Crypto World

Bastion Obtains Conditional OCC Approval for National Trust Bank Charter

Published

2 hours ago

19 September 2026

Stablecoin infrastructure provider Bastion says the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted it preliminary conditional approval for a U.S. trust bank charter. The development would place Bastion’s operations under federal oversight in addition to the state-level licenses it already holds, according to a company announcement issued Friday.

While the charter would strengthen Bastion’s regulatory standing, the proposal also clarifies what the entity would not be allowed to do: the chartered trust bank could not accept deposits or make loans. That limitation keeps the structure closer to a regulated custody and payments utility than a traditional commercial bank.

Key takeaways

Bastion received preliminary conditional approval from the OCC for a U.S. trust bank charter, adding federal supervision to its existing state licensing.
The charter would allow Bastion to operate as a federally regulated entity for stablecoin custody, wallet services, payments infrastructure, and white-label issuance.
The approved trust bank would not be permitted to accept deposits or make loans, distinguishing it from conventional commercial banking.
Bastion has been positioning for federal oversight since acquiring its New York trust charter in February 2025.

What Bastion’s conditional charter would change

The OCC approval is described by Bastion as “preliminary” and “conditional,” which typically means the process is not yet complete. Still, the company frames the move as a step toward more robust governance and regulatory rigor—an increasingly common theme in the stablecoin sector as regulators focus on how reserve-backed tokens are handled and controlled.

In its announcement, Bastion says the OCC’s role would overlay federal supervision on top of the state licenses it already holds. For customers and business partners, that matters because stablecoin services frequently sit at the intersection of asset custody, payment rails, and operational controls—areas where regulators often expect tighter, standardized oversight than state frameworks alone may provide.

At the same time, the entity described in the filing is not set up to function like a full-service bank. Bastion says the proposed trust bank could not accept deposits or extend loans. That delineation suggests the charter is meant to enhance the reliability of custody and issuance-related activities rather than broaden into retail or credit products.

A single regulated platform for stablecoin operations

Bastion plans to be licensed as Bastion Platforms National Trust Company. If the charter process reaches final approval, that federally regulated entity would support a range of stablecoin-focused services, including:

Stablecoin custody and wallet solutions
Payment infrastructure
White-label stablecoin issuance

The “single entity” approach is particularly relevant for stablecoin ecosystems, where infrastructure providers often coordinate multiple functions—holding assets, managing keys, enabling transfers, and facilitating issuance. Moving more of that stack under one federally regulated umbrella can simplify compliance expectations for counterparties and reduce the number of operational handoffs involved in moving value.

Bastion’s CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq said stablecoins have shifted from emerging technology to “core financial infrastructure,” arguing that this requires “a different standard of trust, governance and regulatory rigor.”

How Bastion is preparing for federal oversight

Bastion says it has been working toward federal supervision since acquiring its New York trust charter in February 2025. That timing suggests the company’s current OCC step is part of a longer regulatory build rather than a sudden pivot.

The company’s prior funding also reflects investor interest in stablecoin rails infrastructure. In September 2025, Cointelegraph reported that Bastion raised $14.6 million in a funding round led by Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Sony, the investment subsidiary of South Korean phone maker Samsung, the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz, and crypto VC firm Hashed.

While that earlier round does not determine regulatory outcomes, it does indicate that market participants have been backing stablecoin infrastructure providers that aim to operate closer to regulated financial institutions—an approach that is increasingly attractive as stablecoin adoption grows and compliance requirements tighten.

Bank-charter momentum across crypto infrastructure

Bastion’s OCC progress comes amid a broader wave of interest from crypto companies seeking U.S. banking or trust-charter pathways for digital-asset services.

Cointelegraph has reported that Ripple received conditional approval for a similar charter. Separately, Cointelegraph notes that Circle and BitGo have received final approval for their respective national trust bank outcomes—highlighted in Circle’s coverage and in BitGo’s company release stating that it “became the first public federally chartered digital asset infrastructure company” (as referenced in the source material).

