Singapore Exchange has secured CFTC authorization to give U.S. institutional investors direct access to its Bitcoin and Ether perpetual futures, opening its existing crypto derivatives order books to American trading firms.

SGX Group head of crypto derivatives KC Lam told CoinDesk that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorization was granted under Regulation 48.10, allowing U.S. institutions to trade products that had previously been unavailable to them.

“Under the Regulation 48.10 ruling, we have obtained CFTC authorization to open our crypto products to U.S. institutional access. Previously, U.S. participants couldn’t trade these contracts but now they can,” Lam said.

The approval applies to SGX’s Bitcoin perpetual futures, or BTP, and Ether perpetual futures, known as ETP. Both products have been trading since late November 2025 and operate without an expiry date.

SGX crypto perpetual futures gain a route into the US

Regulation 48.10 provides a route for a Foreign Board of Trade, an overseas exchange recognized by the CFTC, to offer qualifying U.S. participants direct access to its electronic trading system.

SGX can therefore make its existing contracts and order books accessible to eligible American institutions without creating separate U.S. listings or registering the Singapore venue as a domestic exchange.

Lam described the authorization as “an important milestone” that connects U.S. traditional finance participants trading crypto futures with Asian liquidity pools. He said the regulatory route helps establish crypto derivatives as a regulated asset class.

U.S. access comes as regulated perpetual futures have been gaining ground in the country. In May, the CFTC approved the first regulated Bitcoin perpetual for listing on a U.S. exchange, opening a domestic path for a type of contract that had been concentrated on offshore crypto platforms.

Eligible U.S. customers subsequently gained several routes into the market. crypto.news previously reported that Kraken launched perpetual futures in June through its CFTC-regulated derivatives business, Bitnomial, giving eligible clients access to perpetual contracts alongside spot, margin and traditional futures products.

SGX is taking a different route by extending direct institutional access to contracts already trading on its Singapore market.

Bitcoin accounts for most SGX perpetual futures activity

Since their November 2025 launch, SGX’s Bitcoin and Ether perpetual futures have generated $5.8 billion in cumulative trading volume, equivalent to roughly 400,000 lots.

Average daily volume across the two contracts reached 1,300 lots, or $19 million, as of August. Bitcoin represented 83% of average daily trading volume since inception and 66% of outstanding open interest.

The exchange recorded its busiest session at 11,500 lots, representing $145 million in notional trading volume.

American participation is not expected to appear immediately because institutional clients still need to complete SGX’s onboarding process. New users are brought in through clearing members and must complete know-your-customer checks, fund their accounts and establish API connections.

Lam said the process normally takes two to four weeks regardless of where a client is based. SGX has completed its FIS-enabled back-office integration and is preparing U.S. clearing members to onboard clients over the next one or two months.

Institutional demand for regulated crypto perpetuals has been developing through other structures in the U.S. market. Coinbase Financial Markets received a regulatory route in May allowing eligible American institutions to access global crypto derivatives, initially through derivatives listed on Deribit. The arrangement relied on CFTC staff positions covering foreign futures and related margin requirements.

SGX uses margin calls instead of automatic liquidation

Traders on SGX currently use the Bitcoin and Ether contracts for directional positions and arbitrage strategies.

Some positions are tied to macroeconomic themes such as concerns over currency debasement, while other traders use cash-and-carry strategies to capture differences in funding rates and prices across trading venues.

Although SGX’s contracts have no expiration date, their risk management structure differs from perpetual futures commonly traded on crypto-native exchanges.

The exchange uses margin calls and requires traders to provide additional collateral when their positions fall below margin requirements. Positions are not immediately closed through the automatic liquidation systems commonly used by crypto exchanges.

“Unlike crypto-native venues where sudden volatility can trigger auto-liquidations, our traditional risk framework uses margin calls and top-up collateral, to prevent involuntary position closures during market spikes,” Lam said.

Automatic liquidations occur when leveraged positions develop a margin shortfall as prices move against traders. Crypto exchanges can close positions automatically if collateral requirements are no longer met, a process that can lead to clusters of forced selling or buying during sharp market moves.

