Morgan Stanley will let clients trade tokenized versions of U.S. stocks and ETFs on its internal ATS from late 2026, tying into SEC pilots at DTCC and Nasdaq for on‑chain settlement.

Morgan Stanley plans to switch on tokenized stock trading for institutional clients on its internal alternative trading system in the second half of 2026, a significant escalation of Wall Street’s push to bring traditional equities onto blockchain rails. Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s head of digital assets strategy, told a panel at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Tuesday that the ATS — which currently handles listed stocks, ETFs and American depositary receipts — will allow certain securities to be issued and settled in tokenized form alongside their conventional counterparts. “This is not FOMO,” Oldenburg said in separate comments reported by AOL, describing the rollout as “a very managed and stepped journey” tied to a broader modernization of Morgan Stanley’s trading and settlement infrastructure.

The plan positions Morgan Stanley to sit directly in the middle of the fast-growing tokenized stocks segment, where on-chain representations of U.S. equities have reached roughly $800 million in market value and about $1.8 billion in monthly trading volume as of December 2025, according to ChainCatcher’s market research. That same research notes around 50,000 monthly active addresses and 130,000 total holding addresses in tokenized equities, a sign that usage is moving beyond niche experiments and into regular portfolio construction for offshore and crypto-native investors. For Morgan Stanley’s ATS, the initial phase will likely focus on tokenized blue-chip U.S. stocks and ETFs, with Oldenburg previously signaling interest in connecting the bank’s wealth clients and advisory channels to a broader lineup of digital securities over time.

Morgan Stanley’s move lands in a regulatory environment that has turned sharply more accommodating to tokenized securities. In late 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission granted a no-action letter to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), allowing its Depository Trust Company unit to custody and recognize tokenized stocks, bonds and other real-world assets on selected blockchains for a three-year period. This effectively gave DTCC permission to run tokenization services at scale and paved the way for mainstream broker-dealers and banks to plug into on-chain settlement without abandoning the existing market structure.​

More recently, the SEC approved a pilot for Nasdaq to support tokenized stock trading, letting participants choose tokenized settlement while keeping the same order book, priority rules and shareholder rights as traditional equities. ChainCatcher notes that the Nasdaq pilot is designed to “explore the feasibility of on-chain settlement without changing the trading structure,” a model that closely mirrors Morgan Stanley’s plan to add tokenized legs into an existing ATS rather than create a separate crypto-only exchange. In parallel, Morgan Stanley has filed for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, is preparing a native Bitcoin custody and trading platform, and, according to RootData and CryptoRank, is developing a digital wallet to support tokenized assets — suggesting that tokenized stocks are one pillar in a broader multi-asset digital securities roadmap.

Quick Overview

• AeroVironment introduced the Locust X3 directed-energy laser platform for countering unmanned aerial threats
• Shares declined 2.3% during midday trading session following the announcement
• The weapon system delivers 20kW to over 35kW of laser power and features multi-platform deployment capability
• Operating costs are significantly reduced compared to conventional interceptors due to elimination of ammunition requirements
• Company financials reveal robust 17.3% three-year revenue expansion but challenged profitability margins

AeroVironment (AVAV) revealed its newest anti-drone technology Tuesday, though investors responded with lukewarm enthusiasm.

The defense contractor introduced the Locust X3, a directed-energy weapon platform engineered to identify, track, and neutralize small-to-medium unmanned aircraft systems and select ground-level targets. Share prices retreated 2.3% by midday in New York trading, even as the S&P 500 remained relatively unchanged.

AeroVironment, Inc., AVAV

The Locust X3 employs laser technology delivering between approximately 20 kilowatts and exceeding 35 kilowatts of power. Integrated software handles autonomous detection, tracking, and engagement operations.

Deployment flexibility spans ground-based vehicles, stationary installations, and naval vessels, providing versatility across diverse operational theaters. AeroVironment emphasizes the platform’s modular architecture, enabling future upgrades and seamless integration with current defense infrastructure.