Cointelegraph also reported that several other crypto-related firms have applied for charter pathways, including Kraken parent Payward, Zerohash, and Block.

For investors and operators, this clustering of applications matters because it signals a common strategy: moving stablecoin and digital-asset services from loosely defined infrastructure into regulated frameworks that can support more mainstream financial integration. The critical difference between each case will likely be the boundaries of allowed activities—such as custody versus deposit-taking—along with how regulators assess governance, controls, and operational readiness.

In Bastion’s case, the reported inability of the proposed trust bank to accept deposits or make loans sets a clear scope: the charter is aimed at custody, wallets, payment infrastructure, and issuance rather than traditional banking products.

What to watch next

The next milestone is whether Bastion’s OCC process moves from preliminary conditional approval to a final charter—and, if so, what specific operating conditions accompany approval. For the broader market, outcomes in similar U.S. trust bank applications will likely shape how quickly stablecoin infrastructure providers can consolidate services under federally supervised structures and how confidently regulated institutions can partner with them.

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Charles Hoskinson Predicts Crypto Will Eat AI: What's His Reasoning?

Published

26 minutes ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Charles Hoskinson Predicts Crypto Will Eat AI: What's His Reasoning?

Charles Hoskinson believes artificial intelligence (AI) is about to repeat a pattern he witnessed firsthand decades ago.

The Cardano founder argues that blockchain technology will eventually absorb AI, much like cryptocurrency once absorbed cryptography as a discipline.

Why Hoskinson Sees a Coming AI Reckoning

Speaking on the Deeptech Insights podcast this week, Hoskinson pointed to a math problem he considers unsustainable: data center spending keeps growing tenfold year after year, yet the electricity grid simply cannot scale at that pace.

Labs like OpenAI and Anthropic still need to turn a profit eventually, he noted, and the enormous cost of pretraining new models keeps narrowing the path to profitability.

Hoskinson drew a direct parallel to his own career. Cryptographers once resisted any association with cryptocurrency, he recalled, until crypto’s money became powerful enough to hire away the field’s best talent. He expects AI to follow a similar arc within five to ten years.

“Cryptocurrencies are going to eat AI because we solve all the hard problems that AI can’t solve,” Hoskinson said, naming payments, alignment, and data provenance as the specific gaps blockchains could fill.

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CHARLES HOSKINSON SAYS CRYPTO WILL “EAT” AI OVER THE NEXT 5 TO 10 YEARS
He thinks the current data center boom will eventually give way to a much more distributed AI infrastructure:
– Hoskinson expects data centers to be massively overbuilt, with demand eventually falling short… pic.twitter.com/jfRhuIcnaN
— WOLF Crypto (@WOLF_Crypto_X) September 18, 2026

His alignment argument centers on governance. Individual AI companies currently set their own rules on acceptable behavior and free speech, he argued, whereas a blockchain-based system could instead establish shared standards among participants.

The same infrastructure, he added, could also track content origin and automate royalty payments whenever AI systems draw on someone else’s work.

Hoskinson floated an alternative to building more data centers: pooling everyday phones and GPUs into a distributed training network. He compared today’s AI buildout to the late-1990s fiber optic boom, when roughly 90% of newly laid cable sat idle for nearly a decade.

A similar pattern could follow with data centers, he argued, shifting toward smaller models running locally on devices like Apple’s M5 Mac Studio, with cryptocurrency as the coordination layer.

His Timeline for U.S. Crypto Regulation Looks Grim

Hoskinson also predicted the CLARITY Act won’t clear Congress until 2029, blaming three specific missteps by the Trump administration, including tying crypto’s public image too closely to Trump-branded tokens.

“…There’s no pressure, political pressure to pass this type of thing. they’ll just wait until the next session and force uh a heavily unfavorable bill including ethics provisions to Trump uh on them if they want clarity. Of course, Trump won’t make those concessions. So, actually, we’ll have to wait till 2029 to get a new Clarity Act passed because of the ineptitude of uh of what the White House did. And I was very public about this…,” Hoskinson noted.

