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AI Patent Platform Stilta Completes $10.5 Million Seed Round Funding, Led by a16z

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On May 20, AI patent management startup Stilta announced it has closed a $10.5 million seed funding round. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the investment, with participation from Y Combinator (YC) and individual investors from firms including OpenAI, Legora, Sana, Lovable, and Listen Labs. The new capital will drive core growth: Stilta plans to hire engineers, patent specialists, and a marketing team, expanding its headcount to roughly 10 people over the next three to six months. The startup also targets opening an office in New York City by the end of this year or early 2027. Stilta builds AI Agent-powered patent management software focused on high-impact use cases: patent infringement detection, licensing opportunity identification, and litigation defense. Its platform analyzes hundreds of millions of patents, academic papers, and historical web data to help enterprises and law firms streamline their patent portfolio management. Founded earlier this year by former McKinsey teammates Oskar Block, Petrus Werner, Tobias Estreen, and Oscar Adamsson, Stilta was selected for Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 incubation cohort. Currently, about two-thirds of its customers are enterprise clients, with the remainder from law firms. The latest round adds to active investment in the legal tech sector from a16z and YC: a16z has previously backed AI legal assistant Harvey, while YC has invested in other legal AI startups including Legora, PointOne, and Parlai.
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Blockchain Game The Beacon Season 1 will launch on May 25th, introducing a 7.7 million BCN reward pool

May 20: Blockchain game project The Beacon announced in a statement that its Season 1, "Goblin's Gambit," will officially launch at 16:00 UTC on May 25, with over 7.7 million BCN allocated as rewards. Per official details, players can earn BCN this season via two core gameplay methods: venturing into dungeons to collect Shadow Shards, or "sacrificing" Gobloonz in Kraken Klash mode—both paths qualify for BCN rewards. The season operates on a F2P (free-to-play) core loop while also offering paid value-added options. Additionally, Season 1 will roll out seasonal-exclusive cosmetic items, including rare "mythic-grade" pieces that will be permanently discontinued after the season concludes.

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U.S. Senator Warren Lambasts OCC for Unauthorized Regulatory Actions, Nine Major Crypto Firms' Trust Charters Face Revocation Crisis

MAY 20: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has unleashed a fierce political assault on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), accusing the regulator of illegally granting national trust bank charters to nine leading crypto firms—including Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, and Paxos. Warren called the move a serious breach of the National Bank Act, claiming it allows crypto companies to run core banking operations unlawfully via "disguised trusts" without strict Federal Reserve oversight. Warren is demanding the OCC turn over all charter application documents and communications with the White House by a specified deadline, even questioning potential alignment of interests with specific political actors. If her allegations are substantiated, these key charters could be revoked, dealing a major blow to the U.S. blockchain industry’s compliance framework.

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Bankr Confirms Hack: 14 Wallets Compromised, Transactions Temporarily Suspended with Full Reimbursement Pledge

May 20: Base Layer AI project Bankr officially announced its system has confirmed an attacker accessed 14 of its wallets. The project has temporarily frozen relevant functions and is conducting a thorough investigation to verify all details of the incident. Officials also confirmed that every affected user will be fully compensated for their losses. Earlier, Bankr released a preliminary notice stating it had received multiple reports of wallet breaches and prudently suspended its transaction functions for investigation. The team will continue disclosing subsequent updates as more details become available.

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WSJ: U.S. CFTC is Reviewing Surge in Crude Oil Futures Trading Prior to Trump's March Iran Strike Delay

May 20 – The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is probing a spike in crude oil futures trading ahead of former President Trump’s March decision to hold off on a strike against Iran. Regulators have raised concerns with at least three companies linked to the unusual market activity.

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CZ Warns of API Key Risk: Unauthorized Access Investigation of Internal GitHub Repository

May 20 update: CZ is issuing a reminder that any API keys found in code—even those kept in private repositories—should be reviewed and replaced immediately to prevent potential security risks. This warning follows an official notice from GitHub earlier today, where the platform’s leaders are investigating an incident of unauthorized access to their internal code repositories. GitHub says there’s currently no evidence that data from enterprises, organizations, or code repositories stored by customers outside the GitHub platform has been compromised. The company is actively monitoring its infrastructure to stop any further abnormal activity. If GitHub later confirms that user data or services were impacted, customers will be notified through the platform’s existing incident response and notification channels.

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Mastercard Abandons Investment in Zerohash, Shifts Focus to BVNK for Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure

On May 20, global payments leader Mastercard has scrapped its planned investment in Chicago-based crypto infrastructure company Zerohash—just two months after agreeing to acquire UK stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for $18 billion. Back in January, Mastercard held discussions for a strategic investment in Zerohash, which was then seeking to raise $2.5 billion at a $15 billion valuation. Founded in 2017, Zerohash builds application programming interfaces (APIs) and developer tools for crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization products; it is currently pursuing a new funding round at a higher valuation. The shift comes amid ongoing consolidation in the digital asset infrastructure sector, with recent deals involving Kraken parent Payward and Bullish signaling the trend’s continuation. Mastercard’s BVNK deal includes an $18 billion base purchase price, plus the potential for an additional $3 billion in performance-based payments. BVNK counts platforms like Worldpay and Deel as clients, prov

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