Economics represent a crucial advantage. Traditional interceptor systems demand physical ammunition replenishment, while this laser platform enables unlimited engagements without reload constraints. This capability becomes particularly valuable when confronting large formations of inexpensive hostile drones.

Foundation in Military Collaboration

AeroVironment indicated the Locust X3 leverages experience from previous U.S. Army program deployments. The architecture also supports Department of Defense objectives for unified cross-platform compatibility.

Shares traded at a price-to-book multiple of 2.3, approaching the lower boundary of its five-year range. Wall Street analysts maintain a consensus price target of $315.62. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) registered 39.89, approaching oversold conditions.

Profitability Challenges Despite Revenue Growth

The company has achieved 17.3% compound annual revenue growth across the trailing three-year period, demonstrating strong top-line momentum. Profitability metrics present a contrasting narrative—operating margin stands at -5.9% with net margin at -13.93%.

Balance sheet strength appears solid, featuring a current ratio of 5.51 and minimal leverage with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Return on equity, however, reflects negative performance at -7.55%.

Institutional investors control 65.49% of outstanding shares, indicating substantial confidence from large asset managers. Insider ownership measures 2.47%.

Volatility considerations include a beta coefficient of 2.03, categorizing the stock as high-volatility. The Piotroski F-Score of 3 suggests potential operational challenges.

Insider activity showed 10 selling transactions during the previous three-month period, a metric warranting attention.

The Beneish M-Score of -0.83 indicates some financial reporting concerns. Meanwhile, the Altman Z-Score of 5.61 signals strong balance sheet stability and low bankruptcy risk.

The Locust X3 represents [[LINK_START_3]]AeroVironment[[LINK_END_3]]’s continued expansion into counter-unmanned systems and directed-energy capabilities, market segments experiencing heightened defense spending interest.

AeroVironment maintains a market capitalization near $9.96 billion.

Key Takeaways

• Microsoft has secured a lease for a 700-megawatt data center facility in Abilene, Texas, initially planned for Oracle and OpenAI
• The facility is located adjacent to the Stargate campus, Oracle and OpenAI’s premier AI infrastructure project
• The agreement was finalized with developer Crusoe following Oracle and OpenAI’s decision to abandon their plans for the location
• A Reuters source confirmed that OpenAI’s current agreements with Oracle remain unchanged
• Oracle previously disputed media reports suggesting capacity delays at the Abilene location, labeling them as false

Microsoft has secured access to a substantial Texas data center facility that was originally intended for Oracle and OpenAI, based on a Bloomberg News report released Tuesday.

The facility, located in Abilene, Texas, boasts approximately 700 megawatts of power capacity. Its location is particularly notable — positioned immediately adjacent to the Stargate campus, which represents Oracle and OpenAI’s primary artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative.

The lease arrangement was negotiated with Crusoe, the development company responsible for the Abilene facility. Both Oracle and OpenAI had previously abandoned discussions to utilize the location before Microsoft entered negotiations.

Microsoft Corporation, MSFT

When contacted by Reuters, a Microsoft representative stated the company had no information to share. Neither Oracle nor Crusoe provided responses to comment requests.

Earlier in the month, Bloomberg reported that Oracle and OpenAI had cancelled expansion plans at the Abilene location. The negotiations allegedly stalled because of financial challenges and evolving requirements from OpenAI.

Oracle rejected that narrative, asserting that reports about delayed capacity at Abilene were not accurate.

Oracle Partnership with OpenAI Remains Intact

A source with direct knowledge of the matter informed Reuters that OpenAI’s current contractual arrangements with Oracle are still active — indicating this transaction doesn’t dissolve their overarching collaboration.

This is a nuanced yet significant point. Microsoft’s acquisition of the Abilene facility doesn’t automatically indicate deterioration in the Oracle-OpenAI relationship, at least based on this information.

MSFT shares declined 2.69% during trading. Oracle (ORCL) dropped 4.42%.