That prediction landed just a day after the Senate actually failed to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15, falling short of the 60 votes required.

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The post Charles Hoskinson Predicts Crypto Will Eat AI: What's His Reasoning? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: Explosive BTC Rally Faces One Major Obstacle

Published

39 minutes ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Bitcoin has recovered sharply from the latest pullback and is once again pressing against the upper boundary of its consolidation. With BTC trading around $81.5K, the market is approaching a decisive area where a confirmed bullish breakout could trigger another expansion higher.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

The daily chart continues to show Bitcoin consolidating after its powerful August breakout. The latest recovery from the $75K area has been particularly strong, with buyers quickly pushing the price back toward the major $80.5K-$82.5K resistance zone.

This region has repeatedly capped upside attempts and remains the main obstacle preventing another bullish leg. BTC is now testing it once again around $81.5K, while the broader structure remains constructive as long as the $72.5K-$75K support zone is preserved.

Momentum has also improved. The daily RSI has rebounded back above the neutral 50 area and is approaching the mid-60s, reflecting renewed buying momentum without yet reaching overbought territory.

A sustained daily breakout above the $82.5K resistance area would represent an important structural development and could pave the way toward the next major supply zone around $86K-$90K. Conversely, another rejection could keep Bitcoin range-bound, with $75K and the broader $72.5K-$75K region remaining the primary support area.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour timeframe highlights the range-bound structure more clearly. Bitcoin recently rebounded aggressively from the lower boundary near $74.5K-$75K and has now returned directly to the $81K-$82K resistance region.

The recovery has been impulsive, particularly during the latest move from around $76K toward $81K. However, price has not yet produced a convincing breakout from the upper boundary. Therefore, the market remains inside the broader range despite the increasingly bullish short-term momentum.

A clean break and sustained hold above the $81K-$82K zone would likely shift the structure decisively in favor of buyers. Such a move could trigger another price spike, initially toward the rising upper trendline around $84K-$85K.

Until that happens, rejection remains a relevant alternative. Failure to clear $82K could send BTC back toward the middle of the range, while the $72.5K-$75K zone remains the critical support and broader invalidation area for the current bullish setup.

Sentiment Analysis

The two-week Binance BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap adds further context to the latest rally. Liquidation heatmaps highlight areas where leveraged positions are concentrated, with brighter regions representing larger potential liquidation clusters.

Bitcoin’s surge above $80K has pushed price into a significant concentration of liquidity around the $80K-$82K region. This aligns closely with the technical resistance visible on both price charts, making the current area particularly important.

Some liquidity remains immediately above the market, suggesting that a decisive breakout could force additional short liquidations and potentially accelerate the move. This supports the possibility of another sharp spike if BTC successfully clears the $81K-$82K resistance zone.

At the same time, a liquidity concentration remains below price around $74K-$75K. Therefore, as long as Bitcoin remains trapped below resistance, volatility in either direction cannot be ruled out. For now, the combination of improving momentum and price pressing against the range high puts the focus firmly on whether buyers can convert the current test into a confirmed breakout.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: Explosive BTC Rally Faces One Major Obstacle appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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I’m in my 50s. My mother died from Alzheimer’s. Do I need long-term-care insurance?

Published

52 minutes ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

I’m in my 50s. My mother died from Alzheimer’s. Do I need long-term-care insurance?

"Right now, my strategy is basically to save as much as humanly possible and hope for the best." (Photo subjects are models.) — “Right now, my strategy is basically to save as much as humanly possible and hope for the best.” (Photo subjects are models.) – Getty Images

Dear Quentin,

My husband, 59, and I, 55, are planning to retire over the next few years, and this is one of the biggest unknowns I’m struggling with. My mom had Alzheimer’s disease and spent seven years in a really nice memory-care facility in a smaller town. It cost about $7,000 a month. Thankfully, my parents had purchased long-term-care insurance and had paid premiums for about 12 years.

