Crypto World
European banks are at risk of losing customers to rivals with better crypto tools
A growing share of European investors may change banks to access better crypto services, according to a new study from Boerse Stuttgart Digital, signaling a shift in how digital assets are shaping retail finance across the region.
The survey, conducted by market research firm Marketagent between August 2025 and January 2026, gathered responses from 6,000 individuals across Germany, Italy, Spain and France. It found that 35% of respondents would consider switching banks if another institution offered stronger crypto investment options.
That figure rises to 40% in Spain, the highest among the countries surveyed, followed by Italy at 35%, France at 33% and Germany at 29%.
At the same time, crypto ownership continues to expand. Around 25% of respondents said they have already invested in digital assets, with Spain again leading at nearly 28%. Germany followed at 25%, while Italy and France trailed slightly.
Despite crypto’s origins outside traditional finance, the study suggests banks remain central to its next phase. Investors were more than twice as likely to trust their primary bank for crypto services than specialized platforms.
This trust advantage comes as many investors still struggle to understand the asset class. More than 60% said they feel poorly informed about crypto, while 69% described it as too complex.
Concerns around regulation also persist, with 76% viewing crypto as insufficiently regulated and therefore risky.
The findings point to a potential opening for banks. Nearly one in five respondents expect their bank to offer crypto access within the next three years, suggesting that digital assets are moving from a niche offering to a standard feature in retail finance.
Access to crypto in Europe has expanded in recent years, though it remains uneven. While some banks and fintech firms now offer trading or custody services, many large institutions have taken a cautious approach, often limiting exposure to select products or pilot programs. As a result, investors frequently rely on a mix of traditional banks and specialized platforms to manage their holdings.
Regulation is beginning to shape that landscape. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which is being phased in across member states, sets common rules for crypto service providers, including licensing, consumer protection and operational standards. The aim is to create a more consistent market across the region and reduce risks tied to unregulated activity.
Clearer regulation may play a role in that shift. Nearly half of respondents said European Union rules, such as the MiCA, increase their trust in digital assets, indicating that further regulatory clarity could help bring more investors into the market.
The United Kingdom is revisiting its payments rulebook to support the adoption of new fintech and payment technologies such as stablecoins and tokenization.
In a Tuesday announcement, HM Treasury and Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said the government will consult on reforms for payment services and electronic money rules.
The Treasury said the changes are meant to create a single framework for traditional and tokenized payments, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits. It also said it plans to bring forward legislation to reduce administrative burdens for companies seeking to offer stablecoin payment services.
The Treasury also named former Financial Conduct Authority veteran Chris Woolard as digital markets champion for its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, where he will support efforts to drive adoption of tokenized digital assets.
Woolard highlighted the growing role of digitization in financial markets, emphasizing that collaboration and a dialogue between the private and public sectors will best support the UK’s global competitiveness as a leader in digital markets.
The package comes as the UK continues to develop its broader crypto regulatory framework, with legislation expected to take effect in 2027.
A package of comprehensive measures targeting digital markets
The new package was unveiled during UK Fintech Week in London, a series of industry events supported by organizations such as Innovate Finance, the independent industry body for the UK fintech sector.
A key part of the plan is bringing stablecoins and tokenization more deeply into the payments system, including through regulatory reform as a core measure.
“This will mean establishing a single, coherent framework for both traditional and tokenised payments, including both stablecoins and tokenised deposits,” the announcement said.
Related: BIS warns dollar stablecoins could strain banks and policy
The Treasury also said it wants to reduce administrative burdens for companies seeking to offer stablecoin payment services in a move to “cement the UK as a world-leading destination for digital assets.”
UK will seek how to adapt payment regulations to AI agents
Another part of the package is the government’s decision to explore how payment regulation should apply when AI agents make transactions on behalf of consumers or businesses.
Philip Belamant, co-founder of Zilch, an FCA-authorised consumer credit fintech listed among key stakeholders, said that AI will “fundamentally change how people interact with money,” shifting payments to something that is managed in the background.
“As this becomes a reality, it’s critical that regulation evolves to support innovation while maintaining strong consumer protections,” he said.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
A senior U.S. military commander reframed Bitcoin as more than a monetary technology, arguing that its underlying computer science could support national security aims by hardening cyber defenses and offering resilience in conflict scenarios. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing focused on the Indo-Pacific posture, Admiral Samuel Paparo described Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system as a mechanism that “imposes more cost” on attackers, while emphasizing that the technology’s value extends beyond finance into cybersecurity applications.
“It is a valuable computer science tool, as a power projection,” Admiral Samuel Paparo said during the session, adding that Bitcoin’s proof-of-work reduces attacker incentives by increasing the cost of compromising the network. “Outside of the economic formulation of it, it has got really important computer science applications for cybersecurity.”
The hearing examined broader strategic dynamics in the region, including ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, China’s rapid military modernization, and the spectrum of threats from state-backed actors. Paparo’s remarks align with a line of thought that has gained attention within U.S. defense and policy circles: that crypto technologies could play a role in national resilience and cyber deterrence beyond their role as stores of value or payment rails.
In a parallel thread from the U.S. Space Force’s ranks, Major Jason Lowery advanced a similar line of reasoning in December 2023, arguing that Bitcoin and other proof-of-work blockchains could help shield the United States in cyberwarfare by securing data, messages, or command signals—not merely funds. “As a result, this misconception underplays the technology’s broad strategic significance for cybersecurity, and consequently, national security,” Lowery said, highlighting the broader strategic calculus surrounding crypto security and national power.
Key takeaways
- National security framing: Senior military leadership describes Bitcoin as a practical tool for cybersecurity and deterrence, not solely as a monetary asset.
- Cyberwarfare context: The remarks come amid heightened attention to cyber threats and the broader conflict landscape in which adversaries rely on phishing, ransomware, and other disruptive techniques to gain advantage.
