Stripe-Owned Bridge Gets OCC Conditional Approval for Bank Charter

Stablecoin platform Bridge, owned by the payments processor Stripe, said it had received conditional approval to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank under the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). In a Tuesday notice, Bridge said it had received conditional approval from the banking regulator, allowing the company to “operate … Read more

Kraken Integrates OTC Desk with ICE Chat for Institutions

US-based crypto exchange Kraken has integrated its over-the-counter desk with Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Chat, enabling institutional traders to access Kraken’s crypto liquidity directly through a messaging platform widely used across global financial markets. ICE Chat connects more than 120,000 market participants, including banks, brokers and trading desks that use the system for real-time deal negotiation … Read more

Starknet Taps EY’s Nightfall for Institutional Privacy on Ethereum Rails

Starknet developer StarkWare has integrated EY’s Nightfall privacy protocol to let institutions run private payments and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity on public Ethereum-aligned rails, targeting banks and corporates that need confidentiality without giving up auditability.  In a Tuesday release shared with Cointelegraph, StarkWare positioned the move as a way for enterprises to use a shared, … Read more

Poland President Vetoes Crypto Bill As Firms Seek MiCA Licenses Abroad

Poland’s president vetoed a second bill meant to align the country’s crypto rules with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation framework, deepening uncertainty for local platforms as a key transition deadline approaches. President Karol Nawrocki declined to sign Bill 2064 last week, marking the second veto of proposed legislation to implement the EU’s Markets … Read more

SBI Holdings Targets Majority Stake in Singapore Exchange Coinhako

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is moving to deepen its presence in the crypto sector, announcing plans to take a controlling position in Singapore-based exchange Coinhako. In a Friday announcement, the Tokyo-listed firm said its wholly owned subsidiary, SBI Ventures Asset, has signed a letter of intent with Coinhako’s parent company, Holdbuild, to inject capital … Read more

BVNK Survey Finds 39% Receive Income in Stablecoins

A global survey commissioned by BVNK and conducted by YouGov found that 39% of crypto users and prospective users across 15 countries receive income in stablecoins, while 27% use them for everyday payments, citing lower fees and faster cross-border transfers as key drivers. The survey of 4,658 respondents, conducted online in September and October 2025 … Read more

Fake Trezor, Ledger Letters Target Crypto Wallet Users

Users of crypto hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor are again reporting receiving physical letters aimed at stealing their seed recovery phrases — the latest attack on users exposed across numerous data leaks over the past six years. Cybersecurity expert Dmitry Smilyanets was one of the first to report receiving a spurious letter from Trezor on … Read more

Ether May Retest $2.5K Soon If This Pattern Plays Out

Ether (ETH) opened the week with a drop below the psychological $2,000 level, placing the altcoin into a 20% loss for February. Still, onchain data shows long-term investors accumulating ETH and rising network usage.  Now, analysts are examining how ETH’s technical outlook and the derivatives data align with its emerging demand to determine if a … Read more

Germany‘s Central Bank President Touts Stablecoin Benefits for EU

Joachim Nagel said euro-pegged stablecoins would offer the bloc more independence from US dollar-pegged coins soon to be allowed under the GENIUS Act. Joachim Nagel, president of Germany’s central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, supported the introduction of a euro-pegged central bank digital currency (CBDC) and euro-denominated stablecoins for payments. In remarks prepared for a speech … Read more