LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — KAIJU NO. 8 THE GAME, co-produced by Akatsuki Games, TOHO, and Production I.G, today announced the debut of ★5 [The Resurgent Commander] Sagan Shinomiya. Wearing her original prototype CLOZER suit, this version of Sagan joins the roster as a shield-wielding commander built to buff her allies. Her arrival headlines the new Special Event, “Patchwork Bonds,” a prequel narrative exploring the early days of the organization. By participating, players can earn over 1,500 Dimensional Crystals through missions and challenges.

◆ Special Event [Patchwork Bonds]

The secret anti-Dimensional Kaiju special unit, CLOZER, has been assembled.

Appointed as its captain, Sagan Shinomiya receives a directive from Director General Shinomiya himself: to evaluate the true character of her new subordinates—a squad of global elites who are far from conventional.

Her squad features: a former spec-ops soldier discharged for insubordination; a mysterious beauty with shady connections; a mad scientist harboring dangerous ideals; and an elusive, enigmatic girl from a private military company.

Faced with a team of unruly mavericks whose overpowering personalities constantly clash, Sagan struggles to find her footing as a leader.

How will this unconventional unit forge an unbreakable bond? Discover the definitive origin story of Sagan Shinomiya and the CLOZER members in this special event!

In this Special Event, you can earn:

Over 1,500 Dimensional CrystalsThe event-limited ★4 WeaponAn in-game Home background
…as well as other rewards!

*For more details, please refer to the in-game announcement.

◆ New ★5 Character [The Resurgent Commander] Sagan Shinomiya

★5 [The Resurgent Commander] Sagan Shinomiya joins the battle in this update!

Sagan in the prototype suit from the early days of CLOZER. Reflecting Suited’s idea that the suit should live up to the captain’s title, the prototype is engineered with the ability to enhance her team.

■ New ★5 Character
[The Resurgent Commander] Sagan Shinomiya (Optimal weapon type: Shield)

■ New ★5 Weapon
SH-Nahallud (Shield)

■ Pickup Character Trailer: [The Resurgent Commander] Sagan Shinomiya

https://youtu.be/xF9xgUxRQgg

■ About KAIJU NO. 8 THE GAME

Title: Kaiju No. 8 THE GAMEPlanning & Production: Akatsuki Games Inc., TOHO CO., LTD., Production I.G, Inc.Development & Operation: Akatsuki Games Inc.Publicity Cooperation: TOHO CO., LTD., Production I.G, Inc.Distribution: Akatsuki Games Inc.Available Platforms: App Store, Google Play Store, Steam®Supported Languages: Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, FrenchPrice: Free-to-play (with in-app purchases)Copyright Notice:
© JAKDF 3rd Division © Naoya Matsumoto/SHUEISHA
© Akatsuki Games Inc./TOHO CO., LTD./Production I.GOfficial Game Website: https://kj8-thegame.com/en/Official Game X: https://x.com/kj8_TheGame_ENOfficial Game YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kj8-TheGame-ENApp Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kaiju-no-8-the-game/id6742088839Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.aktsk.games.kaiju_no8_the_gameSteam®: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3393070

■ About Anime Kaiju No. 8

Based on the popular manga series by Naoya Matsumoto, serialized on Shonen Jump+ (Shueisha) since 2020, the anime Kaiju No. 8 portrays intense battles between the Japan Defense Force, tasked with eliminating Kaiju, and the monstrous creatures that routinely threaten human lives. In Japan, the original manga has surpassed 19 million copies in circulation (including digital editions), with 16 volumes published to date (as of September 4, 2025).

The Anime Season 1, which aired from April to June 2024, quickly gained massive popularity, ranking No. 1 on domestic daily rankings across major streaming platforms in Japan. Building on that momentum, a theatrical compilation of Season 1, including the side story Hoshina’s Day Off, premiered in Japan on March 28, 2025. Subsequently, the Anime Season 2 aired from July to September 2025. While anticipation continues to build following the announcement of the Final Chapter’s production, the original short animation Narumi’s Week at Work is officially set to stream in Fall 2026, continuing to draw enthusiastic reactions from fans worldwide.

Official Website: https://kaiju-no8.net/Official X: https://x.com/KaijuNo8_O

■ Company Overview: Akatsuki Games Inc.

It is our mission to connect the emotions of people around the world by putting our beliefs and “why” into games. We challenge ourselves to create global hits as a world-class game company with the highest standards of development and operation in Japan.

In addition to the experience of operating games such as Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle (published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.) and Romancing SaGa Re; Universe (published by SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.), we are taking on the challenges of using high-end 3D graphics display and development on multiple devices. We will deliver the highest quality games for everyone around the world to enjoy.

Official Website: https://games.aktsk.jp/en/Founded: December 2021Representative: CEO Yuki TotsukaHeadquarters: 8F oak meguro, 2-13-30 Kamiosaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, JapanBusiness Activities: Game Development & Operations

Please be sure to include the following copyright notice when publishing articles or images related to this release:
© JAKDF 3rd Division © Naoya Matsumoto/SHUEISHA
© Akatsuki Games Inc./TOHO CO., LTD./Production I.G

Additional Assets: HERE

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SOURCE Akatsuki Games Inc.

