A U.K. parliamentary group wrote to the bosses of the country’s largest lenders about the lack of banking services for crypto firms.

The “Dear CEO” letter, signed by co-chairs of the Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), Gurinder Singh Josan and Ed Vaizey, asked banks to explain their approach to providing banking services to U.K. crypto and digital asset businesses.

“We have heard of repeated instances where crypto and digital asset firms have struggled to open accounts with U.K. banks. We have similarly heard reports that several banks have introduced restrictions on crypto-related payments and transactions,” Josan, a Labour MP, and Vaizey, a Conservative peer, wrote in the letter.

British banks that have introduced restrictions on crypto-related payments include HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander UK and Starling Bank.

Ever since crypto came into being, difficulties around attaining banking relationships have made life hard for industry participants, with the systematic debanking of firms and individuals, particularly in the U.S., being referred to as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

Luke Dashjr, one of the key proponents of BIP-110 soft-fork attempt, has been removed from his position as an editor of such proposals for the development of the Bitcoin network.

The motion’s forwarding and subsequent carrying followed shortly after the controversial BIP-110, an attempt to temporarily restrict use of the Bitcoin network for non-financial purposes, stalled almost immediately after entering a signaling period for miners and node operators to demonstrate their support.

Dashjr, who was one of the most prominent Bitcoin developers driving the BIP-110 initiative, was accused of abusing his editorial authority in doing so, such as attempting to assign the proposal a BIP number before it had been discussed and then quickly merging an update into the repository without following due process.

“The latter is particularly notable given that Luke has otherwise made hardly any contributions to the day-to-day work of the BIP Editors since the additional editors began serving in April 2024: he left fewer than 1% of the BIP Editor comments in the repository since then, and the merge action of this PR was his first since May 2024,” Bitcoin developer Mark Erhardt wrote in a motion calling for Dashjr’s removal on Aug. 9.

FlightAware, a company that offers real-time status and information about flights globally, filed a lawsuit against Kalshi in a New York federal court over the prediction markets platform using its “data and name to run gambling markets on flight cancellations.”

In a Monday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the company said that despite repeated demands for Kalshi to stop using its registered trademark and offering bets “verified by FlightAware’s data,” the prediction market has continued to list event contracts based on flight cancellations. 

The lawsuit cited authorities’ claims that event contracts on prediction market platforms like Kalshi were “wagers” in violation of state laws, adding that the company’s expansion to trading on commercial flights starting in July was associating FlightAware with activities potentially harming its reputation. FlightAware sought to “stop Kalshi’s illicit behavior before there is any harm to public safety.”

“[T]here was widespread outrage and concern that the markets would incentivize unsafe tactics to impact cancellations, threatening public safety and creating the potential for massive disruption of air travel. Airlines condemned the markets,” said the lawsuit. “And due to Kalshi’s unauthorized use of FlightAware’s data and mark, customers immediately assumed that FlightAware was involved in the scheme.”

Example of flight cancellation event contract citing FlightAware data. Source: Kalshi

The FlightAware lawsuit, while based on trademark infringement, breach of contract, injury to its reputation and unfair competition, is just the latest legal entanglement prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket face. Many gaming authorities have petitioned courts to block the companies’ event contracts for residents in what is expected to become a showdown between federal regulators and state officials over alleged illegal gambling practices, usually focused on sports betting. 

Related: NY judge denies CFTC motion to halt enforcement action against Kalshi

Cointelegraph reached out to Kalshi for comment on the lawsuit but did not receive an immediate response.

Lawsuit highlights ’incentives for manipulation’ on prediction markets

The FlightAware lawsuit included language pointing out the potential for manipulation among prediction market contracts in which participants have knowledge about events before they become public. Some examples in the news include US President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator reportedly making $100,000 in Kalshi bets tied to words in his speeches and a US soldier allegedly betting on the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, having been given nonpublic information about the military operation ousting him.

FlightAware said that by Kalshi allowing event contracts on flight cancellations, there was not only the potential for manipulation, but also threats to passenger safety.

“A market that allows the public to wager on whether flights will be delayed or cancelled creates an incentive for participants to interfere with air travel—including by causing or contributing to flight cancellations—to profit from their wagers,“ said the lawsuit. “Worse, wagers on flights being timely may incentivize airline, airport, or other aviation workers to cut corners to keep a flight on time.“

Newsletter Predicted’s “State of Prediction Markets – Q2 2026” report said Kalshi and Polymarket collectively controlled more than 90% of all prediction market volume, with the two companies having more than $90 billion in second-quarter notional volume.

Magazine: 10 weirdest things ever tokenized… including farts

EToro’s (ETOR) crypto trading was $7.2 million in the red in the second quarter of 2026, a decline of nearly 120% from the $37.7 million it made a year earlier, according to its second-quarter earnings released Tuesday.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based trading platform reported $1.35 billion in cryptoasset revenue, around 29% lower than the $1.91 billion a year earlier. Its cost of revenue from cryptoassets was $1.35 billion, leaving a $7.2 million loss, compared with a $37.7 million gain a year earlier.

EToro said it is developing onchain perpetual futures and that crypto buying power is “coming soon.” Crypto activity has cooled, however: the company reported 1.4 million crypto trades in July, down 73% from a year earlier, while the average crypto trade fell 50% to $182.

Overall, eToro’s net contribution rose 9% year over year to $229 million, driven mainly by equity trading, while funded accounts increased 18% to 4.28 million. Shares fell as much as about 11% after the announcements. The report also noted that the adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.68 beat analysts’ estimates of $0.61.

Shares nevertheless traded more than 12% lower in the hours following the earnings release at around $29.80.

Christopher Harborne, the Tether and Bitfinex equity holder with close ties to Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK, has previously stuck to creating businesses and not-for-profits in England and a few other jurisdictions. However, he’s now decided to start a company in the United States — Skyline Apex LLC.

The billionaire has recently seen his name in the British tabloids due to his unreported £5 million “gift” to Farage at a time when the Reform Party leader wasn’t confined to regular campaign finance rules and regulations.

Due to the scandal, Farage is now facing a by-election against novelty candidate “Count Binface” and a slew of other third-parties.