Mortgage your home for dividends? Strategy CEO’s pitch raises eyebrows

On March 10, 2021, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) founder Michael Saylor encouraged investors to use leverage and even mortgage their homes to buy bitcoin (BTC). Five years later, the companys CEO Phong Le is talking about mortgages again, but this time in relation to buying Stretch (STRC) instead of BTC.  Le talked about STRC, a stock with no guarantees of principal repayment that currently pays variable, 11.5% annualized dividends, on Natalie Brunells popular Bitcoin show.  “It almost looks like a paycheck, right? It‘s just coming in,” Le claimed in an incredible comparison of income to STRC’s variable dividends that his board of directors may suspend at any time.  He also recommended STRC to people who “might have a mortgage to pay, or they might have utility bills to pay, or a car bill.”  Then came the incredible changeover from Saylor‘s mortgage-for-BTC to CEO Le’s new mortgage-for-STRC. He told brunell:  I, just last week, bought $250,000 of STRC. The reason I did it was just to sort of go through the experience, which I enjoy doing.  I have monthly obligations. I have a 1.75% 30-year mortgage, right? And if I can, instead of paying down that mortgage, put it into an instrument that pays me 11.5%, thats 10x

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Alternatives to Cision and Muck Rack: OMI Adds a Decision Layer That Precedes Media Databases

Most PR stacks start with the same assumption: pick a media database, build a list, and start outreach.  Cision and Muck Rack dominate that workflow. They solve a clear problem—how to find journalists and manage communication at scale. But they dont answer a more fundamental question:  Which media outlets are worth targeting in the first place?  That gap has become more visible as media ecosystems grow more fragmented and campaign budgets face closer scrutiny.  This is where a different category begins to take shape.  What Cision and Muck Rack Are Designed to Do  Cision and Muck Rack are media database platforms. Their core value is operational:Access to large journalist and outlet databasesContact discovery and relationship managementOutreach workflows and monitoringCoverage tracking and reporting  They are built to execute PR campaigns efficiently.  In practice, teams use them to build media lists, identify relevant contacts, send pitches, and track results. This model works well once the target outlets are defined, but the limitation is upstream.  Where the Workflow Breaks  Before outreach begins, every campaign depends on a series of decisions that databases dont structure:Which outlets align with campaign goalsWhich publications actually drive visibility or engagementWhich placements justify their costHow to compare outlets using consistent criteria  Teams often try to answer these questions using traffic

05-01

US Senate Passes Resolution Banning Senators From Prediction Market Trading

The US Senate unanimously approved a resolution from Senator Bernie Moreno that bars sitting senators from trading on prediction markets. The measure took effect immediately under the chambers internal Standing Rules.  The voice vote came one week after Moreno introduced the resolution on April 24. It targets event contracts offered by platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.  Inside the Prediction Market Ban  Moreno said the resolution amends Rule XXXVII of the Senate Standing Rules. It bars senators from entering agreements that depend on the occurrence, nonoccurrence, or scope of a specific event.  Proud to say my bill to ban members of Congress from insider trading on prediction markets just passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY!  Serving in Congress is an honor, not a side hustle. Americans deserve to know that their leaders are here for the right reason!  That language directly captures event contracts on Polymarket and Kalshi. Users on those platforms wager on elections, legislation, economic data releases, and geopolitical outcomes.  An amendment from Senator Alex Padilla narrowed the text. The change prevents the rule from sweeping in conventional financial products such as insurance policies. Enforcement runs through the Senate Ethics Committee.  Industry Backs the Move  Kalshi chief executive Tarek Mansour applauded the rule. He noted that the platform already

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South Korea’s Shinhan Card Partners With Solana to Bring Stablecoin Payments to 28 Million Users

Shinhan Card, South Koreas largest card issuer with 28 million cardholders, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation. The deal covers stablecoin payment technology and joint development of next-generation payment infrastructure.  This isn‘t a small partnership. It’s one of the largest TradFi-to-crypto collaborations announced in Asia this year, and it puts Solana at the center of how a major Korean financial institution thinks about the future of payments.  Whats Actually Being Built By Solana & Shinhan  Shinhan Card and Solana already completed a preliminary proof-of-concept last year. This new MoU expands that work into an advanced PoC on the Solana testnet. The two teams are building real payment scenarios between customers and merchants while testing the networks technical stability under conditions closer to actual use.  A big part of the work focuses on non-custodial online wallets. Users keep full control over their assets without relying on a third party. That matters because it changes the trust model entirely. Traditional card payments depend on the bank or processor holding everything.  Non-custodial wallets put that responsibility on the user. Shinhan Card wants to figure out how to make that work safely at the scale of 28 million customers.  The Hybrid TradFi-DeFi Model  The partnership goes beyond

05-01

Investor Jack Selby: Markets underpricing the risk of Middle East AI pullback

A potential pullback by Middle East sovereign wealth funds could drain hundreds of billions of dollars from the artificial intelligence boom and threaten key data center projects, according to tech investor Jack Selby.  Middle East investors — including sovereign wealth funds and government entities — account for roughly a quarter of global investments committed to AI over the next five years, said Selby, managing director of Peter Thiels family office, Thiel Capital. If the war in Iran drags on, and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries divert their investments to rebuilding at home, the lost capital could ripple through data centers as well as public and private tech companies, he said.  “I think markets have underappreciated how important the Middle East region is for capex spending as it relates to AI and AI infrastructure,” Selby told CNBC in an interview. “If the Middle East starts taking some of these projects offline or canceling some of these projects, the impact on the market could be much, much, much larger than what they currently suggest.”  Selbys warning has implications for high-net-worth investors, family offices and funds betting on the AI trade. A Wall Street Journal report this week about missed revenue targets