- Domestic mining policy on the radar: Legislation is moving to reinforce U.S. mining capabilities, with emphasis on domestic manufacturing and safeguarding critical infrastructure tied to hashing power.
- Strategic reserves and sovereignty: Proposals aim to codify concepts like a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, reflecting a push to integrate crypto assets into national strategy and supply-chain resilience.
- Supply-chain vulnerabilities acknowledged: While the United States hosts large reserves and hashrate, concerns persist about dependence on foreign-manufactured mining equipment and related security risks.
Policy moves and domestic implications
Following these remarks, lawmakers signaled a sharpened focus on how crypto infrastructure intersects with national security. United States Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis have introduced the Mined in America Act, a bill designed to encourage domestic production of Bitcoin mining hardware and related supply chains. By aiming to bring more of the mining manufacturing ecosystem back to the United States, the proposal seeks to reduce reliance on foreign equipment and mitigate associated security concerns.
The narrative also entwines with broader policy conversations dating back to executive actions intended to shape strategic crypto reserves. The bill’s sponsors frame it as a step toward codifying a framework for strategic Bitcoin resources, drawing on existing executive initiatives that have sought to formalize a national posture around Bitcoin’s role in national power projection. While detailed legislative language and funding paths remain under discussion, the thrust is clear: align mining capacity with national-security objectives and ensure U.S. control over critical infrastructure components.
U.S. policymakers are mindful of where Bitcoin sits in the domestic and global ecosystem. The United States currently holds a leading share of Bitcoin reserves and the largest share of hashrate, yet the heavy reliance on foreign-manufactured hardware has raised concerns about supply-chain vulnerabilities and the potential for geopolitical frictions to disrupt hashing capacity in a crisis. The Cassidy–Lummis initiative echoes those concerns while linking them to a broader narrative about strategic autonomy in advanced technologies.
For observers, the legislative push signals a broader reconsideration of how crypto assets and the hardware that powers them fit into national defense postures. If enacted, the policy framework could accelerate the domestic production of mining components, influence equipment standardization, and potentially reshape how the United States manages energy-intensive hashing operations in a way that aligns with security priorities rather than purely commercial considerations.
Geopolitical context and the cyber threat landscape
The debate around Bitcoin’s strategic value unfolds against a backdrop of escalating cyber operations by state and non-state actors. The Lazarus Group, a sanctioned cybercrime collective tied to North Korea, has been cited as one of the most prominent examples of crypto-enabled wrongdoing over the past decade, reportedly diverting billions of dollars in crypto to support its broader program. Such real-world activity underscores why some policymakers view crypto technologies as both potential risk and strategic asset, depending on how they are secured and governed.
Beyond North Korea, commentators have noted that China’s thinking on Bitcoin has evolved in recent years. Some of Beijing’s policy circles have begun to regard Bitcoin as a strategic asset, a stance that further complicates the global regulatory and strategic landscape for crypto. Against this backdrop, U.S. officials stress the dual-use nature of Bitcoin and the importance of resilient, domestically supported infrastructure to reduce exposure to external shocks.
In the cybersecurity domain, Bitcoin’s core feature—the proof-of-work consensus—has drawn attention for its potential role in defending critical data and communications. Proponents argue that the energy-intensive, permissionless nature of the network can deter attempted intrusions by raising the entry cost for attackers, thereby complementing conventional defense measures. Critics, meanwhile, emphasize energy considerations and regulatory complexities. The current discourse, however, reflects a growing legitimacy accorded to the idea that crypto systems might influence strategic outcomes in conflict, deterrence, and resilience planning.
For market participants and builders, the converging threads of defense policy, supply-chain security, and geopolitical risk create a nuanced backdrop. Domestic manufacturing ambitions could incentivize investment in hardware ecosystems and related services, while regulatory clarity around security standards and resilience requirements may shape how miners operate at scale. Investors are watching not only the price and mining economics but also how policy signals translate into funding, incentives, and potential national-security partnerships tied to critical infrastructure.
What comes next for investors and observers
As the dialogue evolves, several questions will shape the near-term trajectory. Will the Mined in America Act secure support and funding to rebuild a robust domestic mining supply chain, and how will contractors, energy providers, and hardware manufacturers coordinate to scale responsibly? How might a codified Strategic Bitcoin Reserve influence treasury-like thinking around crypto assets and the management of national reserves? And how will ongoing developments in China’s policy stance, North Korea’s cyber activity, and wider geopolitical tensions impact the calculus for investors and operators in the crypto space?
The ongoing debate also highlights a potential shift in how crypto assets are perceived by institutions traditionally wary of volatility and regulatory risk. If the United States emphasizes strategic autonomy for its mining ecosystem and positions Bitcoin as part of a national-security toolkit, capital could flow toward domestic-leaning infrastructure projects, security-focused hardware firms, and compliance-heavy mining operations designed to withstand scrutiny and align with public-interest objectives.
Readers should monitor congressional progress on the Mined in America Act and related policy proposals, along with any executive moves that might formalize a strategic posture around Bitcoin reserves or mining resilience. As geopolitics, cybersecurity, and technology policy continue to intertwine, Bitcoin’s role in national strategy could become a more tangible factor for investors, miners, and users who seek both safety and growth in a climate of evolving risk and opportunity.
Looking ahead, the key uncertainty remains how far policymakers will go in translating rhetorical support for Bitcoin’s strategic value into concrete, budgeted programs and enforceable standards. What is clear is that the intersection of defense readiness, supply-chain security, and crypto technology is moving from a theoretical debate to a policy-relevant reality that could shape the market’s fundamentals for years to come.
Sources embedded in the discussion include the Senate Armed Services Committee proceedings and related coverage on crypto policy developments. For deeper context on the evolving view of Bitcoin in national security discourse, see the official hearing materials and accompanying commentary from lawmakers and defense officials, as well as prior reporting on the Space Force’s cybersecurity arguments and the broader policy conversation around domestic mining manufacturing and strategic reserves.