My dad died shortly after being diagnosed with cancer, so his policy was never used. But my mom’s policy ended up being worth its weight in gold. It essentially covered all of her care. By the time my mother died, the insurance company had paid out almost $600,000. We only paid about $100 a month for some extras. Needless to say, that experience has made me think.

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I’ve looked into long-term-care insurance, but the premiums are so incredibly expensive, and I worry about what they’ll cost by the time it makes sense for me to seriously consider a policy. We’re fortunate financially. After 35 years in the corporate grind, we’ll have substantial retirement savings; we’ve always saved carefully; and we have no debt or mortgage.

I also genuinely love my job, so I’m perfectly happy to work longer if that makes sense. What I really don’t want is to leave our two kids with a huge financial burden someday if one or both of us need years of expensive care. Do I self-insure? Buy long-term-care insurance? Use some combination of investments and insurance? Are there good retirement-planning tools?

I know Medicare is part of the equation, but I’d like more control over our options than simply hoping it will be enough. I’m doing everything I can on the preventative-care and healthy-lifestyle front, but unfortunately there are no guarantees. Right now, my strategy is to save as much as humanly possible and hope for the best.

If you have a crystal ball that will tell me I will need memory care in old age, please share.

In My Fifties

Don’t miss: ‘We fear financial exploitation’: Who will manage our finances if my wife and I become incapacitated?

Taking out long-term care insurance buys you peace of mind in addition to future-proofing your medical care. – MarketWatch illustration

Dear Fifties,

Your 50s are actually not a bad time to take out long-term care insurance.

Financially speaking, given your age, you’re not too young and you’re not too old. Yes, you probably would have spent less on monthly premiums had you taken out this insurance policy in your 40s, but you would also have been paying it for a decade. It’s hard to predict the future and get that perfect balance. If your mother had Alzheimer’s, your own risk is higher than average from a statistical point of view, although that does not mean that you will develop the disease.

In fact, AARP suggests that the optimal age to buy a long-term-care policy is between 60 and 65. “This Goldilocks age range is not too young and not too old,” it says. “A still-affordable monthly premium coupled with a total savings is a winning combination.” However, waiting until age 65 is a gamble. Anyone could be rejected because health or medical-test results indicate a high probability of problems that might lead to a need for long-term care.

So if you’re in your 50s, you have time. Insurance companies will ask about family history, including whether relatives have suffered from dementia, and at what age; ditto for heart disease, among other age-related diseases. Premiums vary depending on your age, health, benefit amount, inflation protection and other features. Always ask how future premium increases are handled: traditional long-term-care premiums are not necessarily guaranteed to remain static.

As you point out, long-term care can be expensive, especially if you’re in care for many years like your mother. A nursing-home room could cost $100,000 a year or more than $60,000 for assisted living. Medicare does not typically cover ongoing long-term care. Medicaid can help cover nursing-home care for people who meet its financial and medical requirements, but those rules vary by state. From what you say, you’re a long way from needing Medicaid.

Taking out long-term care insurance buys you peace of mind in addition to future-proofing your medical care. It also takes your retirement needs into account. With the help of a certified financial planner who specializes in this area, you could stress test your retirement with a variety of options. You can either self-insure and set aside enough money for a prolonged period of care, buy traditional long-term-care insurance, or decide upon some kind of combination.

Don’t miss: I’m a single 58-year-old veteran in California with $1.5 million and a VA pension. Can I retire?

Hybrid vs. traditional insurance

Hybrid long-term-care insurance can be pricier than a traditional policy. Hybrid policies combine life insurance with a long-term-care rider or use an annuity structure. If you don’t use the rider, the remaining value goes to your estate, so the money is not lost as it would be with traditional “use it or lose it.” You should also take into account the benefit period, inflation protection and premium-rate increases, and, as obvious as it sounds, what the policy actually covers.

