Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Bank of Thailand is strengthening its regulation of stablecoins to combat money laundering, illicit financing, and "grey money" in the country. The Bank of Thailand is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission to review high-volume stablecoin transactions, focusing on USDT (USDT), cash transactions, and foreign exchange to identify and block illicit fund flows. Thailand will also expand the compliance responsibilities of commercial banks in cash networks, foreign exchange, gold bar transactions, and suspicious stablecoin transactions. In 2025, fraud losses in Thailand reached 115 billion baht, approximately US$3.4 billion, with about 173 million fraudulent phone calls and text messages recorded. Cash deposits exceeding 5 million baht are also required to be fully disclosed. Bitkub, Thailand's largest exchange, has a daily trading volume of approximately US$26 million, with nearly 40% of that being foreign exchange transactions, and the USDT/THB trading pair being the most popular. Thai banks plan to freeze 3 million bank accounts in 2025 as part of their crackdown on nominee accounts, gray capital, and suspicious activities. (Cointelegraph)

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the five largest U.S. investment banks are projected to generate approximately $11.1 billion in investment banking fees in the second quarter of 2026, a 27% year-over-year increase and the highest level since 2021. This growth is primarily attributed to the SpaceX IPO and a resurgence in large-scale mergers and acquisitions. The SpaceX IPO alone contributed approximately $500 million in fees to the 23 investment banks involved in the underwriting, setting a new record for public offerings. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley each earned approximately $100 million. Furthermore, the five largest investment banks' M&A fees are expected to increase by approximately 30% year-over-year, reaching over $4 billion. The market believes that future IPO plans of large technology companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic may further drive growth in Wall Street investment banking business. (Financial Times)

Odaily Planet Daily reported that South Korean stocks fell on Monday, prompting the Korea Exchange to activate its circuit breaker mechanism on the benchmark KOSPI index, suspending trading of KOSPI component stocks for 20 minutes. Around 1:28 PM that day (12:28 PM Beijing time), the Korea Exchange triggered a market-wide circuit breaker as the KOSPI index fell by more than 8% from the previous trading day's closing price. This followed a new round of clashes between the United States and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.