SGX separates trading and clearing functions as another part of its risk structure. Clearing members sit between the exchange and participating clients and act as an intermediate layer for managing risk.

“By routing trades through clearing members who act as an intermediate risk buffer, we mirror the proven infrastructure of traditional futures and commodities markets,” Lam said.

The exchange does not accept stablecoins as collateral for its crypto perpetual contracts. Lam said stablecoins were excluded because they can lose their peg during periods of market volatility.

SGX’s contracts instead use benchmarks jointly developed with CoinDesk Indices. Mohit Baheti, head of iEdge Indices at SGX Group, said the indices are managed under the European Union Benchmark Regulation.

Regulated perpetual products in the United States have continued expanding since the first Bitcoin contract received approval. Kalshi introduced Ether perpetuals shortly after its Bitcoin rollout and later expanded its lineup to include Solana perpetual futures, while several other crypto contracts went through regulatory review.

SGX plans to move beyond perpetuals by developing dated Bitcoin and Ether futures and options.

“The next step in our pipeline is launching dated futures and options for Bitcoin and Ethereum,” Lam said.

Building the infrastructure needed for those products represents the main technical work, according to Lam. Once that system is operating, SGX expects the process of adding other major cryptocurrencies to become more similar to introducing another futures contract.

“We plan to broaden our offerings but we are taking a disciplined, step-by-step approach,” Lam said.

PayPal, M0 and MoonPay officially launched the PYUSDx custom stablecoin platform on Sept. 9 with three active projects that the companies said have collectively processed more than $100 million.

PYUSDx allows businesses to issue application-specific stablecoins backed by PayPal USD. Companies can give their tokens separate names and configure access restrictions, reward distribution, collateral policies and cross-chain availability.

The partners initially announced the framework in February. As crypto.news previously reported, PayPal and MoonPay introduced the custom stablecoin infrastructure as a way for developers to create branded digital dollars without independently building issuance and liquidity systems.

M0 developed the programmable token infrastructure used by PYUSDx. Its system lets issuers configure individual components instead of accepting a fixed stablecoin model. MoonPay contributes issuance, onboarding and distribution services. PayPal supplies the ecosystem connection through PYUSD. The arrangement extends the role of PayPal’s stablecoin beyond direct payments by allowing other financial applications to use it as an underlying reserve asset.

The companies said the structure can reduce the time required to create a customized stablecoin from several months to days. That remains a company claim and will depend on the project, its technical requirements and applicable regulatory approvals.

PYUSDx is not a stablecoin itself. It is an issuance framework supporting separate digital tokens. Each participating company can configure a token for its own settlement, credit, treasury or decentralized-finance use case.

Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet is facing renewed shareholder pressure after objections over its ongoing executive stock option pool, which is tied to how the company finances and expands its Bitcoin accumulation. Critics argue the mechanism has led to heavy dilution for existing shareholders as new shares are issued—while Metaplanet says it has taken steps to freeze part of the pool.

The dispute centers on Metaplanet’s “10th Series” executive option pool, structured to represent 20% of fully diluted shares and to automatically expand when additional shares are issued to fund its Bitcoin purchases. The backlash has now broadened from social media commentary to demands for clearer governance and compensation decisions.

Key takeaways

• Shareholders are disputing the design of Metaplanet’s 10th Series executive option pool, arguing it mechanically increases dilution as the company issues new shares for Bitcoin buys.
• Metaplanet says it froze the executive pool at 319.5 million shares on Aug. 18, but critics say that still magnifies dilution because the pool expanded from 46 million shares.
• Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey defended the incentive structure publicly, while some holders claim the awards benefited him personally.
• Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich said the company will review governance and compensation policies and clarified his relationship to shareholder MMXX Ventures.
• VanEck’s Matthew Sigel urged further action, recommending Metaplanet freeze remaining exercise rights and consider a shareholder-approved replacement plan.

Shareholder backlash over the “10th Series” pool

Multiple Metaplanet shareholders have criticized the company’s 10th Series executive option pool on X, focusing on how it scales. The pool was described as being set at 20% of fully diluted shares, then expanding when Metaplanet issues additional shares to finance its Bitcoin accumulation.

