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

In a June 23 report, CNN notes that Iran announced on Monday it will continue cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its "usual manner." This announcement follows U.S. officials’ assertion that Tehran had agreed to let IAEA inspectors return to Iran— a claim Iran has denied. Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, who clarified that Iran’s engagement with the IAEA will be conducted based on the country’s obligations under the safeguards agreement, in line with resolutions passed by its parliament, and per decisions made by the Supreme National Security Council.

June 23 – U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that Iran will agree to undergo comprehensive weapons-grade nuclear verification to guarantee long-term "nuclear credibility" moving forward.

Global asset management giant Franklin Templeton officially wrapped up its acquisition of 250 Digital on June 23, and simultaneously launched a new digital asset division called Franklin Crypto—marking its continued expansion into the field of actively managed crypto assets. The deal was originally struck back in April. 250 Digital is a spin-off business from CoinFund. Following the integration, Franklin Crypto will operate as an independent active management platform, targeting institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. Franklin Templeton currently manages around $1.78 trillion in total assets. This move is viewed as a significant step toward integrating digital assets into traditional institutional investment portfolios.

**June 23** Bitget Market Data shows shares of HIVE Digital Technologies, a Bitcoin mining firm, surged over 22% intraday on Monday, with market sentiment shifting firmly bullish. The key catalyst for the rally is an AI research study from Columbia University that validated the performance of HIVE’s GPU cluster in Paraguay. The study found that HIVE’s Nvidia A40 GPU cluster—after software optimization—delivered performance on par with Nvidia’s H100 in specific large-scale model training tasks, and stood out in a pre-training job using roughly 1.4 billion parameters. Notably, the New York-based research team led the experiment, but all actual computing work was completed in Asunción, Paraguay, more than 5,000 miles away. This setup proved remote intercontinental iterative training is a viable model. HIVE reps stated the results confirm its “geographically distributed computing power architecture” is feasible, and back the company’s strategy to build AI computing infrastructur

June 23 — Market reports indicate that crude oil inventories at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped by roughly 9.1 million barrels last week, totaling 331.2 million barrels — the lowest level recorded since 1983. (Kinjun)

June 22 — Top U.S. cryptocurrency industry lobbying organizations have sent a joint letter to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, urging progress on the “Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act” and pushing for standardized tax treatment for crypto miners and stakers. The bill, introduced by Republican Congressman Mike Carey, would allow taxpayers to choose when to incur tax obligations on new mining or staking-generated assets: either pay taxes at the time the assets are acquired, or defer tax payments until the assets are sold. Supporting groups including the Blockchain Association, Digital Chamber, and Crypto Council for Innovation argue the current U.S. tax system unfairly forces those contributing to network security (miners and stakers) to pay taxes on income that hasn’t been converted into liquid cash yet. Supporters note the proposal does not grant indefinite deferral, but merely avoids immediate taxation on illiquid income to ease cash flow pressure on miners and network