On October 9, 2026 (UTC+8), according to comprehensive disclosures from BBX Crypto Stock News, yesterday saw a flurry of capital activities in the global crypto primary market and M&A sector. First Digital, the issuer of the USD-stablecoin FDUSD, announced a SPAC merger agreement at a $250 million valuation, aiming for a Nasdaq listing. Meanwhile, AI trading agent startup Catalyst secured a $30 million oversubscribed seed round led by Sequoia Capital. Blockchain privacy infrastructure Soda Labs also completed a $3 million exclusive funding round to accelerate integration with RWA and traditional banking systems.
On October 9, 2026, the core narrative of the crypto capital market is expanding in two directions: from “secondary market token hoarding” toward “primary market investment in foundational infrastructure” and “compliant entities going public.” Reviewing yesterday’s major disclosures, whether it’s stablecoin issuers providing liquidity support in the secondary market or AI and privacy-focused teams rebuilding the next generation of on-chain interaction protocols, all are absorbing massive amounts of fiat capital from traditional Wall Street and top-tier venture capital firms at extraordinarily high valuations and astonishing speeds.
First Digital shells a SPAC, stablecoin issuer aims for NASDAQ
On the bridge between compliant fiat and on-chain assets, First Digital, the issuer of the USD stablecoin FDUSD, has taken a crucial step toward capitalization. The company has officially announced the signing of a definitive business combination agreement with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III.
This transaction values First Digital at $2.5 billion prior to the deal. Under the agreement structure, following the merger, First Digital will become a wholly owned subsidiary of a newly established Cayman Islands holding company, and existing shareholders will be fully exchanged for Class A common shares of the holding company. The combined entity is expected to officially list on Nasdaq in the first half of 2027. This move signals that stablecoin issuers are seeking to enhance their credit endorsement and market share within the global fiat liquidity network by leveraging the rigorous auditing and transparency standards of the U.S. public equity market.
Sequoia leads the funding round for Catalyst, AI trading agent raises $30 million
In the intelligent on-chain trading space, AI-powered trading agent startup Catalyst has sent ripples through the venture capital community. The company announced a $30 million seed round led by global top-tier VC Sequoia Capital, with participation from leading institutions including Wall Street high-frequency quantitative giant Jump Trading and Coinbase. Securing tens of millions of dollars at the seed stage reflects the market’s intense appetite for the “AI + crypto trading” concept. This substantial funding will be exclusively dedicated to advancing the development of the next-generation on-chain intelligent trading agent protocol, aiming to have AI fully take over future high-frequency, complex on-chain arbitrage and market-making executions.
Soda Labs receives exclusive investment to accelerate RWA privacy infrastructure integration
At the infrastructure and privacy protection level, blockchain privacy infrastructure developer Soda Labs has announced the completion of a $3 million seed round led exclusively by NextBlock. Its core privacy layer, Bubble, currently supports major EVM networks such as Ethereum and Arbitrum, and is expanding to high-performance blockchains like Solana. Notably, the proceeds from this round will be explicitly used to accelerate engineering integrations of its underlying protocol with commercial banks, traditional payment companies, and real-world asset (RWA) platforms, directly addressing the “on-chain data privacy” pain point for institutional capital entry.
Overall, the capital flows on October 8 revealed the underlying logic of the crypto cycle heading toward the end of 2026: capital is no longer blindly chasing high-leverage tokens, but is instead heavily invested in infrastructure capable of supporting trillions in assets. First Digital’s pursuit of a U.S. stock exchange listing, Catalyst’s expansion of AI-driven trading boundaries, and Soda Labs’ protection of institutional privacy collectively paint a vision of a future for crypto finance deeply intertwined with compliance, intelligence, and security.
Data source: https://bbx.com/Cryptocurrency-related stock news database, compiled from yesterday’s global public company announcements and SEC/TSE disclosure filings.