The Competition for AI Infrastructure Space

Technology corporations have been rapidly expanding data center infrastructure to accommodate artificial intelligence applications. Microsoft’s Copilot platform and OpenAI’s ChatGPT both require massive computational power.

A 700-megawatt installation represents a significant capacity addition. For context, this level of power can support dozens of thousands of AI processors operating at maximum capacity.

Microsoft has emerged as one of the most aggressive investors in AI infrastructure development, having invested billions in OpenAI alongside its own internal expansion efforts.

Acquiring a location that was initially developed for rival organizations is uncommon, though understandable considering the current scarcity of available data center capacity.

Crusoe, the development firm, focuses on environmentally sustainable computing infrastructure. The company did not provide a response to Reuters’ inquiry.

The Abilene transaction has not received official confirmation from any involved parties. All information stems from Bloomberg’s reporting, which cited anonymous sources.

Oracle’s Stargate campus continues to operate next to the location Microsoft is preparing to occupy — establishing Abilene as a significant hub of AI infrastructure in West Texas.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Microsoft, Oracle, and OpenAI had all declined to release official statements regarding the development.

Decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) protocol Bittensor’s native TAO token has rallied roughly 90% over the past month from around $180 at the start of March to above $332 as of March 24, and the momentum is spilling over into its subnet token ecosystem.

According to CoinGecko data, the Bittensor Subnets category is up 30% over the past 24 hours to a combined market capitalization of $1.47 billion, with trading volume topping $118 million. Of the subnet tokens tracked on the platform, a significant number have posted triple-digit percentage gains over the past month.

What Are Subnets?

Subnets are specialized mini-networks within the Bittensor ecosystem, each dedicated to a specific AI task, ranging from language model training and decentralized compute to sports prediction and cybersecurity. Miners within each subnet compete to produce high-quality AI outputs, while validators evaluate performance and allocate TAO rewards accordingly.

Since the launch of dynamic TAO (dTAO) in February 2025, each subnet operates as its own automated market maker with a natively assigned token. The valuation of each subnet token is determined by the amount of TAO staked into that subnet’s reserves, creating a direct economic link between TAO’s price and subnet token performance. The subnet ecosystem first crossed $500 million in April 2025, and by July 2025, the cumulative subnet market cap had neared $1 billion as TAO treasury companies like xTAO and Synaptogenix emerged.

The relationship is reflexive: as TAO appreciates, each subnet’s TAO reserve becomes more valuable, inflating subnet token prices, which, in turn, attract more stakers and attention to the ecosystem.

Subnet Standouts

The TAO rally accelerated on March 20 after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and investor Chamath Palihapitiya endorsed Bittensor’s decentralized AI training model on the All-In Podcast.

That enthusiasm has cascaded into subnet tokens. τemplar (SN3) — the subnet behind the Covenant-72B model that triggered the Nvidia-fueled rally — is now the top subnet token with a $137 million market cap after rallying 444% over the past month.

Other notable 30-day performers include OMEGA Labs (SN24) at 440%, Level 114 (SN114) at 280%, BitQuant (SN15) at 230%, Nova (SN68) at 218%, and Grail (SN81) at 211%.

Even the more established subnet tokens with larger market caps have posted strong monthly returns. Chutes (SN64), which has a $132 million market cap, is up 54% over 30 days. Targon (SN4) has gained 166%, Ridges AI (SN62) is up 85%, and Hippius (SN75) has risen 115%.

The primary catalyst for the broader rally was the reveal of Covenant-72B, a large language model trained permissionlessly across Bittensor’s Subnet 3 by over 70 contributors using commodity internet hardware. The model was trained on 1.1 trillion tokens and achieved a 67.1 MMLU score, confirmed in a March 2026 arXiv paper, putting it in a competitive range with Meta’s Llama 2 70B.

The Nvidia CEO endorsed both proprietary and open-source AI models as complementary during the podcast appearance, framing foundational AI technology as benefiting from decentralized innovation.

