Tether Leads $1.4B Neura Round, Citi Tokenizes Private Shares as US PPI Jumps 6.5%

Crypto News

Tether Investments has led a $1.4 billion funding round for Neura Robotics, a German developer of AI-powered humanoid robots, in what it described as one of the largest physical-AI raises on record. Qualcomm Technologies, Amazon and NVIDIA also joined the round, which earlier projections valued at between $9 billion and nearly $12 billion. The issuer of the USDT stablecoin is embedding its payment technology directly into Neura systems on blockchain rails, giving each robot an independent digital wallet that settles machine-to-machine payments automatically. Under CEO Paolo Ardoino, the El Salvador-based firm continues expanding beyond crypto into agriculture, brain technology and robotics, having booked more than $10 billion in profit through the first nine months of 2025.

Citigroup unveiled Digital Depositary Receipts, a product giving wealthy and institutional investors exposure to private-company shares through bank-issued, blockchain-based securities. The debut transaction involved Kaleido, a tokenization firm backed by Citi Ventures, with the receipts recorded on infrastructure operated by Swiss market operator SIX. The bank acts as both issuer and custodian, adapting a longstanding depositary-receipt model for private markets as companies stay private longer and investor demand climbs. The move extends a broader push to bring traditional assets onto DeFi-adjacent networks; earlier this month Citi joined several major U.S. banks planning a shared tokenized-deposit network through The Clearing House by mid-2027, keeping funds inside the regulated banking system.

U.S. producer prices delivered a fresh inflation shock, with the Producer Price Index rising 6.5% year over year in May, the steepest gain since November 2022 and above the 6.4% consensus. The monthly reading climbed 1.1%, well ahead of the 0.7% forecast, as energy costs accounted for roughly 80% of the goods-price increase. Gasoline alone jumped 23.4% in a single month, lifted by Middle East tensions and disruption fears around the Strait of Hormuz. Coming a day after consumer prices topped 4%, the data has investors weighing renewed inflation, though markets still expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates at 3.50%-3.75% at next week's meeting.

IT infrastructure-management platform NinjaOne secured $400 million in secondary funding, a deal struck from a position of profitability rather than urgent capital need. The round, a second extension of a Series C first closed in 2024, drew Alphabet unit CapitalG, Sequoia Capital and Iconiq, and follows a separate $500 million raise in February. The company says it now serves roughly 400,000 organizations, crossed $500 million in annualized recurring revenue and turned profitable last quarter. Co-founder and president Chris Matarese framed the raise as a chance to select strategic partners amid strong demand, with proceeds earmarked for accelerating growth across AI-driven patching, security and remote-management tools.

Infosys completed an early pilot assessment of the CMMI Institute's AI Maturity framework, becoming one of the first global organizations to do so while helping shape the governance standards themselves. The evaluation spanned Infosys's global service lines, examining productivity, quality, governance and responsible AI deployment across software development, maintenance, testing and support. Built on its Topaz and agentic Topaz Fabric service suites, the company said the pilot proved its operating model can run consistently at enterprise scale. Executives and outside reviewers framed the milestone as evidence that enterprise focus is shifting from technology demonstrations toward measurable maturity and controllable governance frameworks.

In Seoul, the Korea Asset Management Corporation, known as KAMCO, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Venture Capital Association to build a coordinated corporate-investment support system. The partnership pairs KAMCO's corporate-restructuring infrastructure with the association's venture-investment expertise, aiming to match firms seeking capital with appropriate investors based on funding needs, growth stage and business profile. Officials said the tailored matchmaking should narrow market information asymmetry, widen fundraising access for promising companies and help investors source quality deals. The agreement reflects a broader trend of public institutions and private capital networks combining to strengthen company discovery as rate and macro uncertainty make investors increasingly selective.

Taken together, these developments trace a single arc: institutional capital is migrating toward tokenization, automation and AI infrastructure even as macro conditions tighten. Citi's tokenized receipts and Tether's robotics bet show traditional and crypto-native players converging on blockchain settlement, while a 6.5% PPI print pressures risk appetite. COINOTAG's own aggregate market data underscores the caution: the Fear & Greed Index sits at 12 of 100 in Extreme Fear, Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 70.4% as capital rotates away from altcoins, and total crypto market capitalization stands near $1.79 trillion. That defensive posture, typical of a bear market, suggests investors are favoring infrastructure over speculation.