Traditional LTC insurance is sometimes seen as less attractive because of the risk that you pay into the policy and either let it lapse when premiums become too expensive, or you don’t end up needing it. Insurance professionals call this the “zero return” structure, which is why hybrid policies can seem more attractive. You are buying peace of mind and financial support if you become infirm. But as you point out, all policies have risks.

As for the surprises, nasty or otherwise, hire an independent specialist or fee-only financial planner to review any policy and compare it with self-insurance. Make sure there’s an inflation rider — inflation over 30 years could erode the value of your policy if you don’t have one in place — and that the policy covers dementia. And, yes, check the waiting period (30, 60, 90 or 100 days) during which you pay for care out of pocket before your insurance kicks in.

There is a genetic test for Alzheimer’s risk that evaluates the apolipoprotein E or APOE gene, widely regarded in the medical community as the strongest and most common genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It provides context, but does not predict whether or not you will develop dementia. You can read more about genetic testing and other risk factors via this explanation on the APOE gene from the Mayo Clinic.

Your mother’s experience has understandably rattled you. Seven years at $7,000 a month is roughly $588,000 before accounting for increases in the cost of care. Her insurance ultimately paid almost $600,000. The risk of developing Alzheimer’s exists, but you need to balance that risk with the price for your peace of mind and the price you would pay in retirement by taking out long-term care insurance today.

You don’t need a crystal ball. You just need old-fashioned planning.

Don’t miss: ‘The estrangement isn’t about politics’: My daughter hasn’t spoken to me for 4 years. Do I leave her a monthly annuity?

More columns from Quentin Fottrell:

‘I feel shoehorned’: My father funded my $800,000 Roth IRA. Does that give him the right to say how I invest it?

‘My main goal is to help people’: I’m single, 74, with $10 million burning a hole in my pocket. What should I do?

‘Poverty doesn’t have to be my reality’: I thought I’d have to rely on Social Security. Then I taught myself how to invest.

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Trader With 89% Win Rate Loses $10.68 Million Shorting Zcash

Published

1 hour ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Trader With 89% Win Rate Loses $10.68 Million Shorting Zcash

Zcash (ZEC) has climbed 177.8% in a month, and the traders betting against it are paying for that move.

One short was closed at a $10.68 million loss this week, and the largest position still open sits $33.87 million underwater on Hyperliquid.

Zcash Shorts Collapse as the Token Jumps 177% in a Month

Lookonchain flagged the closed trade before the exit, citing 26 consecutive wins and an 89% rate across 47 trades. That record had produced more than $9 million in profit.

The short covered 12,285 ZEC and was worth $18.31 million earlier, with liquidation set at $1,550.66. Hyperliquid data shows the account now holds no positions at all.

Garrett Jin holds the largest short still open, covering 37,999 ZEC worth $59.37 million. He built the position at an average price of $671.05, so it now shows an unrealized loss of $33.87 million.

His 1,333 BTC long is up $4.41 million, which cushions part of the damage. Jin still has room, because his liquidation price of $4,789.42 sits above the 2016 record of $3,191.93.

Other addresses are also seeing sharp losses. One account (0xdd53…2b13) is down $12.53 million on a 13,487 ZEC short opened at $644.39. Another (0xad59…ba81) shorted 8,425 ZEC at $330.91 with 10 times leverage and now sits $10.47 million underwater.

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Spot Buyers, ETF Flows and One Very Loud Timeline

The rally that caused the damage has made ZEC the strongest performer among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. The token trades near $1,563 and ranks ninth by market value at $26.47 billion.

Zcash (ZEC) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto Markets

The move has real buying behind it from both retail whales and institutions. Lookonchain reported that one address withdrew 15,860 ZEC worth $22.69 million from Binance in a day. Another moved 7,081 ZEC over two days.

Institutional buying has moved in the same direction Zcash ETFs took in $98.2 million in the week ending September 18, the largest inflow among 14 products. Assets rose 40.5% to $914.5 million.

