Ondo Finance has appointed former Blockchain.com executive Adam Schlisman as chief financial officer as the tokenized-assets firm expands its finance operations amid growing adoption of onchain capital markets, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.

Schlisman joins from global macro hedge fund Monashee Investment Management, where he served as CFO.

Before that, he was chief financial officer at Blockchain.com, overseeing finance, treasury and risk during a period of rapid growth. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly a decade at Graham Capital Management in portfolio management and risk roles.

Founded in 2021 by former Goldman Sachs executives, Ondo is one of the largest tokenized real-world asset platforms, offering blockchain-based U.S. Treasuries and stocks with more than $3.5 billion across its products.

Tokenization has emerged as one of crypto’s fastest-growing sectors as Wall Street firms race to bring traditional financial assets onto blockchain rails. Banks, asset managers and crypto-native firms are increasingly issuing tokenized versions of Treasuries, money market funds, private credit and equities, betting the technology can reduce settlement times, improve market access and unlock round-the-clock trading.

Crypto is in a tough spot right now, and the effects of a down market are being felt across the industry. In February of this year, Nomura tightened risk limits at Laser Digital after crypto losses dragged down quarterly profit. This was read by the market as a retreat, but Nomura indicated it would be staying in crypto, just with a more conservative approach.

To this end, Laser Digital’s investment and partnership with ZigChain delivers a comprehensive risk framework and governance across a pipeline of institutional onchain vault products, according to a statement.

Rafay Gadit said the private credit market in the Middle East faces a two-sided problem.

“Firstly, those who need money cannot raise it from the normal banks, and those who have money don’t know those opportunities exist,” he said. “And even if they know, it’s only approachable through very large funds that have extremely high fees and barriers to entry. We are democratizing that.”

Dr. Jez Mohideen, Co-founder and CEO, Laser Digital, said his firm has been watching the private credit category, and while the opportunity in onchain finance is real, execution risk has been consistently underestimated.

“ZIG Markets brings regional depth and an origination track record, and as an investor and partner, our role is to apply the same higher standards of institutional risk frameworks we use across our broader offerings,” Mohideen said. “The shared vision remains to make the next generation of asset management products accessible to those moving serious institutional capital.”

Binance-linked entities have filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong alleging that RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payments firm, diverted more than 470,000 users away from the Binance Card through activities they say were outside a commercial agreement. The plaintiffs are seeking nearly $473 million in damages.

The case, detailed in a Hong Kong court filing obtained by Bloomberg, is part of a broader push by Binance-affiliated companies to enforce terms tied to their card offering. Bloomberg reported the litigation may also intersect with RedotPay’s plans as it weighs a potential initial public offering.

Key takeaways

• Binance-affiliated plaintiffs say RedotPay enabled users to load RedotPay payment cards using Binance Pay outside the scope of their agreement.
• The complaint alleges diversion of more than 470,000 users from Binance Card and seeks about $472.8 million in damages.
• RedotPay says the lawsuit will not affect operations and plans to contest the claims.
• A related legal action is also underway in Singapore, where a hearing has been scheduled for Friday.

Hong Kong lawsuit targets alleged diversion of Binance Card users

According to Bloomberg’s report, Binance Holdings affiliates Nest Trading, DistributedTechnologies and Chaintecs Consulting Singapore filed the petition against RedotPay co-founders Gao Zhangpeng, Chan Wa Choi and Yao Chao. The filing centers on alleged breach of a commercial agreement governing RedotPay’s relationship with Binance Card.

The plaintiffs’ core allegation is that RedotPay permitted users to fund RedotPay stablecoin payment cards with Binance Pay in ways they claim were not authorized under the parties’ contract. In their lawsuit, Binance-affiliated entities argue this conduct resulted in substantial customer movement away from Binance Card and toward RedotPay’s own offering.

Damages claim hinges on lifetime customer value

The lawsuit seeks nearly $473 million. In Bloomberg’s account of the filing, the damages calculation is tied to Binance’s estimated lifetime customer value of $925 per user multiplied by the alleged user diversion figure of more than 470,000.

That approach suggests the plaintiffs are not merely pursuing damages for discrete transactions, but for the expected long-term value of a customer base they say was taken from their card product. For investors and market participants tracking crypto payments, the case signals how vigorously major counterparties are now quantifying commercial harm in custody- and payments-adjacent relationships.