Ripple’s role in Singapore’s BLOOM: A controlled step toward stablecoin integration
Singapore has strengthened its position as a leading hub for tokenized finance through Project BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency).
This collaborative initiative brings together a group of traditional banks, fintech firms and stablecoin providers to evaluate how digital settlement assets can be integrated into existing financial infrastructure.
A notable partnership in the pilot involves Ripple and supply chain specialist Unloq. Together, they are exploring automated trade settlements using Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin, RLUSD, on the XRP Ledger.
While Ripple’s inclusion may appear to signal a green light from Singaporean regulators, the reality is more measured. RLUSD is currently operating within a sandboxed environment, a structured testing phase focused on specific technical applications rather than a broad regulatory mandate.
Distinguishing between this experimental validation and official licensure is essential to accurately assess the project’s current scope and future potential.
What Ripple is actually testing
Ripple’s pilot project under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) BLOOM initiative is focused on a specific challenge: automating cross-border trade settlement through programmable digital money.
The setup brings together three core elements:
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RLUSD as the settlement asset
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XRP Ledger as the transaction infrastructure
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Unloq’s SC+ system as the execution layer for trade finance workflows
Rather than simply moving funds between parties, the system is designed to release payments automatically once specific commercial conditions have been met. These conditions may include shipment confirmation, document verification or financing triggers.
RLUSD is being evaluated not just as a payment tool, but as an integrated part of a conditional settlement mechanism embedded directly into trade workflows.
Did you know? Traditional trade finance still relies heavily on paper documents such as bills of lading, which can take days or even weeks to process. Programmable settlement systems aim to digitize and automate these workflows.
What BLOOM is and what it is not
The MAS launched BLOOM in October 2025 to examine how tokenized money could improve settlement processes across borders and between institutions.
The initiative extends well beyond any single participant. It includes banks such as DBS and UOB, infrastructure providers such as Partior, and stablecoin issuers including Circle. Ripple is just one participant in this broader ecosystem.
Importantly, BLOOM is not a live production system. It functions as a sandbox-style environment that allows firms to test financial innovations under regulatory oversight.
As a result, involvement in the initiative does not mean MAS has approved RLUSD as a universally accepted settlement asset. It simply indicates that MAS views the proposed use case as sufficiently promising to test in a controlled setting.
Recognizing this distinction helps avoid a common misunderstanding. Participation in a regulatory sandbox reflects supervised experimentation, not formal regulatory endorsement.
Why trade finance is a difficult test case
Trade finance is more complex than straightforward payments. A standard transaction typically involves multiple parties, including exporters, importers, banks, insurers and logistics providers, along with several layers of documentation and conditional obligations.
Payments are rarely executed immediately. They are tied to specific events, such as:
Traditional systems manage these interdependencies through manual procedures and intermediaries, often resulting in delays, errors and limited transparency.
Ripple’s RLUSD pilot seeks to address this complexity by embedding payment logic directly into the settlement layer. Instead of handling documents separately before releasing payments, the process takes place within a single, unified execution framework.
This approach sets the pilot apart from most stablecoin applications. It goes beyond simply speeding up money transfers. Instead, it focuses on synchronizing the movement of money with real-world commercial conditions in real time.
Did you know? Stablecoins were initially popularized as a source of liquidity in crypto trading, but regulators are increasingly exploring their role in real-world financial infrastructure, including cross-border payments and settlement systems.
Why MAS sandbox participation does not equal approval
Ripple’s involvement in BLOOM coincides with a separate regulatory development. In December 2025, MAS expanded the range of payment activities permitted under the Major Payment Institution (MPI) license held by Ripple’s Singapore subsidiary.
This licensing change allows Ripple to offer a broader range of regulated payment services in Singapore.
Nevertheless, the BLOOM pilot remains separate. It is not intended to license Ripple’s products for widespread use, but rather to evaluate whether a specific settlement architecture works effectively in practice.
The distinction can be outlined as follows:
Confusing these two elements may overstate the regulatory significance of the pilot. BLOOM is designed to address technical and operational questions, not to select or endorse one settlement model over another.
Singapore’s broader tokenization strategy
Ripple’s pilot is part of a broader MAS effort to explore tokenized financial infrastructure across multiple areas.
In November 2025, MAS announced plans to issue tokenized MAS bills to primary dealers, with settlement facilitated through a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). Around the same time, it also revised its guidance on tokenized capital market products to provide greater clarity on regulatory expectations.
These steps point to a broader approach. Rather than supporting a single type of digital money, Singapore is testing a multi-asset settlement ecosystem that includes:
Within this framework, RLUSD represents one possible settlement asset among several.
How RLUSD compares with other stablecoin pilots
Ripple’s approach differs from other stablecoin and tokenized money experiments currently underway in several important ways:
What makes the RLUSD pilot distinct
Three elements distinguish Ripple’s pilot: conditional settlement logic, integration with trade workflows and a multi-asset environment.
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Conditional settlement logic: Unlike most stablecoin pilots, RLUSD is being tested in a system where payments are contingent on real-world events. This adds a layer of programmability that extends well beyond basic transfers.
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Integration with trade workflows: The pilot embeds settlement directly into trade finance processes rather than treating it as a separate function. This has the potential to reduce fragmentation across documentation, financing and payment.
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Multi-asset environment: RLUSD is being evaluated alongside tokenized bank liabilities. This aligns with MAS’ broader objective of creating interoperable settlement assets rather than relying on a single dominant model.
Collectively, these elements place RLUSD within a broader experiment in programmable financial infrastructure rather than limiting it to digital payments alone.
Despite its potential, the pilot leaves several important questions unresolved:
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Can trade conditions be reliably digitized and verified in real time?
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Will smaller businesses actually benefit from improved access to financing?