Beta Play on Decentralized AI

The outsized returns in subnet tokens relative to TAO itself reflect a dynamic familiar to crypto markets: smaller-cap ecosystem tokens tend to act as leveraged bets on their parent protocol. With TAO’s market cap sitting at roughly $3 billion and individual subnet tokens ranging from $1 million to $110 million, the tokens offer significantly higher volatility in both directions.

Looking ahead, the Bittensor network plans to expand its active subnet capacity from 128 to 256 later this year, which could bring a fresh wave of new subnet token launches and further broaden the category.

Before the first TAO halving in December 2025, subnets had already reached a cumulative $1.28 billion market cap, with Yuma, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, contributing to 14 different subnets. A potential regulatory decision on converting the Grayscale TAO Trust into a spot ETF could also provide additional institutional access by late 2026.

For now, the surge in subnet tokens signals that market participants are betting the decentralized AI narrative has staying power, and that Bittensor’s expanding network of specialized AI subnets will be at its center.

Bank of Montreal announced it will allow clients to convert dollars into tokenized cash and deposits on CME and Google Cloud’s Universal Ledger infrastructure, enabling 24/7 settlement for margin, collateral and business-to-business payments. The move integrates one of North America’s largest banks by assets into the CME’s continuous settlement rails, expanding institutional access to tokenized financial services beyond traditional trading hours.

The Universal Ledger platform, operated jointly by CME and Google Cloud, supports real-time asset movement and settlement outside conventional market windows. BMO’s integration represents a major adoption milestone for institutional tokenization infrastructure, allowing the bank’s client base direct access to around-the-clock digital asset settlement capabilities.

Sources: BMO

This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.

Ethereum-based DeFi lending protocol Fira has kicked off its fixed-rate on-chain credit market with roughly $450 million in deposits, signaling strong appetite for predictable borrowing costs in a sector long dominated by floating-rate dynamics. The new model centers on locking in borrowing costs and lending yields over defined maturities, rather than letting rates drift with utilization.

Fira’s approach reimagines on-chain lending by organizing markets around fixed timeframes and using supply-and-demand dynamics to set interest rates. In practice, this creates yield curves and defined maturities that mirror traditional fixed-income markets, a rarity in DeFi where long-hold lending can be opaque and rates volatile. A Fira spokesperson described the mechanism as a shift from fluctuating utilization-based pricing to a more predictable credit market architecture.

Key takeaways

• Fira launches with about $450 million in deposits, highlighting demand for fixed-rate, on-chain credit models in DeFi.
• The deposits were initially seeded by users migrating from Euler Finance during a pre-launch phase that began on January 8.
• DefiLlama currently lists Fira at roughly $451.6 million in total value locked on Ethereum, compared with the sector leader Aave at around $25.3 billion.
• Security and incentives are central to the rollout: six independent audits and a bug bounty program offering up to $500,000 in rewards for critical vulnerabilities.
• Fira is not alone in pursuing fixed-rate lending; peers include Notional Finance, IPOR, and Term Finance, indicating a growing niche within DeFi lending.

From Euler migration to early traction

Fira reported that its initial deposits were recaptured from Euler Finance’s ecosystem during the pre-launch phase. Pete Siegel, Fira’s chief financial officer, told Cointelegraph that the early rollout began with a market called UZR, designed to help Euler users migrate assets at a fixed rate within a product already available on Euler’s platform. “Fira was pre-launched in January. It opened with a first market called UZR, which enabled roughly a thousand users who were already on Euler, in a product available on Euler to migrate their assets at a fixed rate,” Siegel explained.

The liquidity influx underscores investors’ appetite for instruments that offer certainty over duration and payoff, rather than exposure to ever-shifting borrowing costs. As the project moves from pre-launch to a formal mainnet phase, observers will be watching whether the fixed-rate framework delivers on its promise of stability across longer-term on-chain lending cycles.

Security, governance, and incentives

Security is a central pillar of Fira’s launch strategy. The protocol’s smart contracts have undergone six independent security audits conducted by Sherlock, Spearbit via Cantina, Hexens, and yAudit between late 2025 and early 2026. In addition, Fira has activated a robust bug bounty program through Sherlock, offering rewards up to $500,000 for critical vulnerabilities in the protocol’s open-source Ethereum contracts.

