A Silicon Valley startup says it has discovered the pinnacle of alchemy – converting a relatively common metal into gold.

Marathon Fusion is proposing a process that uses nuclear fusion to turn mercury into gold, reports the Economic Times.

In a scientific paper, the firms says it’s possible to use high-energy neutrons from a fusion reactor to bombard mercury-198, turning it into mercury-197, which then decays into stable gold-197 over a matter of days.

The company says the process can be done at scale, but for now it remains theoretical.

“Our approach is economically irresistible, practically feasible, and massively scalable, in contrast to prior attempts. An entirely new golden age begins now.”

The paper, which has not yet been peer reviewed, claims the gold can be created as a byproduct at nuclear power stations “without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output.”

The method promises to create 5,000 kilograms of gold annually using a one-gigawatt fusion power plant.

Marathon Fusion was co-founded by a former SpaceX engineer and a Breakthrough Energy Fellow.

It has raised over $10.9 million in funding, including a $5.9 million seed round in July 2024 led by 1517 Fund and Anglo American, with additional support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Übermorgen Ventures and the Shared Future Fund.

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Dakota, a crypto-integrated banking platform for businesses, has raised $12.5 million in a Series A round to expand its borderless banking services, the firm said on Tuesday.

The investment was led by CoinFund, with participation from 6th Man Ventures and Triton Ventures.

The announcement comes at a time when stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies tied to an external asset, predominantly to the U.S. dollar, are increasingly becoming part of traditional finance plumbing and a tool for cheaper, faster cross-border payments. Stablecoin regulation is also advancing in the U.S., with the Senate already having passed the GENIUS Act and the House aiming to vote on the proposal on Thursday.

“We believe stablecoins can revolutionize business banking,” Alex Felix, CIO of CoinFund, said in a statement. “Dakota is unlocking that potential by combining the familiarity of a bank account with the power of crypto rails.”

The startup, founded by alumni of Coinbase, Square, and Airbnb, lets businesses hold and move funds in U.S. dollars or stablecoins while using traditional payment networks like ACH, SWIFT and SEPA. Businesses can send or receive payments via regular bank accounts on the platform without touching crypto directly. Behind the scenes, it uses blockchain to settle transfers nearly instantly, offering an alternative to conventional banking.

The firm keeps customer deposits fully reserved and backed 1:1 by short-term U.S. Treasuries, aiming to eliminate liquidity and counterparty risks.

With the funding, the firm is now expanding its services to over 100 countries, including the UK, European Union, Singapore and parts of Latin America.

“Business today is borderless, and dollars are a universal language,” said Dakota CEO Ryan Bozarth. “We want to give entrepreneurs from Bogotá to Bangalore the same access to U.S. dollar banking that a startup in San Francisco would have.”

Read more: House Gears Up for Crypto Market Structure Vote on Wednesday, Stablecoins Thursday

The brokerage firm that operates the largest US electronic trading platform by daily average revenue is reportedly leading a funding round for the crypto and stablecoin infrastructure startup Zero Hash.

Zero Hash provides the backend infrastructure that enables banks, brokerages and fintech companies offer cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital assets to their customers. 

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Fortune reports that Zero Hash is poised to raise about $100 million at a nearly $1 billion valuation in a new funding round spearheaded by Interactive Brokers. 

In 2022, the startup raised $105 million in a Series D round that saw the participation of the private investment firm Bain Capital, American hedge fund Point72 Ventures and fintech venture capital firm Nyca. Citing data from PitchBook, Fortune reports that Zero Hash was valued at $340 million after the Series D capital raise. 

The latest push to raise additional capital comes amid the growing popularity of stablecoins – cryptocurrencies which are pegged to another asset such as the US dollar or commodities.

In 2022, the payment processing company Stripe tapped Zero Hash’s infrastructure to launch an embeddable and customizable fiat-to-crypto on-ramp solution. And in 2024, Zero Hash teamed up with Securitize, a real-world asset tokenization platform, to allow qualified institutions to convert the USDC stablecoin into US dollars. 

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July 1st, 2025 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Decentralized AI Framework Gains Recognition for Expanding Access to Compute Power.

The digital economy has witnessed transformative platforms that fundamentally changed resource sharing: Grab revolutionized transportation, Airbnb transformed hospitality, and Shein disrupted supply chains. Now, a Vietnamese technology company is redefining the next frontier-computational power sharing itself.