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Can stablecoins and bank issued tokens coexist without fragmenting liquidity?
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How will regulatory oversight evolve if such systems move beyond the pilot stage?
These questions underscore that the pilot is not a complete solution. Rather, it is an exploration of whether a new settlement model can function effectively at scale.
Did you know? Smart contracts can reduce settlement risk by ensuring that funds move only when predefined conditions are met. This can help reduce disputes arising from mismatched documentation in international trade.
Implications for stablecoins and settlement design
The BLOOM initiative suggests that the future of digital settlement may not be defined by any single asset type or infrastructure.
Instead, regulators such as MAS appear to be examining a layered approach in which different forms of tokenized money serve distinct roles:
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Stablecoins for programmability and interoperability
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Bank tokens for institutional liquidity
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CBDCs for sovereign settlement assurance
Ripple’s RLUSD pilot adds to this ongoing experimentation, offering one possible model for how stablecoins could extend beyond simple payments into more sophisticated financial workflows.
A group of European financial companies and industry bodies have urged European Union officials and lawmakers to fast-track changes to blockchain rules, warning the region risks falling behind the US in tokenized finance.
In a joint letter on Tuesday, 39 signatories, including Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart, called on the European Commission and Parliament to carve out the DLT Pilot Regime from a broader legislative package and review it as a standalone law, according to a copy of the letter shared by crypto association Adan.
The group argued that folding the regime into the wider Market Integration and Supervision Package could delay reforms needed to keep pace with global developments. “Negotiations are likely to be lengthy,” the letter, addressed to Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque, said, adding that delays “risk dampening Europe’s momentum in DLT adoption.”
The DLT Pilot Regime is an EU framework launched in 2023 that lets financial firms test blockchain-based trading and settlement of assets like stocks and bonds under real market conditions. It acts as a regulatory sandbox, allowing temporary exemptions from certain rules so companies can experiment with tokenized finance.
Related: Europe’s Bitcoin treasury playbook won’t be a copy of Strategy: PBW 2026
EU firms push to expand DLT Pilot Regime limits
The group is pushing for a series of changes to the current pilot regime, including expanding the range of eligible assets, raising the overall volume cap to 150 billion euros ($176 billion), removing time limits on licenses and the removal of time limitation on licences. “These pragmatic adjustments enjoy broad support among market participants across Europe,” the letter claims.
Under the current regime, only relatively small financial products can be tested on blockchain systems, including shares from companies valued under $588 million, bonds with issuance sizes below $1.17 billion and investment funds with assets under $588 million.
The US has moved to integrate tokenized securities into its existing financial system, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarifying that broker-dealers can custody tokenized stocks and bonds under current investor protection rules. The regulator has also issued a no-action letter enabling a Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation subsidiary to launch a service that tokenizes real-world assets held in custody.
Cointelegraph reached out to Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart for comment, but had not received a response by publication.
Related: Poland parliament fails again to override presidential veto on crypto bill
EU tokenization firms ask for changes to DLT Pilot Regime
In February, a group of European tokenization and market infrastructure firms also urged EU policymakers to urgently update the DLT Pilot Regime, warning that strict asset limits, low issuance caps and time-bound licenses are holding back the scaling of regulated onchain markets.
In a joint letter, a group of 9 companies, including Securitize, 21X and Boerse Stuttgart Group, argued that without a “quick fix” to the pilot regime, liquidity and market activity could shift to the US, weakening Europe’s position in digital capital markets.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
Blockchain.com has launched perpetual futures trading within its non-custodial DeFi wallet, enabling users to open leveraged positions directly from self-custodied Bitcoin used as collateral. The feature, routed through decentralized derivatives venue Hyperliquid, unlocks more than 190 markets with up to 40x leverage while keeping assets in the user’s wallet throughout the trade lifecycle.
The rollout is described in a press release issued this week, which notes that trades are executed while funds remain in the wallet, avoiding transfers to centralized exchanges or relinquishing private keys. In a single transaction, accounts can be funded with BTC from the user’s own wallet, bypassing conversions or cross-platform transfers. Blockchain.com also signaled plans to broaden the offering to additional asset classes such as foreign exchange, equities, and commodities in the near future.
Based in Malta and operating since 2011, Blockchain.com provides a suite of crypto services including wallets, trading, and infrastructure tools for both retail and institutional users. The new perpetual futures product marks a notable step in expanding self-custody trading into the derivatives space while leveraging a connected, multi-asset trading ecosystem via Hyperliquid.
Key takeaways
- Self-custodial derivatives: Perpetual futures trading is embedded directly in Blockchain.com’s non-custodial wallet, with trades executed without transferring assets to a third party.
- Broad market access and high leverage: Users gain access to more than 190 markets with leverage up to 40x via Hyperliquid.
- BTC-powered funding in one step: Accounts can be funded with BTC from the user’s wallet in a single transaction, avoiding extra conversions or transfers.
- Regulatory backdrop and broader adoption: The move aligns with ongoing regulatory interest in crypto derivatives, while other venues expand 24/7 multi-asset offerings beyond crypto.
- Cross-asset potential: Blockchain.com envisions expanding into FX, stocks, and commodities, signaling a broader move toward multi-asset, non-custodial trading ecosystems.
Blockchain.com’s entry into non-custodial perpetual futures
By integrating perpetual futures into a self-custodial wallet, Blockchain.com aims to deliver leveraged exposure without surrendering control of private keys. The arrangement routes trades through Hyperliquid, a platform that already lists a substantial array of markets beyond crypto, including commodity and index contracts. The expanded market access is complemented by the ability to fund positions directly from BTC in the user’s wallet, streamlining the process and reducing the friction typically associated with derivatives trading on centralized venues.
Hyperliquid’s data-driven platform shows that its most active contracts include traditionally non-crypto assets such as oil, the S&P 500 and silver, alongside leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. The breadth of markets underscores a broader trend toward cross-asset derivatives trading that many users find appealing for hedging and speculative purposes alike. The arrangement with Blockchain.com highlights how non-custodial wallets can pair with decentralized derivatives venues to deliver advanced trading capabilities while preserving user custody.
