BlockBeatNews

BlockBeats News: Sonic Labs announces that Michael Kong, Andre Cronje, and David Richardson will resign from the board but continue to support Sonic and complete the handover, with no further involvement in decision-making in the future. The new CEO is Matt Visser, and the COO is Kosta Kourkoumelis, emphasizing the importance of first focusing on operational discipline and rebuilding trust rather than immediately releasing a roadmap. Visser states that improving by 1% daily and achieving compound interest is the goal. The company says that token prices and community sentiment are relatively low, viewing the next 100 days as a new starting point, aiming for small daily improvements, promoting transparent governance, establishing a risk and compliance committee, prioritizing the community, reducing vague announcements, and providing clear progress updates.

BlockBeats reports that Charles Schwab is collaborating with Cboe to launch all-or-nothing binary options, allowing clients to make "yes/no" trades based on the performance of the S&P 500 index. If the contract closes above or below the target price at expiration, a fixed cash payment is made; otherwise, no payment is made. Similar to prediction markets on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, but the latter lean towards futures contracts. Charles Schwab plans to open such contracts to clients in the coming months.

BlockBeats reported on June 20 that Axelar disclosed the discovery of an asset theft incident that was bridged to Secret Network via the IBC, involving approximately $4.67 million. The issue is with the ICS-20 contract on the Secret side; the related bridge has been disabled, and they are in contact with exchanges and law enforcement agencies. The incident affects only the assets on this bridge. Other IBC connections, Secret tokens, and Axelar integrations are not affected. A post-incident analysis will be released going forward.

According to Axios, Witkoff will go to Switzerland, and Trump's son-in-law Kushner is also in Switzerland. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi plans to go to Switzerland on Saturday and has told foreign ministers that a ceasefire in Lebanon is crucial for Iran and is decisive for US-Iran negotiations. Iran emphasizes that they hope to go to Switzerland after the ceasefire is implemented, with negotiations expected to start as early as Monday, though the schedule may still change.

Trump stated that approximately 700 ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and if Iran does not reach an agreement within 60 days, the United States will take actions that would displease them; he said it’s unlikely to go that far and warned that if it does, oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz could suddenly cease because those with ships worth billions of dollars do not want to see missiles and mines.

The latest AP-NORC poll shows that Trump’s approval rating remains at 37%. Support for the administration’s handling of the Iran war stands at 34%, and most respondents believe U.S. actions have gone too far. The survey was conducted from June 11 to 17, with a sample of about 3,040 adults and a margin of error of ±2.8%. Although the U.S. and Iran reached a preliminary ceasefire that brought oil prices down, public doubts about the war’s objectives and the effectiveness of its policies remain. Since February, Trump’s approval has fluctuated in the 34%–40% range, with Iran tensions and energy price fluctuations remaining key factors.

In the first quarter of 2026, the total upward mass of global space launches was approximately 647,000 kilograms, up 18% year over year. SpaceX led with 556,000 kilograms, accounting for about 86% of global launch capacity. Musk said that if Starship can achieve hour-level launch cadence, SpaceX’s payload to orbit would be equal to about 100 times the combined total of other operators. Analysts say that once Starship is scaled up and rolled out at scale, the global space industry landscape will undergo a historic reshaping.

According to The New York Times, the preliminary agreement between the U.S. and Iran is progressing chaotically, with core terms still unclear, such as free passage through the Strait of Hormuz; related signing and negotiations in Switzerland have been canceled, and some schedules and subsequent negotiations have been postponed. Disagreements over the interpretation of terms are evident, with issues like nuclear programs, sanctions relief, and shipping freedom postponed to subsequent 60-day negotiations, and talks have been shelved. U.S.-Israel disagreements are intensifying, with Israel stating it is not bound by the agreement and continuing military operations. Analysts say the lack of an implementation framework and rising regional and global market uncertainties.

June 17, the leaders of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding. Although the conflict between the United States and Iran has been paused, the propaganda war has not stopped. Analysis suggests that Iran has gained new sanctions exemptions and reconstruction funds, gaining the upper hand; the United States has only achieved the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and concessions on nuclear issues have already appeared. The White House issued key points to allies, aiming to portray the agreement as a political victory.

BlockBeats reports that the global AI boom is attracting worldwide capital into South Korea's tech sector, with fund companies continuously launching South Korea-themed ETFs, and QDII positions also increasing. Industry insiders believe that Korean stocks are undervalued compared to U.S. stocks, and combined with long-term AI dividends, there is room for valuation recovery; however, regarding the recent hype around Korea-themed ETFs, some fund companies have already warned of investment risks.

BlockBeats News, June 19 — According to The Washington Post, after the United States reached a preliminary agreement with Iran and agreed to lift all transit restrictions on this key maritime passage, vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is gradually resuming.


Affected by the previous situation, since February of this year, some shipping vessels have been stranded in the Persian Gulf region for a long time. As the situation eases, these ships have begun to cautiously pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical global energy transportation corridor, and the resumption of navigation is seen as an important signal of easing regional tensions.

According to CCTV reports, on June 19th, Israeli military drones continued airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting towns and mountainous areas in Nabatieh and JebJin regions. Hezbollah parliament member Mousavi stated that both sides have reached a ceasefire and have begun to observe it; if Israel violates, they have the right to respond; if Israel respects the ceasefire, both sides will comply. Other reports indicated that air defense alarms sounded in the Zaret area in northern Israel, suspected of drone attacks.

Amazon has withdrawn the release of the film "Artificial," which tells the story of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's brief ousting event, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Andrew Garfield. The executives decided to cancel the release after viewing a rough cut, citing a darker tone. This occurred after Amazon invested $500 million in OpenAI, and Altman's relationship with the Trump administration drew attention, with CAA searching for a new distributor.

CryptoQuant data shows that since June, Bitcoin network activity has significantly increased, breaking through long-term trend lines, mainly due to a large number of small transactions rather than traditional payments; the average daily transaction count in 2026 exceeds 800k, showing structural growth. Transactions below 0.01 BTC account for about 80%, related to on-chain activities such as OP_RETURN, Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20, etc., and the inscription craze has caused the mempool to reach approximately 128k transactions. If the trend continues, non-financial transactions will improve network throughput and high-urgency transaction fees. Although there was a net outflow of funds in early June, institutions remain optimistic about ETF-driven growth, maintaining a target of around $150k for BTC by the end of the year.

BlockBeats reported that after the KelpDAO rsETH cross-chain bridge was attacked in April, about $8.45 billion was withdrawn, but the core functions were not affected, completing an important DeFi stress test. The incident exposed risks related to collateral, concentration, and cross-protocol contagion, prompting Aave to initiate freezing measures and adjust parameters. The founder said it shows DeFi’s maturity and resilience. Analysis indicates that governance responses and risk models still need optimization. Conclusion: DeFi can withstand withdrawal pressure without external rescue, but a single test is not enough to prove security, so cross-chain risk spread must be closely watched.

BlockBeats, citing Coinglass data: if Bitcoin breaks above $64,000, the liquidation strength of mainstream CEX short positions will reach $786 million; if it falls below $62,000, the liquidation strength of long positions will reach $655 million. The liquidation chart does not show the number of contracts pending liquidation; instead, it reflects the intensity between adjacent liquidation clusters—how strongly the market is impacted when the price reaches a certain level. The higher the bar, the stronger the reaction triggered by liquidity waves.