Beyond security, Fira’s governance and risk controls will be closely watched as fixed-rate lending becomes more common in DeFi. The model’s reliance on fixed maturities invites questions about liquidity resilience, deployment risk, and the ability to quickly adapt to shifting market conditions. While fixed-rate structures can reduce volatility for lenders and borrowers, they also concentrate risk into defined windows that could be exposed to systemic shifts if a large portion of the curve moves in parallel or if external macro factors abruptly alter funding costs.

In the broader landscape, Fira sits alongside peers such as Notional Finance, IPOR, and Term Finance, all pursuing variations of fixed-rate credit in DeFi. These projects collectively suggest a shift in the industry’s thinking about risk management and yield formation on-chain, moving beyond the traditional, flexible DeFi lending paradigm toward more structured, instrument-like offerings.

What this means for investors and builders

The emergence of fixed-rate DeFi credit markets could matter in several ways. For lenders, the ability to lock in funding costs over a defined horizon helps stabilize cash-flow expectations and reduce the risk of sudden repricing. For borrowers, fixed rates can provide clarity for long-duration financing—an appealing feature for users building over multi-month horizons or hedging exposure to interest-rate shifts in volatile markets.

For developers and infrastructure teams, the arrival of yield curves on-chain invites a broader set of financial primitives to be built atop DeFi pools. It raises the prospect of more sophisticated risk analytics, more precise liquidity provisioning, and potential cross-platform integrations with other fixed-income-like instruments. However, it also increases the importance of robust risk management, given the complexity of pricing across multiple maturities and the possibility of liquidity thinness in certain segments of the curve during stressed market periods.

Context and next steps

The initial liquidity is a favorable sign, but the trajectory for fixed-rate DeFi lending will hinge on sustained user engagement, ongoing security assurances, and the ability of the market to scale across different maturities and assets. Fira’s early liquidity came from Euler participants, but growing beyond a single migration pool will be crucial to proving the model’s resilience and appeal to a broader user base.

As the sector tracks this experiment, market participants will also weigh the lessons from early fixed-rate experiments such as Notional Finance, IPOR, and Term Finance. The key question remains: can fixed-rate on-chain credit evolve from a niche product into a reliable, widely used instrument that complements variable-rate lending and more traditional on-chain debt markets?

Looking ahead, readers should watch for Fira’s expansion plans, new maturities, and cross-asset deployments that could broaden the fixed-rate landscape. Analysts will be paying attention to liquidity depth across the curve, the rate-setting mechanics under varying market conditions, and how the ecosystem integrates with existing DeFi rails to ensure a robust, secure, and transparent fixed-income experience on-chain.

In the near term, the emphasis will be on governance updates, additional audits, and the resilience of the UZR market as it matures. As with any new financial primitive in crypto, the next few quarters will reveal how capital allocators adapt to a world of fixed horizons and predictable yields in DeFi’s evolving credit market.

Bitcoin slipped below the $70,000 mark as macro risk assets came under pressure amid renewed Middle East tensions, renewing questions about BTC’s sensitivity to broader markets. The September session saw BTC pull back after a brief sprint to around $71,800 earlier in the week, with traders watching how the next move would unfold in an environment where oil, equities, and geopolitical risk remain intertwined.

Analysts described the scene as a palpable test for Bitcoin’s resilience in a risk-off backdrop, with some arguing that a potential regime shift—where BTC behaves less like traditional risk assets—could be forming, even as others warn that volatility and downside risk persist until macro momentum cools.