Regulatory context and industry momentum
The current wave of derivatives expansion sits within a shifting regulatory and market landscape. In a recent public comment, Michael Selig, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), indicated that the agency intends to permit certain crypto derivatives contracts in the coming weeks, signaling potential extra clarity for the sector’s mainstream adoption. While the specifics of any forthcoming rules remain under discussion, the direction points to a more permissive stance toward regulated crypto derivatives in the near term.
Beyond Blockchain.com, the industry has seen a flurry of activity aimed at widening perpetual futures to traditional assets. In February, Kraken began offering tokenized equity perpetual futures for non-US clients, delivering 24/7 leveraged exposure to major US stocks, indexes, and commodities through crypto-based derivatives. A subsequent move by Coinbase expanded 24/7 stock derivatives for non-US users, reinforcing the push to merge crypto-native trading infrastructure with traditional asset classes. Separately, The Information reported that Kalshi is exploring a US-based entry into crypto derivatives with a focus on perpetual futures, illustrating a broader interest in bringing regulated derivative products into the crypto space.
Implications for traders, holders, and builders
Blockchain.com’s latest product widens the practical boundaries of non-custodial trading. For users, the ability to access a large spectrum of perpetual futures without moving assets off-chain or surrendering custody could dramatically simplify hedging and speculative strategies. The BTC-for-funding model further enhances capital efficiency by eliminating intermediate steps, which can reduce settlement risk and prompt faster entry and exit from positions.
From an investor standpoint, the development signals continued demand for on-chain or wallet-native derivatives that do not require trust in a central counterparty. It also reveals a trend toward cross-asset hedging and trading within crypto-native infrastructure, as platforms mix digital assets with traditional markets through decentralized routes. For builders and developers, the arrangement with Hyperliquid demonstrates how liquidity and multi-asset connectivity can be embedded in non-custodial wallets, potentially inspiring similar integrations that blend custody-free control with sophisticated products.
The partnership also raises questions about liquidity provisioning, risk controls, and enforcement across borders as more players introduce perpetual futures tied to conventional assets. Traders should watch for how risk parameters—such as maintenance margins, financing costs, and liquidation mechanisms—are implemented in wallet-based environments and how regulators respond as these products scale.
Source: Blockchain.com announcement via PR Newswire
Blockchain.com, established in 2011 and headquartered in Malta, continues to expand its toolkit for both retail and institutional users, aiming to integrate more asset classes into its non-custodial framework. The move into perpetual futures with Hyperliquid marks a meaningful step in the evolution of self-custody trading, aligning with a larger industry push toward discipline, accessibility, and cross-asset fusion in crypto markets.
Readers should monitor regulatory updates from major markets as well as further product rollouts from Blockchain.com and Hyperliquid. The coming weeks could reveal more about how non-custodial derivatives will coexist with evolving standards for crypto markets and regulated multi-asset trading.
What remains uncertain is the exact regulatory treatment of wallet-based perpetual futures as adoption scales, and how liquidity and margin practices will evolve to ensure robust safety and user protection across a growing set of asset classes.
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Det är viktigt att kontrollera att casinon du väljer har god betygsättning och att de har godkänts av relevanta myndigheter. Detta säkerställer att du har en trygg och smidig upplevelse. När du väl har valt ditt casinon utan svensk licens, kan du börja spela och njuta av olika spel som blackjack, roulette och slot.
Crypto World
FanDuel Alternatives Continue Building Steam and ZunaBet Has Become the Name That Keeps Showing Up
There is a pattern in every industry where the dominant players eventually face pressure not from direct imitators but from platforms that rethink the fundamentals. Online gambling is living through that pattern right now. The established brands — large, well-funded, deeply embedded in mainstream culture — continue to operate strong products that millions of people use every day. But alongside that continued strength, a parallel movement is gaining force. Players are searching for alternatives with a frequency and consistency that signals something deeper than casual curiosity. FanDuel, among the most established and visible gambling brands anywhere, has become the reference point against which many of those searches are framed. And the platform that keeps emerging as the most credible answer is ZunaBet — a crypto-native casino and sportsbook that launched in 2026 and delivered a product that does not compete within the existing framework but proposes an entirely new one.
FanDuel: A Proven Platform Meeting Evolving Demands
FanDuel built its empire by reading the market better than most. It saw daily fantasy sports as a gateway to a broader gambling audience before the competition understood the opportunity. It expanded into sports betting and casino gaming with timing that aligned perfectly with the regulatory environment opening across American states. The result is a platform with licenses in a wide range of US jurisdictions, partnerships with the biggest professional sports organizations in the country, and brand visibility that reaches tens of millions of consumers through relentless and effective advertising.
The product does what it was designed to do with consistency and professionalism. The sportsbook covers all major American leagues — NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL — along with college athletics and a solid range of international events in football, tennis, golf, motorsports, and other categories. The casino delivers a curated collection of slots, table games, and live dealer experiences from reputable providers. The mobile app is polished and reliable. Customer support is available and the infrastructure handles scale without notable issues.
Money flows through conventional channels. Bank accounts, debit and credit cards, PayPal, Venmo, and equivalent services provide the financial framework. These methods serve the widest possible audience with the least friction, which is consistent with a platform strategy built around mainstream market penetration.
FanDuel’s challenge is not that its product has grown weaker. It is that the audience evaluating it has grown more demanding. The game library that was considered competitive several years ago is now outmatched by platforms offering ten times the volume. The loyalty program that was adequate when every competitor ran the same model now feels like a missed opportunity as newer platforms introduce genuinely creative alternatives. And the payment infrastructure that was the only practical choice when the platform was built now looks slow and expensive to players who already live in the world of instant, fee-free cryptocurrency transactions. FanDuel was purpose-built for a specific set of market conditions. Those conditions have not disappeared, but they now coexist with a new set of conditions that the platform was not designed to address.
