Pharos Announces Completion of $44 Million Series A Funding

Two Pakistani sources said on April 8 that a U.S. delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence and an Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Kalibaf and Foreign Minister Alaraghi will arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan on Thursday—one day earlier than previously expected. Earlier, Pakistan’s prime minister had stated the U.S. and Iranian delegations were scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Friday, April 10. The two sides will hold further negotiations in Islamabad on the 10th to reach a final agreement resolving all disputes.

April 8 – Sources cited by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency say Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if Israel continues attacking Lebanon. Separately, Iran’s Fars News Agency reports Iran is mobilizing forces and preparing a “deterrent operation” against Israeli military positions over Israel’s violation of the temporary Lebanon ceasefire agreement.

On April 8th, Morph released its latest report on stablecoin status, noting that stablecoins are projected to make up roughly 10% of global cross-border payments by 2030. Current annual stablecoin transaction volume has hit $33 trillion—surpassing the combined $25.5 trillion of Visa and Mastercard. Stablecoin adoption in the real economy is growing steadily, with roughly 60% of fund flows driven by B2B payments. Enterprise uptake is also rising sharply in use cases like fund management and procurement. Morph forecasts that stablecoin annual settlement volume could exceed $50 trillion by 2026, AI agents are expected to become the primary transaction initiators by 2027, and the market size may reach $19 trillion by 2030.

On April 8, Daniel Li—founder of Liquid Capital (formerly LD Capital)—announced the launch of OpenX Labs, an AI-focused fund dedicated to investing in and partnering with AI projects. Li noted: “I used to think there were no more top-tier investment opportunities. Now I’ve changed my mind—the golden age of top-tier investing is here. The AI era has handed top founders a massive opportunity: a small team can achieve what once took an entire army, with no need for management headaches, hiring, payroll, or client acquisition. As long as you have ideas and strategy, startups are on the same starting line as mid-sized companies in this AI age. “I hope to learn alongside standout AI founders in the upcoming window for top-tier investment. I’m willing to support exceptional AI projects pro bono—reach out to me anytime. AI has also given me a second shot at entrepreneurship and renewed motivation.”

On April 8, the Ethereum Foundation announced it will convert 5,000 ETH into a stablecoin via CoWSwap’s TWAP feature—part of its ongoing support for research, grants, and donation initiatives.

April 8: On-chain sleuth ZachXBT disclosed that an anonymous tipster has provided stolen data from a North Korean internal payment server—including 390 accounts, chat logs, and cryptocurrency transaction records. The data relates to a sophisticated fraud network with an estimated $1 million monthly turnover, involving identity fraud, forged legal documents, and crypto-to-fiat conversion channels. The North Korean IT workers’ internal payment platform operates like Discord, used for reporting to superiors and processing payments. Its default password ("123456") had not been changed for an extended period. User lists include roles, North Korean names, cities, and group codes, and link to three OFAC-sanctioned entities: Sobaeksu, Saenal, and Songkwang. From late November 2025 to the present, the platform’s payment wallets have received over $3.5 million total. Typical payment flows involve workers transferring crypto from exchanges or using services like Payoneer to move fiat via ba