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The private digest for entrepreneurs, operators, and investors shaping the future with technology.

In this industry, the ceiling isn't talent, it's access.

Success is defined by the hands you shake and the company you keep.

We exist to streamline that proximity, ensuring the "best of the best" are never more than one connection away.

Join a private network of leaders from a16z, Goldman, NBA, Coinbase, Stripe, and more.

Meet Thibault Binier, the co-founder of Hibachi and a standout leader in the Introduction.com community.

To disrupt a $10T-a-day global market like Foreign Exchange, you need a founder who actually speaks the language of global finance.

Thibault is the definition of "Founder-Market Fit." Having lived in Mexico, Paris, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Phoenix, he brings a rare, borderless perspective to DeFi.

Today, splitting his time between New York and Miami, he is applying that international lens to solve one of the most complex problems in finance: the inefficiency of legacy FX.

The Vision:

Under Thibault’s leadership, Hibachi is proving that global trading can be verifiable, fast, and private.

By moving away from opaque legacy systems and onto blockchain-native rails, he is building the infrastructure that allows capital to move as freely as the people using it.

Building with the Best:

What makes Thibault’s journey even more impactful is the community behind him. Hibachi is backed by a powerhouse lineup including Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly, and Electric Capital.

As Hibachi partners with fellow Introduction.com members like Circle and Coinbase to modernize global FX, we are incredibly proud to see this momentum happening within our network.

Thibault isn't just a member, he’s the one bringing the brightest minds together to build what’s next.

Connect with Thibault! 👇

We are proud to introduce the newest innovators and leaders joining our community; please take a moment to connect with them and welcome them to the inner circle 👇

At Introduction.com, we don’t do crowded conference floors. We curate the highest-signal rooms in the space. Last week, we hosted two closed-door dinners that brought together the architects of global liquidity and on-chain infrastructure.

Dinner I: The Ritz-Carlton Alongside the TON Foundation, we hosted an off-the-record room featuring leadership from J.P. Morgan, Circle, Kraken, LayerZero, and the Sui, Aptos, and Algorand Foundations.

Dinner II: The LoDo District A few nights later, alongside Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Abstract, and Diamante, we bridged TradFi and Web3 with executives and allocators from Fidelity, S&P Global, Coinbase, Consensys, and Galaxy Digital.

There were no stages and no pitches. Just the operators, institutions, and protocols moving billions of dollars, pressure-testing ideas in real time, and leaving with actual momentum.

That was Denver. Now, we look ahead.

The circuit is accelerating. Next up: Digital Asset Summit (DAS).

During DAS, Introduction.com will be hosting two highly exclusive, private events. If Denver was any indication, these will be the most concentrated rooms of capital and talent at the summit.

There are no tickets for sale. There are no public guest lists.

Access to our events at DAS—and our entire global calendar—is reserved strictly for accepted Introduction.com members.

If you are building or funding at this level, your seat is waiting.

Meet the few, who shape the many.

Novig

Novig closed a $12M Series A led by Founders Fund to scale its high-performance sports betting exchange that eliminates the house edge.

This capital will be used to secure additional state licenses and expand their "no-vig" model to a global audience of retail and professional bettors.

Massive win for our member, Ishanee Nagpurkar at Pantera for her participation in the round!

Based One

Based One secured $8M in a seed round led by the HBAR Foundation and Outlier Ventures to scale its "Base-native" liquidity layer for institutional RWAs.

The funding will accelerate the deployment of compliant, high-frequency trading vaults specifically optimized for the Hedera and Base ecosystems.

Huge shout out to our member, Kevin Leffew at CoinBase for participating.

Polymarket

Onchain prediction giant Polymarket has acquired Dome to integrate its unified API technology and standardize access across the fragmented prediction market landscape.

This move allows Polymarket to gain direct control over the infrastructure that unifies data and order books from rival platforms, solidifying its position as the core liquidity hub for global event contracts.

Magna

Token management leader Magna has acquired Vesta to unify the institutional token vesting and distribution market.

By consolidating two of the largest cap-table management stacks in Web3, the acquisition creates an end-to-end solution for founders and investors to manage lifecycle distributions at scale.

Monad Foundation

The Monad Foundation has acquired the Ponder development team to integrate its open-source blockchain indexing framework directly at the protocol level.

This acquisition structurally addresses data indexing limitations by bringing Ponder’s high-performance infrastructure into the Monad ecosystem to improve standards for next-generation EVM applications.

Kresus: South Korean giant Hanwha made a $13M investment in Kresus to accelerate the development of seedless crypto wallets. The project focuses on institutional-grade security with a simplified user experience to onboard the next wave of retail and corporate users.