Attention has followed the price. Santiment recorded Zcash social volume at a one-month high on September 17. Mentions on X ran 6.8 times their 29-day baseline, against 1.7 times elsewhere.

“The price found buyers. The attention found one timeline,” the post read.

Traders now watch whether spot demand holds. Open interest in ZEC perpetuals on Hyperliquid stands at 574,045 ZEC, worth roughly $885 million, so leveraged positions remain large on both sides.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights

https://youtu.be/7Hf8KSxNICQ

Read the Original story Trader With 89% Win Rate Loses $10.68 Million Shorting Zcash by Kamina Bashir at beincrypto.com

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Anthropic’s IPO Is Coming. Here’s What That Means for S&P 500 Investors.

Published

1 hour ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Anthropic's IPO Is Coming. Here's What That Means for S&P 500 Investors.

Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO), expected no earlier than mid-October, will be a test of just how hungry the financial markets still are for exposure to artificial intelligence (AI). The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is going to react depending on how that test goes. Its backers want a valuation of $2 trillion or more, which would top Space Exploration Technologies as the biggest IPO ever if it happens.

Don’t expect S&P 500 funds to buy it immediately, though. The road for Anthropic entering the S&P 500 is going to be slow, and it could test some nerves along the way.

Missed AI’s “Act 1”? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn’t buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of “Act 1″—the R&D phase. “Act 2” is the global rollout. Continue »

A humanoid robot looking at a large screen of stock prices. — Image source: Getty Images.

Anthropic can’t join the S&P 500 for at least 12 months

By definition, index funds tracking the S&P 500 must buy whatever the S&P 500 adds to its list of stocks.

Anthropic probably won’t get special treatment, given that on June 4, S&P Dow Jones Indices declined to loosen its rules for mega-cap listings. Those rules still require 12 months as a public company, at least 10% of shares being publicly held, and reported positive earnings under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

While SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100 list of stocks within weeks of its June 2026 IPO, it still needs to wait outside the S&P 500. If Anthropic has its offering in late 2026 as planned, its earliest shot at inclusion in the S&P 500 will occur in late 2027.

Nonetheless, two of the index’s largest companies already own Anthropic, which means that holders of the index funds have some exposure already as well. For instance, Amazon reported $16.8 billion of pretax gains on its Anthropic position in the first quarter of 2026. Alphabet also has a stake in Anthropic, so a strong debut could boost it and Amazon.

Should you expect a slump after the Anthropic IPO?

Per finance professor Jay Ritter at the University of Florida, across 9,343 U.S. IPOs from 1980 to 2025, the average first-day gain was 19%. The pain came later. Measured from their first close, IPOs from 2012 to 2024 underperformed the market by 25.5% over three years, on average.

SpaceX shows how bumpy the ride can get. It priced its June 2026 IPO at $135. It then jumped to $225.64 before falling to $104.83, and was $151.10 on Sept. 16. That peak-to-trough plunge was probably quite frustrating for its shareholders.

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Trader With 89% Win Rate Loses $10.68 Million Shorting Zcash

Published

1 hour ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Zcash (ZEC) has climbed 177.8% in a month, and the traders betting against it are paying for that move.

One short was closed at a $10.68 million loss this week, and the largest position still open sits $33.87 million underwater on Hyperliquid.

Zcash Shorts Collapse as the Token Jumps 177% in a Month

Lookonchain flagged the closed trade before the exit, citing 26 consecutive wins and an 89% rate across 47 trades. That record had produced more than $9 million in profit.

The short covered 12,285 ZEC and was worth $18.31 million earlier, with liquidation set at $1,550.66. Hyperliquid data shows the account now holds no positions at all.

As $ZEC keeps pumping, this guy was forced to close his short, taking a $10.68M loss.
Shorting $ZEC has turned his $9M+ profit into a $1.57M loss!https://t.co/nRwjMnnXso pic.twitter.com/4Otk3lOCmu
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 19, 2026

Garrett Jin holds the largest short still open, covering 37,999 ZEC worth $59.37 million. He built the position at an average price of $671.05, so it now shows an unrealized loss of $33.87 million.