According to Metaplanet’s own materials, the company acknowledged on Aug. 18 that expanding the share pool “amplifies the dilution borne by existing shareholders.” While Metaplanet states it froze the pool at 319.5 million shares on Aug. 18, critics argue the damage was already done—claiming the pool grew from 46 million shares to 319.5 million, effectively increasing the dilution experienced by earlier holders.

One pseudonymous shareholder account, Bitcoin Pharaoh, alleged that the stock-option structure created a situation where management participation disproportionately benefits the team relative to what shareholders contributed. In a Wednesday reply on X to David Bailey, Bitcoin Pharaoh summarized the argument as a “cut” that management takes from each unit of bitcoin financed by shareholder money, framing the mechanism as one that disadvantages existing holders.

David Bailey defends the incentive model

Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey pushed back against the criticism. In a Tuesday X post, Bailey defended Metaplanet’s executive stock model, arguing that granting the team 20% of the cap table over a multi-year period “isn’t some crazy number.” He also said his company has been invested in Metaplanet since “day zero,” positioning his comments as aligned with long-term support rather than short-term gain.

Bailey’s defense has not ended the debate. Bitcoin Pharaoh claimed Bailey personally benefited from Metaplanet’s stock options, stating Bailey received 300,000 options at a 105 Japanese yen strike price when the shares were trading at 510 yen, describing this as compensation tied to Bailey’s role as a strategic board advisor.

While Bailey’s public remarks focus on the reasonableness of the percentage allocation, the core disagreement remains practical: whether the pool’s automatic expansion tied to new share issuance creates dilution levels that shareholders consider excessive, and whether Metaplanet should have designed compensation that doesn’t scale in lockstep with funding mechanics.

Source: David Bailey (X)

Metaplanet CEO: governance review and MMXX clarification

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich responded to the wider controversy by indicating the company would reassess governance and compensation arrangements. In a Sunday X post, Gerovich said the firm is continuing to review governance and compensation policies and will share updates when the work is complete.

Gerovich also attempted to address questions tied to shareholder MMXX Ventures. In his post, he said he is a significant but non-majority shareholder in MMXX’s parent company and that he holds no executive role within it. The clarification appears intended to separate Metaplanet’s executive compensation decisions from any perceived influence by MMXX-related stakeholders.

On Aug. 31, Metaplanet disclosed that the CEO exercised 92,000 shares from the 10th Series executive option pool. That disclosure adds specificity to the discussion about how executives are participating in the incentive framework currently under scrutiny.

Source: Simon Gerovich (X)

VanEck’s Matthew Sigel urges freeze and shareholder-approved redesign

External analysts have joined the discussion, particularly around whether the executive option pool should continue to operate as designed. Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, advised in a Wednesday X post that Metaplanet should “freeze” further exercise rights from the 10th Series pool. He also suggested holders voluntarily surrender any excess rights and weigh additional options related to shares already exercised.

Sigel further argued that Metaplanet should replace Series 10 with an incentive plan that is approved by shareholders and tied primarily to BTC performance on a per fully diluted share basis. The suggestion is a direct attempt to change the incentive structure from one that scales through dilution mechanics to one that is more directly anchored to outcomes shareholders choose to authorize.

Source: Matthew Sigel (X)

Metaplanet has already acknowledged the dilution impact of its pool-expansion decision in an Aug. 18 notice, and a separate question now hangs over the company: whether it will extend the freeze to remaining portions of the 10th Series option pool or restructure future incentives to address the concerns raised by shareholders. Cointelegraph reported that it requested comment from Metaplanet on whether it would consider freezing the remaining shares in the executive pool.

Stock reaction in Tokyo as the dispute continues

As the debate unfolds publicly, Metaplanet’s share performance has been mixed. According to Yahoo Finance, the company’s stock closed up in Wednesday’s Tokyo trading, reducing its five-day decline to roughly 16.3%. While price action does not settle the governance argument, it shows that the market is still actively repricing near-term sentiment while investors wait for any company response beyond the existing freeze and promised policy review.

