The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

Per monitoring by Dongcha Beating (via its Telegram channel @OneMillion_AI), AI model firm DeepSeek’s financing negotiations with Alibaba have collapsed. DeepSeek launched a major financing round in April that drew interest from tech giants including Tencent and Alibaba, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement. The core conflict: Alibaba sought to strengthen its AI ecosystem through the investment—integrating its Tongyi and Qianwen tools deeply into products like Taobao and Amap. DeepSeek, an independent AI model company, pushed back, insisting on minimal contractual constraints, preserving its technological independence, and rejecting excessive ecosystem integration requirements. DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has long turned down external equity financing; this round marks his first time opening the door to such deals, but his bottom line remains unchanged: he prioritizes offers with the “fewest additional conditions.” DeepSeek’s current financing round values the fir

MOSCOW EXCHANGE ANNOUNCES NEW CRYPTO INDEX FUTURES, CRYPTO INDEX CALCULATIONS The Moscow Exchange said Wednesday (May 9) it will launch deliverable futures contracts tied to indexes of three cryptocurrencies — SOL, XRP and TRX — on May 14. Participation is limited to eligible investors, with settlements in Russian rubles and no physical delivery of the underlying digital assets. Separately, the exchange will start calculating and publishing indexes for four cryptos — adding BNB to the list — on May 13.

On May 9, Coinbase announced it acquired 1,103 bitcoins in Q1 2026, pushing its total treasury holdings to 16,492 BTC.

May 9th, Tether has filed a lawsuit in S?o Paulo, Brazil, to recover a $300 million loan from Titan Holding—an affiliate of the Master Group. The loan was issued by Tether’s venture arm, Tether Investments, in March 2025, with an original repayment deadline of March 28, 2026. No repayment has been made to date, however. Daniel Vorcaro, owner of the Master Group, was recently arrested. His Banco Master was liquidated by Brazil’s Central Bank last November over a $2.2 billion reserve shortfall, impacting more than 1 million customers. In the lawsuit, Tether is seeking to freeze all financial assets of Titan and its affiliated firms.

On May 9, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee has formally scheduled a committee hearing on the *Cryptocurrency Market Structure Bill* (commonly known as the CLARITY Act) for May 14 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. This marks a key step in the legislative process. Currently, the Senate Banking Committee has circulated a draft text to some industry stakeholders; the draft is still being finalized and is expected to incorporate feedback from Democratic offices. Committee members will vote on the bill text and all proposed amendments. If this section is approved, it will be merged with material from the Senate Agriculture Committee to form a complete bill, which will then be submitted for a full Senate vote. The crypto industry broadly views this as a significant development and is looking forward to the bill clarifying the regulatory framework to bring certainty to the U.S. digital asset market.

Per its May 9 13F quarterly holdings filing, Switzerland’s largest lender UBS Group AG recently increased its stake in MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR) by 551,121 shares, worth approximately $98 million. The group currently holds a total of 6.31 million MSTR shares, with an aggregate holding value of roughly $1.12 billion.