New nonprofit research and development lab brings together a group of senior technical contributors from the Ethereum Foundation to ready the network for step-function wave of adoption from institutions, agentic finance and DeFi

Ethlabs to reinforce foundational commitments to credible neutrality, censorship resistance and security

NEW YORK, June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A coordinated group of Ethereum ecosystem stewards today announced the launch of Ethlabs, an independent, nonprofit research and development organization formed to ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption. The funding effort is led by Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BMNR), Sharplink, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBET), Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and other key Ethereum ecosystem contributors including Anchorage, Octant and SNZ.

As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI commerce move onchain, they are converging on Ethereum as the neutral, credibly permissionless settlement layer for the global economy. Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb that demand at scale, advancing a faster Ethereum with trustworthy interoperability, so institutions building on Ethereum can do so with the neutrality, resilience, privacy and security they require.

Cofounded by five former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers: Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, Ethlabs brings together researchers responsible for key contributions to finality, scaling, data availability, the virtual machine and protocol economics — the technologists who have guided the network through its most consequential upgrades over the past decade. This initiative gives that work a dedicated institutional home with stable, long-term funding.

The launch reflects a natural evolution of the Ethereum ecosystem. As the Ethereum Foundation refocuses on its core mandate and embraces a multi-node future, Ethlabs emerges as one of several independent organizations advancing the network in parallel. Ethlabs’ early work will center on what institutions need to move onchain at scale: faster settlement, native issuance and cross-chain movement on robust infrastructure, capacity on mainnet and research that grounds ETH‘s monetary properties.

Thomas “Tom” Lee, Chairman of Bitmine. “We believe Ethereum is positioned to grow significantly in adoption by institutions and by AI agents. And naturally, the ecosystem needs to dramatically expand its investment in talent and research to support this growth. The formation of Ethlabs demonstrates that key stakeholders are stepping up to help ensure Ethereum remains a leading platform for decentralized finance. We believe positive momentum is building in the digital asset ecosystem, and initiatives like this strengthen the foundation of the ecosystem as the community works together to advance Ethereum‘s next chapter. As a significant institutional participant in the Ethereum ecosystem, Bitmine is excited to help serve as a steward of Ethereum‘s long-term growth and support the dedicated builders, researchers and innovators who are helping shape its future.”

Joseph Chalom, Chief Executive Officer of Sharplink. “We are at the beginning of an institutional supercycle on Ethereum, and the researchers behind this organization are the people who will make the network ready to carry it. They have quietly shaped Ethereum for the better part of a decade, and giving their work a stable, independent home is one of the most meaningful contributions we can make to the ecosystem. We hold ETH because we believe in what this network is becoming, and supporting the people advancing it at the protocol level is the clearest way we know to back that conviction. This is what responsible stewardship looks like: using our position to drive the next wave of institutional adoption and to strengthen the foundation the entire onchain economy will be built on. Sharplink is proud to help bring Ethlabs to life, alongside our ecosystem partners.”

Joe Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and founder and Chief Executive Officer of Consensys. “Ethereum is entering its next stage of evolution. We are now poised to recognize and implement the idea that there should be a number of steward nodes of Ethereum, each configured in their unique way to evolve and protect what is sacred about the network and massively grow the world’s appreciation and utilization of it. With support from the Sharplink, Bitmine and many others, Ethlabs is the latest group of EF origin that is externalizing to become a major node of the network of “Responsible Institutions and Stewards of Ethereum“. By providing a long-term, independent home to researchers and developers advancing Ethereum‘s core technology and values, Ethlabs will be instrumental in preparing the network for the next major wave of adoption, from institutional finance to agentic commerce, with the scale, security, interoperability and resilience that global institutions require. Today and going forward the Ethereum ecosystem will be further decentralized, enormously stronger with each steward more focused and empowered.”

Ansgar Dietrichs, Executive Director of Ethlabs. “Ethereum is at a pivotal moment. A decade of uninterrupted operation and a track record of credible neutrality have earned it the trust of users and institutions around the world. As blockchain systems move rapidly into mainstream use, the coming years will define the shape of the onchain economy for decades. Ethereum is uniquely positioned to become the shared base layer of that economy, the neutral foundation the broader onchain ecosystem is built on, where users, institutions, and agents can transact and interoperate without intermediation. Ethlabs was created to help Ethereum realize that potential. As longtime contributors to the core protocol, we are establishing an independent non-profit organization to advance Ethereum‘s core technology and the shared standards and infrastructure builders depend on, and we are excited to carry forward that work at the moment it matters most.”

The funding effort has been organized to preserve Ethlabs independence at every level. Contributions flow through an independent grants administrator that handles screening, valuation and disbursement. Funders provide accountability through transparent quarterly reporting and an independent annual audit, rather than influence over the research agenda. Final decisions on research priorities and technical direction will rest with Ethlabs leadership.

