Partnerships & Ecosystem

Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026 will be held from April 20 to 23, featuring SoonTech as a Secondary Exhibition Sponsor. The event promises 400 speakers and thousands of industry executives, solidifying its role in advancing Web3 in the region.

Geneva's century-old private bank Banque Syz rejected a cryptocurrency asset integration proposal by its board of directors, prompting Marc Syz, son of the founder, and his partner Richard Byworth to resign and establish a bitcoin treasury company. Although the proposal only involved 0.9% of the bank's assets, it reflects contradictions between family members and traditional banking models. Marc's departure signals a reflection on the growth bottlenecks of traditional private banking and an entry into the bitcoin market where risks and uncertainties coexist.

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compilation of the most relevant crypto news from Latin America over the past week. In this edition, Ripple makes moves to accelerate its expansion into Brazil, the Brazilian government is reportedly backpedaling on its crypto taxation plans, and Argentina bans access to

XRP open interest declined approximately 75%, indicating that leveraged traders are exiting the market, but stablecoin fragmentation may increase bridge demand for XRP. Evernorth Holdings' IPO application demonstrates that institutions still view XRP's long-term value positively. The overall market faces macroeconomic pressure, with weak short-term momentum structure.

Mastercard is acquiring stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, a move aimed at protecting its market position in cross-border transactions as stablecoins threaten 37% of its revenue. BVNK will help Mastercard integrate stablecoin payments, improve settlement efficiency and reduce costs, while addressing regulatory challenges. User experience may remain unchanged in the future, but settlement speed and costs are expected to improve.

Manadia, a data settlement and AI coordination infrastructure with expertise in enabling verifiable execution across various blockchain networks, today announced a strategic partnership with TradingRazor, an AI-powered multi-chain trading intelligence platform that helps traders to capture

Bounce Finance has launched Bounce Predict, enabling prediction markets for Sotheby’s auctions. This initiative bridges DeFi with traditional auction dynamics, promoting transparency and trust through verified data, enhancing market opportunities for participants.

JPMorgan Chase now allows institutional clients to use Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral for loans, using third-party custodians to manage risks. This integration of crypto into credit systems highlights a shift toward digital assets in traditional finance, despite challenges posed by volatility.

Major League Baseball has partnered with Polymarket for exclusive prediction market services while tightening betting regulations to mitigate risks of manipulation. An agreement with the CFTC enhances oversight on market integrity, addressing concerns raised by recent scandals.

TRON received the "Web3 Leading Enterprise Award" at the SFFE2030 Summit, highlighting its infrastructure position in global digital finance and emerging industries. With stable coin settlement and efficient on-chain payment capabilities, TRON is expanding toward artificial intelligence economic infrastructure, focusing on future machine-to-machine (M2M) payment needs to drive further development of the digital economy.

Katie Haun pointed out in an interview that the global payments sector is facing an arms race, with Mastercard entering the stablecoin market through its $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK. Meanwhile, the CFTC and SEC jointly released guidance, and Congress urgently needs to advance the CLARITY Act. She believes AI will increasingly participate in trading, with stablecoins serving as the foundational infrastructure supporting this transformation.

Japan's financial group SBI Holdings subsidiary SBI VC Trade plans to launch USDC lending services starting March 19, 2026, becoming the first licensed operator with stablecoins as the underlying asset. This service offers an annualized interest rate of up to 10%, with expectations to stabilize at 5% in the future. The service expands stablecoin applications from a medium of exchange to financial instruments, demonstrating Japan's strategy of establishing legislation first before opening up the market, promoting legality and adoption in its stablecoin market.

Polymarket has signed a major deal with Major League Baseball (MLB). The platform is now the official prediction market partner of the league. This is a big step for both sides. MLB reaches millions of fans every month. Now, those fans may also

A certain CEX's asset management department has launched tokenized shares of a Bitcoin yield fund in collaboration with Apex Group, targeting non-US investors and adopting the ERC-3643 standard to achieve automated compliance. Institutions are accelerating asset tokenization to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Gate News reports that on March 21, Gala Games officially announced the launch of GalaChain's ecosystem expansion plan. Its decentralized exchange GalaSwap now supports bridging tokens from the Solana, TON, and Ethereum ecosystems onto the GalaChain network. According to the official statement, this move will enable cross-ecosystem asset access and interoperability, activate the community, and enhance the visibility of various project tokens.

Ledger is expanding in the U.S. with the hiring of CFO John Andrews and a new office in New York, aiming to strengthen its presence in the digital asset market and support institutional clients. This growth signals Ledger's ambitions in the evolving financial landscape.

Circle Completes IPO, Jeremy Allaire Emphasizes Stablecoins Still in Early Stage, Targeting to Build Digital Dollar Network Infrastructure and Next-Generation Financial Platform. Editor's Note: In 2025, stablecoin issuer Circle completed its IPO, becoming one of the most closely watched listing cases in the crypto industry in recent years. As the issuer of USDC, Circle is attempting to promote stablecoins from a trading tool in the crypto market to a digital dollar infrastructure capable of circulating in networks. In "The David

Virtuals Protocol, partnering with t54 Labs, plans to launch AI agents on the XRP Ledger, enabling autonomous transactions. The crypto community is excited about this innovation, which could significantly enhance XRPL's capabilities in finance, despite some concerns about risks and oracle dependencies.