Rhythmic: Rhythmic raised $12M in a Series A round to scale its decentralized music streaming infrastructure. The capital will be used to expand artist-to-fan monetization tools and build out its high-fidelity streaming stack.

Newity: Fintech firm Newity raised $11M to bring small business loans onchain, bridging the gap between traditional credit and DeFi. The platform streamlines lending for SMEs while providing transparent yield opportunities for digital asset holders.

Flying Tulip: Flying Tulip launched its public token sale this February to fund the development of its decentralized asset-management protocol. The project aims to democratize access to high-yield strategies through its automated, community-governed vault system.

Honeypop: Honeypop has been acquired by a leading Web3 social ecosystem to integrate its gamified engagement tools. This move aims to bolster the parent company's creator economy features and provide more interactive rewards for its global user base.

We are currently seeing stablecoins eyeing a $2 trillion market cap, a substantial surge that Standard Chartered projects it will force the U.S. Treasury to increase T-bill issuance to satisfy collateral demand.

Institutional adoption is scaling through Japan’s SBI issuing 10 billion yen in on-chain bonds while retail activity peaks on Robinhood’s L2 testnet, which processed 4 million transactions in its first week.

These expansions are occurring despite a broader liquidity drain. Trump’s 15% global tariff hike and a potential Japanese rate hike pull cash out of risk assets.

Amidst this volatility, certain digital floors are being established by sovereign actors like the UAE, which has built a strategic $344 million mining reserve to ensure long-term stability in a tightening market.

Steak 'n Shake’s Bitcoin Strategy Pays Off

The classic burger chain reported a dramatic sales surge after adopting a Bitcoin treasury model, proving that integrating digital assets can revitalize traditional retail brands.

The Mar-a-Lago Crypto Summit Collision

A surreal mix of Wall Street titans like the CEO of Goldman Sachs and cultural icons like Nicki Minaj gathered to discuss stablecoins as a core pillar of national policy.

AI Bot Loses $250,000 in Tipping Blunder

The autonomous bot Lobstar Wilde accidentally sent its entire memecoin treasury to a stranger on X, reigniting fears over the lack of guardrails for independent AI agents.

Citrini Research Warns of "Ghost GDP"

A new report is rattling investors by suggesting that AI-driven productivity may be masking a looming employment crisis as autonomous agents replace white-collar service roles.

The AI Trust Rift: Kraken vs. Dragonfly

Industry leaders are sharply divided over AI autonomy, with Kraken’s CEO ready to hand 100% of his assets to AI while others warn that even a minor error rate remains catastrophic.

The SEC’s Stablecoin "Haircut" Pivot:

The SEC has lowered the capital "haircut" for brokers holding stablecoins to 2%, effectively treating them as high-quality collateral. This technical shift moves away from the restrictive SAB 121 standards, signaling a new era of integrating digital assets into traditional Wall Street plumbing. By easing these requirements, the agency is paving the way for banks to finally offer institutional-grade crypto services.

Crypto.com’s Federal Banking Milestone:

Crypto.com secured approval for a federally regulated crypto custodian bank, granting it the same regulatory status as legacy institutions like BNY Mellon. This allows the exchange to bypass the fragmented state-level licensing system and operate under a unified federal framework. The move marks a massive win for institutional legitimacy, providing a "bank-grade" haven for domestic capital.

The State vs. Federal Jurisdictional War:

Legal friction is peaking as a Tennessee judge blocked a state crackdown on Kalshi, while Nevada simultaneously sued the prediction market platform. These conflicting rulings highlight the chaotic "patchwork" of state gambling laws that continue to clash with federal CFTC oversight. Until a federal standard is enforced, the industry remains trapped in a state-by-state legal tug-of-war.

The EU’s "Total Block" on Russian Crypto:

The EU’s 20th sanctions package introduces a sweeping ban on all crypto transactions with Russian entities, effectively closing the "crypto loophole." This "zero-tolerance" policy targets third-country platforms to prevent stablecoin-aided sanction evasion for state-linked interests. Global exchanges must now choose between maintaining European market access or servicing the Russian market.

Hong Kong’s Institutional Re-Opening:

The SFC approved Victory Fintech (VDX) for a crypto license, the first such approval in nearly two years, signaling the official start of Hong Kong’s stablecoin era. This greenlight sets the stage for the first batch of official licenses in March 2026, aimed at challenging the USD-dominated offshore market. Hong Kong is successfully positioning itself as the primary regulated hub for Asian institutional capital.

The KuCoin European Compliance Ban:

European regulators banned KuCoin from the Eurozone, citing severe "anti-money laundering and compliance staff shortfalls." This enforcement marks a new MiCA-era standard where regulators audit human infrastructure and operational "plumbing" rather than just software code. The ban serves as a warning that offshore exchanges must invest heavily in physical compliance to remain in the European market.