Key takeaways

• Bitcoin briefly fell through the $70,000 level as macro selling pressure hit risk assets, with intraday moves signaling continued volatility.
• Oil hovered near $95 per barrel, and U.S. stock indices opened lower as tensions in the Middle East and related supply concerns weighed on sentiment.
• Market color from QCP Capital framed the price action as a balancing act by policymakers, suggesting authorities are aiming to maintain stability even as geopolitical risks linger.
• Some observers saw early signs of a Bitcoin regime shift, with higher-lows patterns suggesting emerging strength that could challenge traditional risk asset correlations if sustained.
• Technical readings pointed to a contested footing around the 200-week average, with the metric around $68,300 acting as a ambiguous boundary and keeping the near-term outlook nuanced.

Macro backdrop and price dynamics

As U.S. markets opened, BTC traded on the back foot, losing roughly 1.5% on the day and retreating from an early-week push toward the $72,000 area. In traditional markets, the Nasdaq Composite slipped, while gold struggled to push decisively past $4,450. Oil’s oscillation—tending toward $95 per barrel after an initial retreat—reflected ongoing concerns about energy flow. The broader geopolitical backdrop, including tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and regional developments, kept risk sentiment on edge and complicated the path for a clear risk-on/risk-off regime for crypto assets.

Analysts pointed to the interplay between oil prices, sanctions headlines, and macro liquidity as a frequent driver of short-term Bitcoin moves. In such a climate, a single headline can shift correlations as traders reassess leverage, hedging needs, and the role of BTC within diversified portfolios.

Resilience, regime shift, and what it could mean for BTC

Market observers have debated whether Bitcoin’s current action signals a broader shift in how it behaves relative to traditional risk assets. QCP Capital, in its Market Color briefing, argued that President Trump’s handling of geopolitical risk and market stability creates a difficult balancing act: equities sit near key support, inflation pressures continue to influence expectations for rate hikes, and policymakers cannot afford to spur additional volatility. In this view, BTC’s relative steadiness in the face of rising tensions could reflect structural factors such as lower systemic leverage or, more intriguingly, the early stages of a regime shift where BTC does not track risk assets in the same way as before.

Indeed, several traders highlighted constructive technical signs, even as the overall backdrop remains fragile. Michaël van de Poppe pointed to a pattern of higher lows forming since the February crash, suggesting increasing strength if support holds. He cautioned, however, that the picture isn’t “out of the woods” yet, noting that higher lows can still trigger liquidity waves if markets move toward those levels. For a potential bullish runway, he pointed to a target in the high range around $77,000 to $80,000 if Bitcoin sustains the current support area.

On the other side of the spectrum, some analysts warned that weakness could reemerge. A well-known trader warned about a possible Bart Simpson-style pattern playing out on lower timeframes, underscoring the risk that a relief rally could falter without broader macro improvement. Such viewpoints reflect the ongoing tug-of-war between short-term momentum and longer-term structural factors shaping BTC’s trajectory.

Technical reading and near-term implications

The technical picture remains nuanced. The 200-week exponential moving average (EMA), around $68,300, has not delivered a definitive answer on support or resistance, allowing for continued choppiness in the near term. Some market participants suggest that BTC could trade within a broader range until macro catalysts clarify the directional bias, while others argue that strength in the form of higher-lows could precede a renewed upside leg if key levels hold through resistance tests.

In this environment, near-term risk management becomes paramount. Traders are watching whether Bitcoin can maintain the recent higher-lows trajectory, how it behaves around the critical $70,000 level, and how external factors such as oil prices and geopolitical headlines influence liquidity and collateral dynamics in the crypto market.

What readers should watch next

jolts in macro sentiment, particularly around Middle East developments and oil supply expectations, will be crucial in shaping Bitcoin’s path over the coming sessions. A sustained hold above the $70,000 threshold, coupled with a clear push beyond the mid-$70,000s, could renew optimism for the next leg higher. Conversely, renewed downside pressure—especially if macro risk appetite deteriorates—could see BTC retest lower supports in the near term.

Market participants will also be parsing the evolving relationship between Bitcoin and traditional risk assets, as crypto traders increasingly weigh whether a regime shift is underway or if current moves are simply a pause within a longer, volatile cycle.

This article synthesizes market observations and analysis from the period, reflecting published commentary and price action without asserting new claims beyond the cited material.