The Web3 landscape witnessed significant developments over the past 24 hours, spanning new infrastructure launches, legal proceedings, and strategic partnerships. **Infrastructure & Protocol Updates** Interoperability protocol LayerZero announced the launch of Zero, a new high-performance Layer 1 blockchain. Separately, Tether confirmed a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, aiming to advance cross-chain interoperability infrastructure, which is already utilized by its USDT0 stablecoin. On the Layer 2 front, the Optimism mainnet has integrated support for the ERC-8004 token standard. **Legal & Regulatory News** In a major legal development, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has formally requested a new trial concerning fraud charges related to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange. In a separate case, the former CEO of SafeMoon was sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding investors through a cryptocurrency scheme. On the policy front, a White House meeting on stablecoin regulation reportedly made progress. Meanwhile, Chinese regulatory bodies, including the People’s Bank of China, issued a joint notice further outlining measures to prevent risks associated with virtual currencies. **Strategic Moves & Partnerships** Popular YouTube creator MrBeast has acquired the banking application Step. Artificial intelligence firm Sahara AI entered a strategic partnership with South Korean payment company Danal Fintech. Japanese IP project Xross Road successfully closed a $1.5 million seed funding round, with participation from investors including Arbitrum Gaming Ventures. **Product Launches & Updates** Cryptocurrency wallet provider Phantom introduced a new in-app chat feature, Phantom Chat. Open-source tool OpenClaw released version 2.9 of its platform. **Featured Research & Analysis** Web3Caff Research published an in-depth report on OpenMind, analyzing its potential as foundational infrastructure for machine-to-machine collaboration and its implications for the Web3 economy. An analytical article explored the novel social platform Moltbook, which operates on the premise of an AI-dominated user environment. Further commentary examined the implications of recent regulatory actions in China for Web3 practitioners and the Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization sector. *Disclaimer: This digest is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.*