His 1,333 BTC long is up $4.41 million, which cushions part of the damage. Jin still has room, because his liquidation price of $4,789.42 sits above the 2016 record of $3,191.93.

Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens

Spot Buyers, ETF Flows and One Very Loud Timeline

The rally that caused the damage has made ZEC the strongest performer among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. The token trades near $1,563 and ranks ninth by market value at $26.47 billion.

Institutional buying has moved in the same direction Zcash ETFs took in $98.2 million in the week ending September 18, the largest inflow among 14 products. Assets rose 40.5% to $914.5 million.

Attention has followed the price. Santiment recorded Zcash social volume at a one-month high on September 17. Mentions on X ran 6.8 times their 29-day baseline, against 1.7 times elsewhere.

“The price found buyers. The attention found one timeline,” the post read.

Traders now watch whether spot demand holds. Open interest in ZEC perpetuals on Hyperliquid stands at 574,045 ZEC, worth roughly $885 million, so leveraged positions remain large on both sides.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights

The post Trader With 89% Win Rate Loses $10.68 Million Shorting Zcash appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Schwab Treasury ETF vs SPDR Corporate Bond ETF. Which Bond Fund Is the Better Insurance Policy for Your Portfolio?

Published

2 hours ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Schwab Treasury ETF vs SPDR Corporate Bond ETF. Which Bond Fund Is the Better Insurance Policy for Your Portfolio?

Bonds should be an essential part of a well-balanced portfolio. Factual differences between the Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF (NYSEMKT:SCHQ) and the State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEMKT:SPLB) center on credit quality, as the Schwab fund tracks government debt while the State Street fund targets investment-grade corporate bonds.

Investors seeking exposure to long-dated fixed income typically choose between government-backed securities and corporate credit. While both funds focus on maturities exceeding 10 years, they offer significantly different risk-reward profiles based on their underlying debt issuers and the credit risk investors are willing to accept for higher income.

Snapshot (cost & size)

Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from monthly returns over the available fund history (up to five years). The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield as of the end of trading on Sept. 10, 2026.

The Schwab fund is slightly more affordable with a 0.03% expense ratio compared to 0.04% for the SPDR fund. However, those seeking income may find the higher 5.7% yield of the corporate-focused portfolio more attractive.

Performance & risk comparison

What’s inside

The Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF is a fixed-income fund that provides exposure to the long-duration segment of the U.S. Treasury bond market. It currently holds 102 positions, focusing on government debt with maturities that often exceed 20 years. Because it holds government-backed securities, its credit risk is generally lower than corporate bond alternatives. Its largest positions include a highly diversified selection of Treasuries where no single position is a sizable portion of the portfolio. The fund was launched in 2019. Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF has paid $1.47 per share over the trailing 12 months, which on its recent ~$29.44 share price works out to a 5% yield.

The State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Long Term Corporate Bond Index and holds 2,950 positions. It invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate, investment-grade corporate bonds with maturities of at least 10 years. This fund offers higher income potential by taking on the credit risk associated with private corporations. Its largest positions include a highly diversified array of corporate issues, with no single position exceeding 0.35% of the portfolio. The fund was launched in 2009. State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF has paid $1.20 per share over the trailing 12 months, which on its recent ~$21.03 share price works out to a 5.7% yield.

For more guidance on ETF investing, check out the full guide at this link.

Which looks like the better buy?

Bonds offer much-valued diversification and a historic low correlation with stocks. These two funds are good options from well-regarded fund managers for those seeking bond ETFs.

