VanEck’s Tokenized Bond Fund (VBILL) Expands DeFi Utility

Institutional-grade assets continue to become more deeply embedded within decentralized finance (DeFi). VanEck’s tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, VBILL, can now be used as collateral on the decentralized lending protocol Euler.

Facilitated by Securitize, this integration allows VBILL holders to deposit their tokens into curated Euler lending markets and borrow other crypto assets against them. The $61 million fund, which currently offers a 3.38% yield across approximately 30 on-chain wallets, enables investors to participate in broader DeFi strategies while continuing to earn Treasury-backed returns. This development highlights the growing trend of bridging regulated real-world assets (RWAs) with decentralized lending markets.

Argentina Cracks Down on Crypto Payments Supporting Illegal Gambling

In South America, the regulatory environment surrounding digital assets is becoming increasingly strict, particularly within the gambling industry. The Argentine government recently submitted the “Gambling Prevention and Online Gambling Regulation Bill” to Congress, directly targeting the financial infrastructure that supports illegal betting operations.

The proposed legislation explicitly prohibits financial institutions, payment service providers, and virtual asset service providers (cryptocurrency exchanges) from offering services to unauthorized gambling operators. By extending compliance obligations directly to crypto intermediaries and fiat on-ramps, Argentina aims to cut off critical funding channels used by offshore and unlicensed betting platforms. The bill follows recent judicial actions in the country, including orders to block access to the popular decentralized prediction market, Polymarket.

Anthropic Surpasses OpenAI as Valuation Nears $1 Trillion

In the artificial intelligence sector, Anthropic has achieved a remarkable financial milestone. Following a $65 billion Series H funding round led by Altimeter Capital, Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer, and Greenoaks, Anthropic’s post-money valuation surged to $965 billion.

This places the company ahead of its primary competitor, OpenAI, whose most recently disclosed valuation stands at $852 billion following its latest fundraising round.

Anthropic reported that its projected annual revenue run rate has exceeded $47 billion, driven by accelerating enterprise adoption of its Claude AI models. The newly raised capital will be used to expand computing infrastructure and advance AI safety research. The funding announcement coincided with the launch of Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic’s latest flagship model, which offers enhanced reasoning and software engineering capabilities while maintaining the same pricing structure.

USAT Stablecoin Experiences Rapid Growth

The stablecoin sector continues to gain momentum. USAT, Tether’s recently introduced U.S.-focused stablecoin, reportedly experienced explosive growth, expanding by more than 500% within a single month.

Despite this rapid adoption and increasing market demand, the asset still trails the industry’s more established competitors in terms of total circulating supply and overall market dominance. However, its strong early growth signals growing interest in regulated, U.S.-focused stablecoin solutions as competition within the stablecoin market intensifies.

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