05-01

US Senate Passes Resolution Banning Senators From Prediction Market Trading

The US Senate unanimously approved a resolution from Senator Bernie Moreno that bars sitting senators from trading on prediction markets. The measure took effect immediately under the chambers internal Standing Rules.  The voice vote came one week after Moreno introduced the resolution on April 24. It targets event contracts offered by platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.  Inside the Prediction Market Ban  Moreno said the resolution amends Rule XXXVII of the Senate Standing Rules. It bars senators from entering agreements that depend on the occurrence, nonoccurrence, or scope of a specific event.  Proud to say my bill to ban members of Congress from insider trading on prediction markets just passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY!  That language directly captures event contracts on Polymarket and Kalshi. Users on those platforms wager on elections, legislation, economic data releases, and geopolitical outcomes.  An amendment from Senator Alex Padilla narrowed the text. The change prevents the rule from sweeping in conventional financial products such as insurance policies. Enforcement runs through the Senate Ethics Committee.  Industry Backs the Move  Kalshi chief executive Tarek Mansour applauded the rule. He noted that the platform already blocks members of Congress and polices insider trading internally.  “I applaud the Senate for passing this resolution to ban Senators and their offices

05-01

Crypto Hacks Hit $650M in April, Biggest Losses Since 2022: CertiK

The post Crypto Hacks Hit $650M in April, Biggest Losses Since 2022: CertiK appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News  April 2026 turned into a nightmare for the crypto world. According to CertiK, a blockchain security company, the total amount lost to hacks, scams, and exploits this month crossed $650.9 million.  That makes it the worst month for crypto losses since March 2022, when the industry lost roughly $715 million  Major Exploits Drove the Losses  According to CertiKs data, the majority of losses came from exploit-based attacks rather than phishing or scams.  The largest exploit came from KiloEx, which alone saw losses of about $291.3 million. This was followed by Drift Protocol, with losses of roughly $285.23 million, making it one of the biggest single incidents of the month.  Meanwhile, other notable attacks included Rhea Finance at $18.47 million, Grinex at $16.23 million, and a contract exploit labeled 0x8B84 with losses of around $6.585 million.  Wallet Compromises Led the Losses  Looking at how the money was lost, wallet compromise was the biggest category by far, responsible for over $610 million of the total.  Price manipulation schemes came second at around $18.88 million, followed by code vulnerabilities at nearly $17 million.  Meanwhile, phishing attacks, though smaller in total, still caused $3.57 million

05-01

South Korea’s Shinhan Card Partners With Solana to Bring Stablecoin Payments to 28 Million Users

Shinhan Card, South Koreas largest card issuer with 28 million cardholders, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation. The deal covers stablecoin payment technology and joint development of next-generation payment infrastructure.  This isn‘t a small partnership. It’s one of the largest TradFi-to-crypto collaborations announced in Asia this year, and it puts Solana at the center of how a major Korean financial institution thinks about the future of payments.  Whats Actually Being Built By Solana & Shinhan  Shinhan Card and Solana already completed a preliminary proof-of-concept last year. This new MoU expands that work into an advanced PoC on the Solana testnet. The two teams are building real payment scenarios between customers and merchants while testing the networks technical stability under conditions closer to actual use.  A big part of the work focuses on non-custodial online wallets. Users keep full control over their assets without relying on a third party. That matters because it changes the trust model entirely. Traditional card payments depend on the bank or processor holding everything.  Non-custodial wallets put that responsibility on the user. Shinhan Card wants to figure out how to make that work safely at the scale of 28 million customers.  The Hybrid TradFi-DeFi Model  The partnership goes beyond

05-01

Tether-Backed Financial Platform Oobit Gives AI Agents Their Own Corporate Visa Cards

Oobit is a crypto payments platform backed by Tether, the stablecoin issuer with $189 billion in circulation. The company built Agent Cards on its existing infrastructure, which covers 150 million merchants across more than 100 countries.  Each AI agent receives its own programmable card. Finance teams set spend limits, merchant category restrictions, and hard caps. Those rules are enforced server-side at the transaction layer. Every charge and every decline generates a structured, human-readable reason that appears in the same Oobit dashboard finance teams use to manage employee spending.  The cards work with any agent framework and take under three minutes to set up.  “Every other company trying to give AI agents spending power is duct-taping fintech built for humans onto software that doesnt behave like one,” Amram Adar, CEO of Oobit remarked. The Oobit executive added:  “Agent Cards is the first time someone has asked the actual question. If you were designing a corporate card from scratch in 2026, knowing the cardholder was going to be software, what would it look like? This is what it looks like.”  The problem Oobit is targeting is straightforward. AI agents operate continuously and make hundreds of decisions per minute. Standard virtual card APIs and expense platforms assume a

05-01

CLARITY Act: Senate Banking Republicans Yet to Secure Full Support Ahead Markup

In the latest CLARITY Act update, Senate Banking Republicans have yet to secure full support from all Republicans on the Committee, which is necessary as they look to at least advance the crypto bill along party lines. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott expressed optimism that he could soon secure full Republican support and that they could mark up the crypto bill in May.  Full Republican Support Still Missing Ahead of Potential CLARITY Act Markup  According to a Punchbowl report, Senate Banking Republicans have yet to secure full support from all Republicans on the Committee as they look to advance the crypto bill. The report highlighted Senator John Kennedy as one of the members of the Committee who continues to withhold their support for the bill.  This development comes as Senator Thom Tillis, who appeared to be a holdout among the Republicans, pushes for a CLARITY Act markup. Tillis said that he will ask Senator Scott to schedule a markup for the crypto bill once they return from their May recess.  However, full Republican support is key, especially as the Senate Banking Republicans may need to advance the crypto bill along party lines. Senator Scott, who is the Committee Chair, already signaled that he

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