Source: Yahoo Finance

For investors, the key uncertainty is what Metaplanet will do next with the remaining rights and whether it will move toward a shareholder-approved compensation redesign. The combination of a stated pause on the pool, promised governance review, and calls from both shareholders and external analysts sets up a clear watchpoint: whether compensation becomes more outcome-tied and less dilution-linked, and how Metaplanet demonstrates transparency around future decisions.

Ant International has partnered with Visa and Mastercard to develop common standards for identifying and monitoring AI agents as autonomous software takes on a larger role in global payments.

Ant International said Thursday that the companies will work on an interoperable “Know Your Agent” framework designed to let merchants and payment providers verify which AI agents are behind transactions and whether they are authorized to act.

The work comes as payment companies prepare for AI systems that can search for products, place orders and make payments for consumers and businesses. Ant cited McKinsey projections that AI agents could handle between $3 trillion and $5 trillion of global consumer commerce by 2030.

Jiang-Ming Yang, chief innovation officer at Ant International, said safeguards will be needed as agents gain more authority over financial transactions because AI systems can produce incorrect information or take actions users did not intend.

“Trust is the foundation of the AI transformation,” Yang told CNBC.

Ant, Visa and Mastercard target a common AI agent identity system

Under the collaboration, Ant International, Visa and Mastercard plan to establish common methods for linking an AI agent to a valid entity, evaluating its behavior and monitoring its activity.

The companies are focusing on interoperability between their separate systems so an agent that has already established its identity with one payment provider would not necessarily have to repeat the process with another.

“If [an] agent registers with Ant, they don’t need to register again with Visa, Mastercard,” Yang said.

Such a system would give merchants and payment processors a consistent way to determine which software agent is requesting a transaction and the party on whose behalf it is operating.

Pablo Fourez, chief digital officer at Mastercard, said interoperability between Know Your Agent frameworks will be needed if agentic commerce is to operate across different platforms.

“Interoperability across Know-Your-Agent frameworks is essential to making agentic commerce work at scale,” Fourez said, stressing the need for merchants and payment companies to consistently identify AI agents they can trust.

Each of the three companies has spent the past year developing its own technology for AI-led payments. Mastercard on Wednesday launched Agent Connect, a system that gives merchants a single integration for product discovery, cart creation and customer-approved payments across AI shopping platforms.

Agent Connect works with Mastercard Agent Pay, which records customer authority through tokenized permissions when an AI system is allowed to make a purchase. Merchants and payment providers can use the permission to determine whether the transaction falls within instructions provided by the customer.

Visa and Mastercard have been building their own agent payment rails

Visa has been developing a separate stack for autonomous payments. In April, the company introduced Intelligent Commerce Connect, bringing payment initiation, tokenization, authentication and spending controls into infrastructure designed for AI agents.

The system allows agents to search for products and complete transactions on behalf of consumers while using Visa’s existing payment network and security tools.

Visa expanded that work in June with new AI and stablecoin capabilities, including a partnership with OpenAI to support payments within agentic commerce experiences. Its stablecoin settlement activity had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate at the time, crypto.news previously reported.

Mastercard has taken a similar route through Agent Pay for Machines. The company unveiled the payment network in June with support from more than 30 payment, blockchain and technology companies, including Ripple, Coinbase, Stripe, Adyen and the Solana Foundation.

The network was built for transactions initiated by autonomous software, including high-volume and low-value payments. Users can set spending limits, authorization requirements and settlement conditions, while transactions can run through conventional payment networks or stablecoin rails.

Both card companies have consequently been developing controls for a payment environment in which the person buying a product may not directly interact with the merchant’s checkout page.

Ant brings more than 50 digital wallets into agentic commerce push

Ant International gives the collaboration access to another part of the global payments market through Alipay+, its cross-border payment and digitalization platform.

More than 50 electronic wallets have partnered with Ant International through Alipay+, according to the company. Such wallets are widely used in markets where consumers frequently rely on mobile payment systems instead of physical credit or debit cards.

Digital wallets represented 56% of global e-commerce transaction value and 33% of point-of-sale value in 2025, according to Worldpay data cited by the companies. Total spending through the payment method exceeded $13 trillion.

