The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved five national bank charter applications for companies tied to the digital assets industry. In a Friday notice, the OCC said it had conditionally approved BitGo, Fidelity, and Paxos to convert their existing state-level trust companies into federally chartered national trust banks. In the … Read more
Europe’s crypto regulatory framework is entering a new phase of scrutiny as policymakers weigh whether enforcement of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation should remain with national authorities or be centralized under the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). MiCA, which came largely into force at the beginning of 2025, was designed to create a … Read more
Traditional finance leveraged investment products are at a record high, but the appetite for speculative assets remains muted in the cryptocurrency market. Speculative appetite is cooling among crypto investors, with memecoin dominance versus altcoins hitting a near two-year low last seen in February 2024, according to crypto data platform CryptoQuant. “Memecoin markets are dead,” wrote … Read more
The payments subsidiary of blockchain services company Ripple has partnered with Swiss bank Amina to provide it with access to its payment infrastructure. According to a Friday Ripple Payments announcement, the company will allow Amina to “settle transactions more efficiently without relying on traditional payment infrastructure, making transactions faster, lower cost, and with increased reliability … Read more
Pakistan’s authorities are moving to regulate major global cryptocurrency exchanges, issuing preliminary clearances to platforms including Binance to set up shop in the country. The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) has granted no objection certificates (NOCs) to Binance and HTX, paving the way for the exchanges to register locally and pursue full licensing, the … Read more
A cross-party group of members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, including former Defense Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson, shadow Science and Tech (AI) Minister Viscount Camrose and the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s chief whip, Lord Hart, have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to intervene over the Bank … Read more
According to South Korean broadcaster KBS, Binance froze only a portion of funds that police said were linked to a Nov. 27 hack of crypto exchange Upbit, one of South Korea’s largest exchanges. KBS reported Friday that investigators requested Binance freeze about 470 million Korean won ($370,000) in Solana (SOL) tokens believed to be associated … Read more
Crypto exchange Binance has added new features to its application programming interface (API), indicating that the platform is preparing to introduce stock trading capabilities. Binance’s changelog notes that on Thursday, the exchange introduced three new API endpoints, one of which — with a URL including stock/contract — allows users to “sign [a] TradFi-Perps agreement contract.” … Read more
Traditional financial markets are moving rapidly onchain as the US Securities and Exchange Commission chair doubles down on the idea of an “innovation exemption” to accelerate tokenization. “U.S. financial markets are poised to move on-chain,” wrote Paul Atkins, the chair of the SEC, in a Friday X post, adding that the agency is “embracing new … Read more
The United Arab Emirates is not trying to choose between Bitcoin and broader crypto. Instead, it is deliberately building both in different cities and for different stages of adoption. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, has positioned itself as a hub for Bitcoin (BTC)-focused institutional infrastructure, emphasizing custody, over-the-counter (OTC) liquidity, mining and regulated … Read more