Last week, Circle raised $440 million in a new funding round. The fintech startup announced Friday it raised the fresh capital from institutional and strategic investors including Fidelity Management and Research Company, Marshall Wace, Willett Advisors, Intersection Fintech Ventures, Atlas Merchant Capital, Digital Currency Group, FTX, Breyer Capital, Valor Capital Group, Pillar VC, and Michael J. Price and Friends. Circle did not disclose its new valuation after the fundraise.

The massive capital injection comes as stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), which Circle and Coinbase (COIN  ) manage, has surged in popularity in the crypto space. But recent questions have surfaced about the dollar reserves backing USDC, as the CENTRE Consortium has not published an attestation on USDC's reserves since March.

According to Circle, $22 billion of USDC is currently in circulation. Reports spread that Circle is considering public debut via a SPAC merger, but the firm did not comment on the rumor.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday unveiled his administration's 2022 budget proposal, which features several new crypto reporting rules. The federal budget outline includes 2 proposals that would give the Treasury Department extra requirements concerning the information that financial institutions must report to the IRS and other sub-departments. The first proposed rule would "expand broker information reporting with respect to cryptocurrency assets," meaning it would allow brokerages to share data on crypto holdings of passive entities and their foreign owners across different countries partnered with the U.S. The rule is meant to combat global tax evasion. The second proposed rule would create a "comprehensive financial account reporting" structure for tax compliance purposes, require financial institutions like crypto exchanges and custodians to report data on user accounts with a breakdown of types of transfers over $600. The budget's new rules came a week after Treasury proposed a regulation that financial institutions and other businesses receiving transfers of over $10,000 in crypto must report them to the IRS.

Carl Icahn is considering a potential $1.5 billion investment in digital assets via his investment firm Icahn Enterprises, according to an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg. The billionaire activist investor and former crypto skeptic said he is eyeing investing in crypto in "a relatively big way," clarifying that could mean "a billion dollars, billion-and-a-half." Although Icahn in the past compared crypto to the 18th century Mississippi land bubble that led to the collapse of European stock markets, he now seems intrigued by cryptocurrency's potential. He explained: "I'm looking at the whole business. I'm not looking at what to buy necessarily at this time. I'm just looking at the whole business and how I might get involved with it." He noted confidence in the sector, adding he believes crypto is "here to stay in one form or another." Icahn's interview came days after legendary hedge fund manager Ray Dalio revealed he had finally bought some Bitcoin (BTC).

Crypto prices bounced slightly to $1.561 trillion this week, as the direction of the market was choppy. For the majors, all except stablecoins recovered from last week's brutal selloff. In the top 100, the biggest losers were UNUS SED LEO (LEO), down 15%, Internet Computer (ICP), down 12%, and WAVES, down 6%. The biggest gainers were Polygon (MATIC), up 112%, BakeryToken (BAKE), up 92%, and Enjin Coin (ENJ), up 82%.

The author owns a small amount of BTC.