About Bitmine
Bitmine (NYSE: BMNR) is a Bitcoin miner with operations in the US. The company is deploying its excess capital to be the leading Ethereum Treasury company in the world, implementing an innovative digital asset strategy for institutional investors and public market participants. Guided by its philosophy of “the alchemy of 5%,” the Company is committed to ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset, leveraging native protocol-level activities including staking and decentralized finance mechanisms. The Company launched MAVAN (Made-in America Validator Network), a dedicated staking infrastructure for Bitmine assets, in 2026.

About Sharplink
Sharplink (NASDAQ: SBET) is a leading institutional-grade Ethereum treasury platform designed to give public market investors smarter, more productive exposure to ETH. Ethereum underpins the majority of global stablecoin, tokenized real-world assets and decentralized finance settlement, making ETH a unique native yield generation and long-term network growth opportunity. Sharplink was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Learn more at www.sharplink.com.

About Ethlabs
Ethlabs is an independent, nonprofit research and development lab and ecosystem steward focused on the next era of growth for Ethereum and ETH. It exists to turn Ethereum‘s unique properties into infrastructure, standards, and outcomes that users, builders, institutions, and asset issuers can rely on. All of its research is published openly. Learn more at ethlabs.org.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding anticipated institutional interest in Ethereum, research focus and technical roadmaps, governance arrangements, grants administration and oversight mechanisms, and treasury and digital-asset strategies. These statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including market conditions for digital assets, regulatory changes, protocol-level developments or setbacks, the timing and success of research efforts, funding availability, and general economic conditions. Additional risk factors are described in Sharplink’s and Bitmine’s SEC filings at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, are not guarantees, and neither Sharplink nor Bitmine undertakes any obligation to update them except as required by law. This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or digital asset.

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SOURCE Ethlabs

RudderStack’s Analytics & Measurement solutions drive innovation for joint customers on the Snowflake AI Data Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — RudderStack, the Agentic Customer Data Platform, today announced at Cannes Lions 2026 that it has been recognized by Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, as an Analytics & Measurement Leader in The Modern Marketing Data Stack report. RudderStack is known for enabling enterprises to close the gap between fragmented customer data and the marketing outcomes it should be driving, by delivering clean, unified, real-time event data from every source directly into the Snowflake AI Data Cloud, so marketing teams can reliably measure, attribute, and act on customer behavior at scale.

Now in its fifth year, Snowflake’s Modern Marketing Data Stack report reflects a major shift in how marketing organizations operate—from fragmented tools toward AI-driven, agentic systems built on governed data foundations. This edition draws on insights from more than 11,500 Snowflake customers and ecosystem partners across 13 categories, highlighting how organizations are bringing industry-leading applications directly to their data to drive faster execution and proven business outcomes across the marketing lifecycle, while addressing the growing demands of data gravity, privacy and trust.

“Today’s Marketing and data teams are under more pressure than ever to prove that their customer data is actually powering better decisions, now for humans and agents. RudderStack and Snowflake help make that a reality” said Soumyadeb Mitra, CEO of RudderStack. “Being named a Leader in Analytics & Measurement in Snowflake’s Modern Marketing Data Stack report reflects the work we’ve done to help companies go from raw event data to trustworthy, reliable, actionable insight at scale – for every team and every agent. ”

RudderStack’s warehouse-native architecture, governance toolkit, and real-time capabilities give marketing teams a trustworthy, governed foundation for measurement at scale. As enterprises increasingly rely on Snowflake as their AI data platform, RudderStack ensures the customer event data feeding analytics, attribution, and activation from Snowflake is clean, compliant, and complete. And now, with RudderAI, that foundation extends to agentic workflows for everything from event tracking to natural language self-serve for marketing analytics and activation, enabling joint customers to accelerate use cases like marketing mix modeling, multi-touch attribution, and real-time campaign analytics, all within Snowflake’s secure and governed perimeter.

“RudderStack’s proven scale and customer adoption in Analytics & Measurement make it a standout partner in the Snowflake ecosystem,” said Denise Persson, Chief Marketing Officer, Snowflake. “Their warehouse-native approach offers joint customers a reliable, governed data foundation they need to power AI-driven marketing decisions. But what’s most exciting is how RudderAI is empowering marketers to get answers and activate data faster while data teams focus on higher impact work.”

Learn more about The Modern Marketing Data Stack here.

About RudderStack

RudderStack is the agentic customer data platform. Its warehouse-native architecture, proactive governance controls, and deep IaC capabilities help companies collect, unify, and activate clean, compliant customer data for analytics, marketing, and AI. With RudderStack, business teams and agents drive better customer experiences and smarter decisions because data and engineering teams can reliably collect, govern, and unify customer data from a central command center and make it available for on-demand activation. RudderStack powers smarter decisions, more powerful AI, optimized marketing spend, and better customer experiences at industry-leading companies like Footlocker, VSCO, Otter.ai, MANSCAPED, and Wyze. Visit RudderStack.com to learn more.

Media Contact: Brooks Patterson | brooks@rudderstack.com

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SOURCE RudderStack