Author: John Smith

The SEC has opened permissioned onchain trading to fully backed U.S. stock tokens, but the 32.5-hour trading week on NYSE and Nasdaq leaves automated markets without a live reference price for most of each 168-hour week. Summary SEC relief permits qualifying tokenized U.S. stocks to trade through permissioned automated market makers. RedStone’s COO said nights, weekends and holidays could allow pricing gaps to build. Synthetic products remain outside the exemption, creating two token classes tied to the same shares. The five-year relief requires issuer notice, equivalent shareholder rights and coordinated trading halts. The SEC’s temporary exemption allows qualifying venues to…

The SEC has opened a five-year pathway for tokenized U.S. stocks that requires each approved token to carry the economic, voting, dividend, and liquidation rights attached to the underlying share. Summary Tokenized NMS stocks must provide the same rights as their traditional share equivalents. Synthetic products that offer only price exposure fall outside the SEC exemption. Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan said legal ownership matters more than 24-hour trading. The exemption carries symbol and volume limits and remains open to SEC modification. Institutions can run pilots, but the temporary order does not provide lasting legal certainty. Bitget Wallet COO Alvin…

Binance has expanded its derivatives platform into the $9.6 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market with a 24/7 US dollar-Brazilian real perpetual contract offering up to 100x leverage. Summary Binance will launch its USDBRLUSDT perpetual futures contract on Sept. 21. The USDT-settled product will remain tradable during weekends and public holidays. Binance will use external price feeds during regular hours and orderbook data when FX markets close. Bybit and Kraken have also introduced perpetual contracts linked to major currency pairs. Binance said in a Friday announcement that the USDBRLUSDT contract will begin trading on Monday, giving eligible users continuous exposure to movements…

Banks have doubled their presence on the European Union’s MiCA register to about 80 institutions in less than three months, raising their share of listed crypto providers to nearly 23%. Summary Banks increased their MiCA register presence from roughly 40 to about 80 between June 26 and Sep. 16. The total number of listed crypto providers climbed from 243 to 349 during the same period. Germany supplied many of the new banking entries, including regional cooperative lenders and Deutsche Bank. Banks can enter the MiCA market through a notification process rather than a standard CASP application. According to an analysis…

Fake YouTube tutorials promoting AI-powered crypto arbitrage bots have tricked 224 victims into deploying malicious smart contracts that stole 274.6 ETH worth about $517,000. Summary Nine similar YouTube videos directed users to compilers controlled by the scam operators. Victims deployed 234 contracts and funded them through transactions they approved themselves. A malicious backend replaced the code shown to users with contracts designed to steal ETH. Stolen funds moved to six collection addresses, with the median victim losing 1 ETH. TRM Labs said in a Sep. 14 report that the operation disguised malicious Ethereum contracts as automated trading tools built with…

Bitcoin price surged more than 5% on Sep. 18, breaking above $80,000 as a 4-hour trend reversal and concentrated short liquidations accelerated the recovery from $75,560. Summary Bitcoin price gained 5.49% and reached an intraday high of $81,258. Price now trades above the 20-, 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages. 4-hour Aroon Up reached 100%, while the Supertrend flipped bullish. Liquidation clusters near $81,500–$82,000 could shape Bitcoin’s next move. Bitcoin price rebounds from $75,560 According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price was trading near $80,600 at the time of writing after opening the daily session at $76,417. The 5.49%…

Morpho has opened lending markets for five Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base, with users pledging $104,401 in stock tokens and borrowing $54,652 in USDC against them so far. Summary Morpho has opened lending markets for five Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base, with $104,401 pledged as collateral and $54,652 borrowed in USDC. Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX tokens are supported, while five other Coinbase stock tokens currently have no Morpho markets. Borrowing jumped from $503 to $42,105 in roughly two hours on Sept. 16 and has since climbed to $54,652. All current borrowing is concentrated in variable rate markets, while…

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sent a proposed framework for crypto transactions and markets to the White House for review, moving ahead with rulemaking days after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate. Summary CFTC submitted proposed rules for crypto transactions and markets to the White House for review on Sept. 17.  The filing came two days after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a 49 to 50 procedural vote. CFTC Chair Michael Selig had directed staff to develop a crypto market framework using the agency’s existing authority.  The proposal must return to the…

Kevin O’Leary has returned to buying new cryptocurrency positions for the next market cycle while watching for a major stock exchange to adopt blockchain infrastructure, a development he expects could influence which network gains institutional traction. Summary Kevin O’Leary is buying new crypto positions as he prepares for the next market cycle and looks for networks gaining institutional adoption. O’Leary said the first major stock exchange to adopt a blockchain could become a watershed moment for the crypto industry. O’Leary does not expect the CLARITY Act to pass before the midterms but believes digital asset tax policy will keep regulation…

Binance has kept its European licensing plans open after declining to address a report that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde intervened in its failed Greek MiCA application. Summary Binance declined to comment on a report that Christine Lagarde intervened in its Greek MiCA application. Greek officials reportedly told ESMA in early June that the HCMC intended to approve the Binance license. Binance withdrew its Greek application on June 24 and said it would pursue authorization in another EU jurisdiction. The exchange remains without MiCA authorization after missing the July 1 licensing deadline. According to a Sept. 18 Wall Street…