sues World Liberty Over Token Freeze

Sun said the lawsuit is to protect his rights as a WLFI token holder and doesn’t change his support of US President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to make the US crypto-friendly.

Tron founder Justin Sun said he is suing Trump-family-backed World Liberty Financial for allegedly freezing his tokens and threatening to burn them “without any proper justification.” 

In a post to social media on Wednesday, Sun said the suit, filed in a California federal court, was meant to protect his rights as a token holder.

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“I have tried in good faith to resolve this situation with the World Liberty project team without resorting to litigation. But the project team has refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder. They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts,” he added.

Sun is the largest individual investor in World Liberty, a project tied closely to the Trump family.

Source: Justin Sun

Sun previously threatened legal action earlier this month over lengthy lockup periods for WLFI’s governance token and accused WLFI’s recent governance proposal of lacking transparency, saying more than 76% of the voting tokens came from 10 wallets.

Related: World Liberty burns 47M tokens in bid to pump price as slide continues

At the time, the WLFI project team said on X that the claims were “baseless allegations” and added, “We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal.”

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Cointelegraph has contacted the Tron and World Liberty Financial teams for additional comment about the lawsuit. 

Meanwhile, Sun said on X that the lawsuit doesn’t change his views on President Donald Trump or his administration. 

“Unfortunately, certain individuals on the World Liberty project team have been operating the project in a manner that goes against President Trump’s values,” Sun said.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi 

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