But they have crucial differences. SCHQ, the Schwab U.S. Treasury focused fund, offers the best downside protection. That’s because Treasuries are (still) considered the safest investment in the world, given that the federal government has never defaulted on a payment. However, with rising interest rates, that typically causes the price of existing Treasuries to go lower, since the price has to be lower to increase the effective yield on the bonds to market levels. The annual turnover of SCHQ is around 20%, which means there is some exposure to market forces, though already purchased bonds that are held don’t lose their value, although the yield from them may be lower than yields from newly issued Treasuries.

The past decade hasn’t been a great one for the Treasury fund. SCHQ has posted a negative 4.2% annual return since inception in 2019, with a five-year loss of 6.9% and a positive three-year return of just 0.1%.

SPLB, the SPDR corporate bond fund, invests in high-quality bonds of brand name businesses. Its largest holdings include bonds from Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). These and other holdings are quite reliable in the bond market, as seen in SPLB’s lesser maximum drawdown compared to SCHQ. It also means the fund provides a higher yield, since corporate bonds must compensate investors for their inherently greater risk.

SPLB has returned 1.4% annualized over the past ten years, negative 3.3% over the most recent five years, and 3.7% over the past three years.

Performance-wise, SPLB is the way to go, although it is worth noting that historically in times of extreme world market distress, Treasuries have been the safe haven of choice for global investors. There is no guarantee that this will be the case in the future, given the state of America’s debt level and diminished global standing. But that has been said before and hasn’t come true in the past. The safe-haven potential is something investors should give some weight to.

Should you buy stock in Schwab Strategic Trust – Schwab Long-Term U.s. Treasury ETF right now?

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Brendan Coffey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Schwab Treasury ETF vs SPDR Corporate Bond ETF. Which Bond Fund Is the Better Insurance Policy for Your Portfolio? was originally published by The Motley Fool

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Crypto World

Hut 8 co-founder warns of AI risks as he moves profits back into bitcoin (BTC)

Published

2 hours ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

AI infrastructure race heats up as IREN pitches full-stack strategy, WhiteFiber lands $160M deal

The concern extends to banks. Van der Chijs believes AI could expose vulnerabilities in legacy banking software, threatening confidence in institutions that depend on interconnected systems. Within crypto, he sees exchanges and other businesses built around bitcoin as more vulnerable than the underlying network.

His concerns have not displaced an expansive view of AI’s economic potential. He predicts AI and robotics could eventually perform 90% to 95% of existing jobs, while driving sharp declines in the cost of goods and services.

In that scenario, governments would need new sources of revenue as employment changes. He suggested taxes on robots or AI token usage, while acknowledging that locally run models would complicate collection.

His own portfolio has already followed the technology’s rise.

“I sold a lot of my bitcoin. I went into AI,” he said.

Van der Chijs believes that investors redirecting capital toward AI helped keep bitcoin below the $200,000 to $250,000 levels he and others had anticipated. He is now allocating some AI profits back into crypto, primarily through exchange-traded funds.

He also sees a stronger business case for AI infrastructure than for bitcoin mining. Speaking in a personal capacity, he described Hut 8’s move into AI as “the best move ever” and said that, if he were running the company today, he would favor allocating entirely to AI data centers.

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Crypto World

Ripple says asset managers are preparing for XRP Ledger’s next payments upgrade

Published

2 hours ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Ripple-linked token zooms to FOMO levels on Japan's Rakuten partnership

The upcoming Batch V1.1 can make linked asset and payment transfers succeed together or fail together, and Ripple says commercial projects are already being built around the feature after an extensive security review.

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Crypto World

Robinhood Soars, SpaceX Orbits Entry: Five Stocks Near Buy Points

Published

2 hours ago

19 September 2026

NewsAdmin

Robinhood Upgraded On Growth Outlook, Shares Make Bullish Push Near Entry

Robinhood leads this week’s list of stocks to watch, as shares rallied above a buy zone Friday following positive regulatory developments from the SEC and CFTC earlier in the week. SpaceX on Friday won a NASA contract worth nearly $1 billion, while SPCX stock continues to test an aggressive early entry above its IPO debut price. Top IBD picks NetApp,…

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