Parallel litigation in Singapore adds pressure

Bloomberg further reports that Chaintecs filed a related lawsuit in Singapore. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, according to the court’s published hearing list.

Multiple jurisdictions can matter in crypto-related disputes because different courts may have varying views on contract interpretation, evidence standards, and the enforceability of certain remedies. For parties involved in cross-border payment ecosystems, the existence of parallel proceedings also raises the likelihood that the dispute will stay in the public spotlight longer than a single-country filing.

RedotPay pushes back, says operations will continue

In a statement posted on its website, RedotPay said the legal proceedings would not affect its operations and that it intends to contest the allegations. The company also indicated it would refrain from further comment while the matter is before the court.

“We are confident in our legal position, and are vigorously defending all claims. As the matter is currently before the court, RedotPay will not be commenting further on the allegations, the ongoing proceedings, or matters that will be addressed through the judicial process,” RedotPay said in its published response.

Binance did not provide operational commentary but, according to a spokesperson speaking to Cointelegraph, it would pursue legal options where necessary. The spokesperson said, “While Binance does not comment on ongoing litigation, where necessary we will use courts and other forums to pursue what is right.”

Why this dispute matters for card and payments users

This lawsuit is not just a contractual fight; it highlights the growing importance of compliance and channel controls in crypto card ecosystems. Allegations involving how users load funds—particularly through payment rails like Binance Pay—can directly affect user access, onboarding flows, and which provider ultimately captures transaction-driven value.

Even if the underlying contract is eventually interpreted narrowly, cases like this can influence how payment partners structure permissions, settle revenue-sharing, and document user attribution. Traders and builders watching crypto payments may also take note of how disputes are increasingly tied to quantified customer metrics, signaling a shift away from purely reputational arguments toward measurable economic damages.

As proceedings move forward in Hong Kong and Singapore, the key questions for readers will be what the courts find about the parties’ contract scope—especially whether Binance Pay funding to RedotPay cards fell within agreed boundaries—and how damages, if any, are calculated once the facts are established.

The Aussie and the Kiwi are telling two very different monetary policy stories right now, and the divergence is starting to show up clearly in the cross. The RBA held its cash rate at 4.35% in August, but the hawkish tone that once dominated has faded fast: Q2 inflation cooled to 3.9% from 4.1%, prompting Goldman Sachs to abandon its call for one final hike this year. Markets now price next to no chance of an August move, with only roughly even odds of a hike by November.

Across the Tasman, the RBNZ is playing a different game entirely. Having already hiked to 2.50% in June, the central bank has kept its guidance firmly hawkish, and markets are now almost fully pricing a further 25bp increase in September. Wednesday’s employment data added an interesting twist: employment change q/q beat expectations sharply at 0.5% against 0.1% forecast, yet the unemployment rate also rose to 5.6% from 5.4%, above forecasts—a genuinely mixed print that complicates the otherwise hawkish RBNZ narrative.

The result: a Reserve Bank stepping back from further tightening against one still leaning hawkish, though now facing a labor market sending conflicting signals of its own.

Technical Analysis of AUD/NZD

As AUD/NZD chart shows, the pair broke above the 100-period EMA back in July and is now testing this level again, right where it converges with the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement near 1.2011-1.2013. This confluence marks a critical juncture after weeks of steady decline.

Bullish Scenario

Should buyers break this EMA-Fibonacci confluence decisively, the path would open toward the 0.618 retracement near 1.2037, followed by the descending trendline, which itself converges with the 0.786 level around 1.2073. A break above this second confluence would leave room to retest the 1.2200-1.2250 resistance, the upper boundary of the broader range that has trapped price since April..

Bearish Scenario

Conversely, a rejection at the EMA-0.5 confluence would send price back down to retest the 1.1900-1.1950 support, the level that has held since March.. This is the real test: a confirmed break below it would open the door to a more sustained and decisive downtrend.

With price wedged right at this pivotal confluence, and the broader March-to-August range still very much intact, AUD/NZD looks ready to decide whether it’s building toward a genuine breakout, or simply setting up for another rejection within its months-long range.

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Mastercard and stablecoin orchestration network Borderless are launching a pilot focused on improving cross-border stablecoin payments using Mastercard’s Crypto Credential standards-based framework.