ZunaBet: Purpose-Built for Conditions That Already Exist
ZunaBet was designed by people who understood exactly what the next generation of gambling platforms needed to look like. It launched in 2026 under the ownership of Strathvale Group Ltd, guided by a team whose combined experience in the gambling industry spans more than two decades. The platform operates under an Anjouan gaming license with corporate registration in Belize. Every system within it was built around cryptocurrency as the core infrastructure — not as a supplementary payment method, not as a marketing angle, but as the foundational layer that shapes the entire product experience.
The game library makes the platform’s ambition unmistakable. ZunaBet opened with 11,294 games from 63 different providers. That is a staggering figure for any operator at any stage of development. The providers contributing to this catalog include the names that define quality in the industry — Pragmatic Play, Evolution, Hacksaw Gaming, Yggdrasil, and BGaming lead the roster — backed by a deep and varied bench of additional studios whose combined output covers every conceivable game style, mechanic, and format.
Slots account for the bulk of the catalog, as they do universally across online casinos. The distinction at ZunaBet lies in everything else. RNG table games provide comprehensive coverage of blackjack, roulette, baccarat, poker across multiple variants, and various specialty titles. The live dealer section offers high-definition real-time streaming from premium production studios, creating immersive experiences that match the atmosphere of a physical casino with the accessibility of a digital platform. Sixty-three providers contributing to a single library means genuine diversity — not just in themes and visuals but in underlying game mechanics, volatility profiles, and design philosophies. Players encounter meaningfully different experiences as they move between providers, which keeps the platform feeling alive and varied long after the initial novelty of signing up has passed.
The sportsbook operates as a complete product with the same account and wallet infrastructure as the casino. Football, basketball, tennis, NHL, combat sports, and virtual sports all receive dedicated coverage. Esports is treated with the seriousness it deserves through full betting markets on CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Valorant. This commitment signals an understanding of the modern gambling audience that most traditional operators still lack. Esports viewership continues to grow globally, and the segment of that audience interested in betting grows alongside it. ZunaBet positioned itself to serve that audience from the start, which gives it a natural connection with a demographic that traditional platforms have been slow to engage.
The payment infrastructure supports more than 20 cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT across multiple chains, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, XRP, and additional tokens. No platform processing fees are charged on any deposit or withdrawal. Blockchain settlement delivers funds to player wallets in minutes regardless of timing. Because the entire financial architecture was designed around crypto from inception, there are no fiat-system remnants creating inconsistency or friction. Every transaction follows the same fast, free, seamless path.
New players receive a welcome package of up to $5,000 plus 75 free spins over three deposits. First deposit gets a 100% match up to $2,000 with 25 spins. Second deposit earns a 50% match up to $1,500 with 25 spins. Third deposit rounds out the offer with a 100% match up to $1,500 and 25 final spins. The three-deposit format encourages sustained platform exploration rather than one-time bonus collection.
The platform is built on HTML5 with a dark-themed responsive interface that loads quickly on any screen. Native apps serve iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS users. Live chat support runs without interruption every hour of every day.
What Crypto Infrastructure Delivers That Traditional Systems Cannot
The gap between crypto and traditional payment infrastructure in online gambling produces real consequences that players experience with every transaction. This is not a theoretical debate about the future of finance. It is a practical difference with immediate measurable impact.
Traditional platforms process payments through networks of financial intermediaries. Deposits pass through card networks or bank systems. Withdrawals travel the same path in reverse, adding platform review stages, banking processing queues, and method-specific settlement timelines. The total elapsed time for a withdrawal commonly ranges from one to five business days depending on circumstances. Weekends and holidays extend that window further. Fees may be imposed at multiple stages by different parties in the processing chain.
Crypto payments reduce that entire sequence to a single blockchain confirmation. Deposits arrive in minutes. Withdrawals return to player wallets in minutes. No banking hours restrict the process. No intermediary fees accumulate. ZunaBet charges zero platform fees on any transaction. The experience is the same at three in the morning on a holiday as it is during peak business hours on a weekday.
A player who transacts regularly on ZunaBet saves meaningful time and money over any comparable period on a traditional platform. Those savings are structural and permanent — built into the infrastructure rather than offered as a promotion. Every transaction automatically benefits because the system itself is inherently more efficient.
ZunaBet achieves this level of consistency because crypto is not one of several payment options. It is the only payment infrastructure the platform has. There are no hybrid systems. There are no fiat layers underneath. The singular architectural focus produces a singular quality of experience that platforms operating on mixed foundations are unable to match.
Why ZunaBet’s Loyalty System Stands Apart From Everything Else
Loyalty programs in online gambling represent one of the clearest cases of industry-wide creative neglect. The template has not changed meaningfully in over a decade. Wager money. Earn points. Cross a threshold. Claim a bonus. Every platform runs some minor variation of this formula, and no variation is different enough to be noticed by the average player. Participation happens passively. Engagement does not happen at all.
ZunaBet replaced that template with a loyalty system designed as a genuine product feature. The dragon evolution program creates a progression journey through six tiers — Squire at 1% rakeback, Warden at 2%, Champion at 4%, Divine at 5%, Knight at 10%, and Ultimate at 20%. Each tier brings additional escalating benefits beyond the rakeback rate — free spins that grow to 1,000 at the top level, VIP club membership, and double wheel spins. A dragon mascot named Zuno ties the experience together visually, evolving in appearance as the player advances from one tier to the next.
The system applies video game progression mechanics to a context that had been crying out for them. Clear levels with defined requirements. Rewards that escalate meaningfully enough to create genuine anticipation around reaching the next tier. Visual feedback that makes progress feel personal and observable. Achievement mechanics that give advancement an emotional weight that numerical point balances lack entirely.