Hyra Network has been officially named “Technology Startup of the Year” at the prestigious 2025 Globee Awards for Technology, marking a watershed moment for decentralized artificial intelligence infrastructure. This recognition validates an ambitious vision that could reshape how the world builds, owns, and benefits from AI technology. (Official winner list available at: globeeawards.com/2025-winners-technology)

The Vision Behind Innovation

This breakthrough platform is researched and developed by Hyra Tek JCS (Vietnam) and operated by Hyra Tek Smart Solution L.L.C (UAE). Hyra Network’s mission is to democratize computational power by activating billions of idle devices and transforming everyday users into AI infrastructure providers.

Hyra Network serves as the flagship platform alongside Hyra AI, creating an unprecedented model where computational resources are shared across distributed networks rather than concentrated in centralized data centers. If ride-sharing optimizes vehicle utilization and home-sharing maximizes property efficiency, then computational sharing unlocks vast processing power lying dormant in smartphones, computers, and IoT devices globally.

Global Recognition for Excellence

The Globee Awards represent the technology sector’s highest honor, with winners selected by over 100 seasoned professionals, including C-suite executives, venture capitalists, and industry analysts.

“This honor transcends our company – it validates the entire movement toward democratized AI infrastructure,” said Mr. Jonh Tran, Founder of Hyra Network. “We’re witnessing global acknowledgment that the future of AI belongs not to centralized monopolies, but to communities that collectively own and benefit from these powerful technologies.”

The decentralized AI infrastructure and compute resource-sharing model of Hyra Network

Pioneering Community-Powered AI

At its core, Hyra Tek’s innovation centers on Hyra AI, one of the world’s first Train-to-Earn platforms. This system allows users to convert personal devices into active AI training nodes, earning rewards while contributing to advanced model development. The Layer-3 blockchain architecture supports high-throughput, low-latency workloads, enabling scalable AI training and inference at the network’s edge.

The economic model creates a virtuous cycle: participants provide computational resources, earn tangible rewards, and simultaneously advance AI capabilities that benefit the broader ecosystem.

Global Impact

Today, the Hyra ecosystem spans more than 205 countries, powering a global network of approximately 2.5 million connected devices, including 700,000 active online nodes and over 1 million KYC-verified users. With strong community engagement across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Hyra delivers more than 360,000 teraflops of distributed computing power and supports a growing base of enterprise clients, now serving over 10 paying customers. This real-world adoption reaffirms Hyra’s core belief: that distributed, permissionless infrastructure can drive meaningful innovation while remaining truly open and accessible to all.

As artificial intelligence and DePIN technologies gain momentum, Hyra positions itself at the technological vanguard, architecting the foundation for a more equitable, intelligent, and inclusive AI future.

About Hyra Network

Hyra Network is a decentralized artificial intelligence infrastructure platform developed by Hyra Tek JCS (Vietnam) and operated by Hyra Tek Smart Solution L.L.C (UAE). The platform enables individuals and enterprises to contribute unused computational resources from personal devices to support AI training and inference at scale. Leveraging a Layer-3 blockchain architecture, Hyra Network supports high-throughput, low-latency workloads across a global network of connected devices. Its ecosystem includes Hyra AI, one of the first Train-to-Earn platforms, and currently spans over 205 countries with 2.5 million connected devices. Hyra Network aims to increase accessibility to AI infrastructure through a community-powered, distributed model.

Contact

PR Representative
Jess Dao – Brand Manager
Hyra Tek Smart Solution L.L.C (UAE)
pr@hyra.network

An insurance startup that pays out policyholders in Bitcoin (BTC) is now reportedly valued at nearly $200 million after a successful Series A fundraising round.

According to a new report by Fortune, crypto life insurance firm Meanwhile has raised $40 million in its latest fundraising round, bringing its valuation to $190 million.

The fundraising round saw the participation of Bitcoin-focused bank Xapo and Silicon Valley mogul Wences Casares.

Meanwhile operates entirely in Bitcoin, requiring policyholders to pay in BTC while beneficiaries receive payouts in the crypto king as well.

Zach Townsend, Meanwhile’s chief executive and co-founder, told Fortune that the company has doubled its valuation since the 2022 funding round.

Townesend tells Fortune that Meanwhile operates in BTC rather than in fiat currency because Bitcoin limits the risks associated with inflation over the long run.

As stated by the CEO,

“It may feel like the dollar is not as sure a store of value as it might have been in the past. So the idea of storing some value for your kids… in this global, censorship-resistant, decentralized, uncontrollable currency in Bitcoin is very attractive.”

Meanwhile makes its profits by investing the BTC it collects from policyholders in order to fulfill its death benefit obligations.

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