Card networks and digital wallets have become increasingly connected as wallets add support for cards and other funding sources, giving AI payment systems multiple routes through which transactions could eventually be completed.

Visa has already been testing combinations of AI payments and blockchain-based settlement. Wirex joined Visa’s Agentic Ready program in June to test AI agents making stablecoin payments, initially focusing on software subscriptions, marketing spending and procurement.

The tests were designed to determine how autonomous software could initiate financial transactions while preserving security controls and user authority.

Stablecoins have become another part of the infrastructure being developed for machine-led transactions. Visa and Artemis said in July that stablecoins could be suited to low-value machine-to-machine payments, while traditional cards could continue handling consumer purchases.

Alipay is already letting users automate Starbucks orders

Ant’s work on payment standards is arriving as its former parent company’s Alipay platform begins putting AI-assisted purchasing tools in front of consumers.

Ant International separated from Hangzhou-based Ant Group nearly three years ago. Ant Group operates Alipay, the mobile payment service widely used in mainland China.

Alipay said Wednesday that users can now create recurring Starbucks requests through one of its AI features.

A customer can instruct the app to “buy me a Starbucks iced Americano at 10 a.m. every day,” according to the announcement. The system can then place the requested order at the scheduled time before asking the customer to complete payment.

The arrangement keeps the payment approval with the user even though the AI feature handles the recurring order.

Alipay users can make recurring ride-hailing requests from Didi through the same AI tool, extending the automated system from retail purchases to transportation services.

The euro and pound are showing subdued moves against the US dollar and have shifted into consolidation following their recent price action. Market participants are reluctant to establish new positions ahead of a key batch of macroeconomic data that could alter expectations for the future policy stance of the major central banks.

The next key market catalysts will be inflation data from Germany and the US. Today, Germany’s annual CPI is forecast to accelerate to 2.9% from 2.8%, which could reinforce expectations of further policy tightening by the ECB and provide support for the euro. However, tomorrow’s US inflation data will be the main event. Headline CPI is expected at 3.4% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month, while core CPI is forecast at 2.4% and 0.2%, respectively. Following the strong employment report, higher-than-expected inflation could strengthen expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain a hawkish stance and support the dollar, while signs of easing price pressures could limit its upside.

For the pound, tomorrow’s UK economic data will provide an additional catalyst. UK GDP for July is forecast to show no growth after expanding by 0.3% in the previous month, despite expectations of a recovery in manufacturing output. Weaker-than-expected figures could reinforce expectations of a more dovish stance from the Bank of England and limit the recovery potential of GBP/USD.

EUR/USD

Over recent trading sessions, EUR/USD has been consolidating within a relatively narrow range of 1.1570–1.1650. A breakout and sustained move above 1.1650 could pave the way for a retest of the August high near 1.1710. A sustained move below 1.1570 could trigger further downside towards 1.1500.

Key events for EUR/USD:

• today at 09:00 (GMT+3): Germany’s Consumer Price Index (CPI);
• today at 15:30 (GMT+3): US Producer Price Index (PPI);
• today at 15:30 (GMT+3): US initial jobless claims.

GBP/USD

Following a retest of the 1.3470 support level on the daily chart, a Stick Sandwich pattern has formed. If the price establishes itself above 1.3500 and this level turns into support, the advance could continue towards 1.3640–1.3680. A sustained move below 1.3470, by contrast, would increase the likelihood of a deeper downside correction.

Key events for GBP/USD:

• tomorrow at 09:00 (GMT+3): UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP);
• tomorrow at 09:00 (GMT+3): UK manufacturing output;
• tomorrow at 15:30 (GMT+3): US core Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Overall, EUR/USD and GBP/USD remain in consolidation near key technical levels ahead of a new batch of macroeconomic data. For the euro, Germany’s inflation figures will provide an additional catalyst, while the pound is likely to remain sensitive to UK GDP data. However, US inflation will remain the main focus for both pairs, as it could reshape expectations for Federal Reserve policy and determine the dollar’s next direction.

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