ZunaBet players engage with their loyalty tier in ways that players on traditional platforms simply do not. They set goals around reaching the next level. They monitor their progress between sessions. They experience real satisfaction when they advance. That active participation transforms the loyalty program from a passive retention mechanism into an active engagement driver that contributes directly to how players experience the platform. It is one of the most effective differentiators in the current market because it addresses the one area where virtually every competitor chose to do the absolute minimum.
What the Momentum Means Going Forward
The sustained momentum behind FanDuel alternative searches carries a message that extends beyond any individual platform comparison. It reflects a market that has reached the point where the standard set by the previous generation of leaders is no longer accepted as the ceiling. FanDuel will continue to hold significant market share. Its brand, licenses, existing users, and financial strength guarantee relevance for years to come. Nothing about the current momentum threatens the platform’s viability in its core markets.
What the momentum does threaten is the broader assumption that the model FanDuel represents — traditional finance, standard game catalogs, template loyalty mechanics — remains the default definition of what a gambling platform should be. That assumption weakens every time a player discovers that alternatives exist which are faster, deeper, more creative, and more aligned with how they interact with digital products everywhere else in their lives.
ZunaBet was constructed from scratch to be the alternative that holds up under scrutiny. Its game library exceeds what most operators build over entire lifetimes. Its payment system delivers speed and cost efficiency that traditional infrastructure cannot approach. Its esports coverage meets a massive and underserved audience where it already is. And its loyalty program brought genuine innovation to the most neglected corner of the gambling experience. That is not a collection of incremental improvements. It is a different model altogether. The momentum building behind alternative searches exists because players have recognized that a different model is exactly what they need. They find ZunaBet because ZunaBet is the most complete version of that model that anyone has built.
Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.
The crypto market is showing signs of strength on Tuesday with bitcoin rising to $76,500, a gain of about 1% since midnight UTC.
The price spiked to around $77,000 at 9:45 a.m. before meeting a wave of spot sellers, who are probably protecting a potential breakout above Friday’s high of $78,300.
Ether (ETH) lagged behind bitcoin, rising just 0.3% to $2,320 as investors remained cautious around altcoins following the $290 million exploit on KelpDAO over the weekend.
Price action is still being dictated by the war in Iran, with the U.S. vice president due to travel to Pakistan for peace talks. A resolution is likely to lower oil prices, helping boost risk assets that have been inversely correlated since the war began.
U.S. stock index futures rose, demonstrating a return to risk-on sentiment.
Derivatives positioning
- The long-short ratio for the crypto futures market is 50.68%, indicating a near-even split between bullish and bearish positions. In other words, traders are largely undecided on the direction of the market’s next move.
- In the past 24 hours, major tokens such as BTC, SOL, HYPE and BNB have added 1%-3% in futures open interest (OI), a sign of capital inflows. ETH, DOGE and ZEC have seen slight declines in OI.
- Open interest in AAVE futures has climbed to a record 3.59 million tokens. At the same time, the OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta has turned negative — indicating that sell orders are dominating and pushing into bids — while funding rates remain near zero. Taken together, the setup points to a slight bearish bias.
- Bitcoin and ether funding rates remain negative, suggesting a bias toward short positions. This consistent bearish environment creates potential for a short squeeze. That’s a scenario in which price resilience prompts bears to mass-dump their bets, adding to the upward momentum in the spot price.
- On the CME, activity in BTC futures continues to cool, even as the exchange-traded funds pull in millions. This combination indicates that inflows into the ETFs are mainly bullish directional plays rather than arbitrage bets involving a short BTC futures position against the ETF’s long position.
- On Deribit, BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at a premium to calls, reflecting downside concerns.
- Speaking of block flows (large trades executed over-the-counter), BTC straddles and strangles cumulatively account for over 50% of the activity over the past 24 hours.
Token talk
- The altcoin market is still reacting to the weekend’s $290 million exploit on KelpDAO with decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens ethena (ENA), etherfi (ETHFI) and jupiter (JUP) all posting losses over the past 24 hours despite a marginal recovery since midnight UTC.
- The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) is the worst-performing benchmark on Tuesday, losing 0.24% while the bitcoin-dominant CoinDesk 20 (CD20) is up by 0.65%.
- The altcoin market is showing indecision, with the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) remaining flat during the Asia and European sessions.
- AAVE is beginning to claw back some of its weekend losses after a 22% drop, adding 2.6% despite widespread negative sentiment across the DeFi sector.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator is at 39/100, rising from the weekend’s low of 34/100, but still demonstrating investor preference for bitcoin over to altcoins.
A 50 page quantum computing crypto risk assessment published Tuesday by Coinbase’s independent advisory board concludes that while today’s blockchains remain secure, a fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of breaking widely used encryption is increasingly plausible and that preparation must begin now, warning that “waiting for it to be urgent is not a good idea.”
Summary
- The 50 page paper, authored by an independent board including Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, and EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan.
- Replacing today’s signatures with quantum-resistant alternatives could expand blockchain data sizes by up to 38 times, according to one estimate in the report, meaning the transition carries significant engineering costs and performance tradeoffs.
- Bitcoin wallets that have already revealed their public keys are identified as the most immediately vulnerable category of holdings in any future quantum attack scenario.
Quantum computing crypto risk has its most authoritative industry assessment yet. The Coinbase advisory board, a group of world-class cryptographers and blockchain researchers convened by Coinbase in January 2026, released its first major position paper Tuesday: a 50 page analysis of how future quantum computers could affect blockchain security and what the industry must do before that threat becomes real.
“Waiting for it to be urgent is not a good idea,” the paper states, emphasizing that transitions across blockchains, wallets, and exchanges could take years to execute safely even after all the technical standards are in place.