The initiative, announced in coordination with Cointelegraph, will test whether Mastercard’s approach can generate assurance signals that market participants can plug into their own approval, compliance, and risk workflows—potentially reducing friction where verification responsibilities often become fragmented across counterparties.

Key takeaways

• Mastercard and Borderless will trial how Crypto Credential standards can produce governance and verification signals for cross-border stablecoin payments.
• The pilot is designed to help participants incorporate assurance signals into their internal approval, compliance, and risk processes.
• Borderless frames compliance and trust between parties as the key bottleneck, comparing it to how correspondent banking historically handled assurance.
• Mastercard will not process or settle funds as part of the pilot; the project centers on the credential layer rather than payment execution.

Why “assurance signals” matter for stablecoin payments

Stablecoins can move value quickly, but cross-border usage often runs into a problem that looks less like a technology challenge and more like a governance and compliance workflow issue. According to Borderless CEO and co-founder Kevin Lehtiniitty, the main source of friction is providing the right kind of assurance across a chain of counterparties.

Lehtiniitty compares the situation to correspondent banking, which “solved this decades ago” by making trust upstream and avoiding repeated re-execution of compliance checks at each step with downstream parties. In his view, Mastercard’s Crypto Credential framework aims to apply a similar idea to digital-asset payments: instead of every participant building their own end-to-end verification logic from scratch, the system provides standardized signals that can be interpreted and used across the network.

Mastercard’s Crypto Credential framework, as described in the announcement, relies on common standards and assurance signals intended to add certainty to blockchain-related transactions. In the pilot, the partners will look specifically for governance signals that can lower operational friction in cross-border stablecoin flows.

A pilot focused on governance, not settlement

While the partnership is positioned within the broader stablecoin payments ecosystem, the pilot itself is intentionally narrower. Lehtiniitty told Cointelegraph that Mastercard’s role would be limited to the Crypto Credential governance and verification layer; Mastercard will not process or settle funds as part of this test.

That distinction matters for how investors and builders might interpret the trial. It suggests the project is primarily about interoperability—how credentialed assurance can be communicated and reused—rather than about replacing payment rails or directly competing with settlement providers in the near term.

For Borderless, the value proposition is tied to workflow integration: participants would be able to take the signals produced under Mastercard’s framework and incorporate them into their existing approval, compliance, and risk processes. The pilot therefore aims at practical adoption challenges, not just a theoretical standard.

How Mastercard’s stablecoin push is evolving

The pilot builds on Mastercard’s recent expansion in the stablecoin industry. Cointelegraph previously reported that Mastercard completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK on Monday, a deal valued at $1.8 billion.

In June, Mastercard also announced plans to expand settlement capabilities to include intraday, weekend, and holiday card settlement. That proposal included settlement through stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, and other dollar-linked tokens, including USDG and USDP, as well as Ripple’s RLUSD and SoFi’s SoFiUSD.

Taken together, the new pilot indicates Mastercard is pursuing a dual-track strategy: expanding where stablecoins can be used in settlement while also working on how trust and verification can be communicated in a way that fits traditional compliance expectations.

Still, the pilot’s scope leaves open some important questions. The partners have emphasized credentialing and governance signals, but they have not indicated how quickly these signals could standardize cross-border approvals across different jurisdictions, nor whether the pilot will extend beyond specific participants or networks. Those details will determine whether the program becomes a scalable template or remains a proof-of-concept.

What to watch next in the pilot

Because Mastercard and Borderless have framed the work around assurance signals that can be incorporated into compliance and risk processes, observers should watch for outcomes that reflect real operational integration—not just technical compatibility. Key areas include how participants interpret the governance signals, whether the framework meaningfully reduces the need for repeated due diligence steps, and what governance standards emerge as most effective in lowering cross-border friction.

Another practical factor is whether the credential layer can maintain consistency across counterparties without requiring each party to recreate verification logic. If the pilot succeeds, it could offer a clearer path for stablecoins to fit into existing payment and compliance infrastructures—where trust models are typically built around accountable intermediaries.

For now, the next step is the pilot’s results: how well the assurance and governance signals translate into reduced friction for cross-border stablecoin payments, and whether the approach can be expanded from a controlled test into a broader standard that participants can adopt with confidence.