The board members who authored the paper include Dan Boneh, the director of the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research; Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation; Sreeram Kannan, the founder of EigenLayer; Yehuda Lindell, Coinbase’s head of cryptography; and Dahlia Malkhi, an expert in resilient distributed systems. Their institutional breadth gives the paper a credibility that no single-company security assessment would carry.
What the Report Found and What Makes It Credible
The paper’s core conclusion is carefully calibrated: quantum computers today cannot crack the cryptography underpinning Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any major blockchain. Breaking standard encryption would require fault-tolerant quantum machines with vastly more error-corrected qubits than current hardware provides, and achieving that is still considered a major engineering challenge. The report does not predict when that will happen. It argues that the timeline uncertainty itself is the problem.
The threat the paper focuses on most is the harvest now, decrypt later attack: adversaries can collect encrypted blockchain data today and store it, waiting for quantum hardware to mature enough to crack it retroactively. For long-held assets, this is a material risk that begins now rather than when the quantum threat becomes practical. Bitcoin addresses that have already revealed their public keys on-chain are specifically identified as the most immediately exposed category of holdings.
Why the Transition Will Be Harder Than It Sounds
The technical solution to quantum vulnerability already exists: NIST has standardized post-quantum cryptographic algorithms that are mathematically resistant to quantum attacks. The problem is implementation at blockchain scale. Post-quantum digital signatures can be tens to hundreds of times larger than the signatures in use today. One estimate in the Coinbase report suggests that replacing current signatures with quantum-proof alternatives could expand block sizes by up to 38 times.
For a network like Bitcoin, which processes blocks under a strict size limit and where any upgrade requires consensus among a decentralized set of stakeholders with no central authority, a 38-times expansion of signature data is not a parameter adjustment. It is a fundamental architectural change that touches every node, wallet, exchange, and application in the ecosystem. The debate among Bitcoin developers, already underway, reflects exactly this tension between urgency and the cost of change.
What Crypto Networks Are Already Doing
The Coinbase report arrives alongside parallel actions across the ecosystem. Ripple published a four phase XRPL post-quantum roadmap targeting completion by 2028. The Ethereum Foundation has elevated post-quantum security to a top strategic priority with a dedicated research team. Bitcoin developers are actively debating BIP 361, a proposal for a structured migration away from legacy address types that expose public keys.
For the Bitcoin quantum risk assessment specifically, researchers estimate approximately 4.5 million Bitcoin held in early or reused addresses may be exposed to future quantum attacks. The quantum threat debate in Bitcoin has become one of the most contested governance questions in the community, precisely because the solutions require either forcing coin migration or accepting that some portion of the supply may eventually be at risk.
DefiLlama logs 518 crypto hacks and over $17b in losses in 10 years, with attackers shifting from smart contracts to keys, bridges and wallets, as rsETH loses ~$290m.
Summary
- DefiLlama has logged 518 crypto hacking incidents over the past 10 years, with total losses above $17 billion.
- A growing share of that damage comes from private key leaks, phishing and credential theft rather than pure smart contract bugs.
- The latest example is Kelp DAO’s rsETH bridge exploit, which drained about 116,500 rsETH worth roughly $290–$293 million — 2026’s largest DeFi hack so far.
Crypto’s security bill over the past decade has quietly climbed past $17 billion, according to DefiLlama data cited by Cointelegraph, with at least 518 documented hacks and exploits hitting exchanges, DeFi protocols, bridges and wallets since 2014. That figure captures everything from early exchange blow‑ups to today’s sophisticated cross‑chain attacks, and it comes even as the overall pace of large on‑chain exploits has slowed from peak‑mania years like 2021–2022.
A decade of $17b in crypto losses
Under the surface, however, the composition of those losses is shifting. Where early DeFi hacks often hinged on smart contract bugs and unchecked flash‑loan logic, recent incidents show attackers increasingly targeting the soft tissue around crypto — private keys, signing infrastructure and user devices — with credential theft, social engineering and SIM‑swap‑style attacks. Security firms told Cointelegraph that they expect 2026 to bring more advanced phishing and AI‑assisted scams capable of tricking even technically savvy users into signing malicious transactions or revealing seed phrases.
Bridge infrastructure has been a particular weak point. DefiLlama’s hacks dashboard shows that bridges account for almost $3 billion of the roughly $11.8 billion it categorises as “total value hacked,” with large single incidents like the Ronin, Wormhole and Multichain exploits setting the tone for cross‑chain risk. The latest addition to that list is Kelp DAO’s rsETH cross‑chain bridge, which was hit on April 18 after an attacker forged a cross‑chain message on a LayerZero‑based link and minted or released 116,500 rsETH to an attacker‑controlled address.
Those tokens — representing “restaked” Ether — were worth about $290–$293 million at the time, or roughly 18% of rsETH’s total supply, and have been called the largest DeFi exploit of 2026 so far by outlets including Bloomberg. The incident forced Kelp DAO to pause the bridge, coordinate emergency responses with exchanges and protocols, and sparked a blame game over LayerZero’s default single‑validator configuration, which critics argue left the system effectively one‑key‑away from catastrophic minting.
Even away from headline‑grabbing exploits, everyday credential compromises continue to rack up damage. DefiLlama data cited by Cointelegraph shows that in the first quarter of 2026 alone, hackers stole about $168.6 million from 34 DeFi protocols, with the largest single hit — a $40 million Step Finance theft — traced back to a private key compromise rather than a pure code bug. That trend suggests DeFi’s smart contract security is slowly hardening, while attackers respond by moving upstream into the tools and human processes that sit between wallets and protocols.
For users and teams, the lesson is brutal but clear: audits and formal verification are necessary, but not sufficient. Hardware keys, multi‑sig schemes, segregated signing devices, strict key‑management policies, and relentless phishing hygiene are now as critical to safeguarding crypto as gas optimisations and bug bounties ever were — because it only takes one compromised credential to turn another line in DefiLlama’s hacks database into a nine‑figure loss.
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