South Korean financial group Mirae Asset plans to build a 150 trillion won ($109 billion) digital asset business around Digital X, the crypto exchange formerly known as Korbit, according to The Korea Times.

The report said Digital X will focus on crypto, stablecoins, real-world assets and security token offerings, with plans to tokenize physical assets including gold, silver and electricity.

The expansion plans follow Mirae Asset Consulting’s acquisition of a 97.15% stake in Korbit in July for a cumulative 141.4 billion won. The exchange was subsequently rebranded as Digital X, marking the first time an affiliate of a South Korean financial group acquired control of a domestic crypto exchange.

Founded in 2013, Korbit was South Korea’s first cryptocurrency exchange. Despite its long history, the exchange accounted for just 0.5% of South Korea’s cryptocurrency trading market in 2025, according to the country’s Fair Trade Commission.

Mirae Asset founder and chairman Park Hyeon-joo outlined the plans at a Digital X employee event in Seoul on Wednesday. “Our initial goal is to make Digital X a core pillar of ‘Mirae Asset 3.0,’” he said, according to The Korea Times.

On Monday, Digital X began waiving trading fees across all won-denominated assets, with the zero-fee policy set to run through Aug. 24, 2027.

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The UK government is proposing to give the Bank of England a secondary mandate focused on innovation in digital payments, explicitly covering payment systems that rely on “digital settlement assets” such as stablecoins. The move, announced by HM Treasury on Thursday, keeps financial stability as the Bank of England’s primary responsibility while carving out room for experimentation and development of emerging forms of digital money.

According to HM Treasury, the change would apply to the central bank’s oversight of payment infrastructure, with the expectation that the Bank of England will report progress to Parliament each year on how it is advancing the new payments innovation objective. The government plans to embed the mandate through amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which is set for further debate in the House of Lords on Sept. 7 and 9.

Key takeaways

• The Bank of England would gain a secondary objective to support innovation in payment systems and digital money, while financial stability remains the top priority.
• The mandate is intended to cover systems that use digital settlement assets, including stablecoins, linking UK stablecoin policy more directly to payments development.
• The Bank of England would provide annual updates to Parliament on its innovation work, potentially increasing public accountability for how stablecoin-related rules are implemented.
• The proposal is set to be incorporated through amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, with House of Lords debates scheduled for Sept. 7 and 9.
• Industry reaction may hinge on the practical details of how the Bank of England’s annual reporting is used alongside existing stablecoin requirements.

Why the Bank of England’s “innovation” role matters for stablecoins

The announcement effectively broadens the Bank of England’s remit beyond purely stability-focused oversight. Under the proposal, the Bank of England would extend an existing regulatory approach applied to core market infrastructure—specifically central counterparties (CCPs) and central securities depositories (CSDs)—to also incorporate a payments innovation goal.

The significance for stablecoins is that the mandate is not limited to abstract research or central bank digital money alone. HM Treasury states that the mandate would cover payment systems using digital settlement assets, a phrasing that includes stablecoins and helps clarify that they are part of the UK’s wider payments technology agenda.

For market participants, this matters because regulatory emphasis can shape how quickly new payment rails move from pilot to deployment. A formal “innovation objective,” paired with parliamentary reporting, may also influence how the Bank of England balances caution with experimentation as stablecoin rules and related infrastructure testing develop.

Parliamentary reporting could intensify scrutiny

While the innovation mandate is described as secondary to financial stability, the details of implementation may determine how much room it creates for the stablecoin market to grow under the UK’s framework.

According to Maksym Sakharov, co-founder and CEO of WeFi, the annual reporting requirement could shift the balance toward greater public scrutiny. Sakharov told Cointelegraph that because the innovation objective is “secondary to financial stability,” it “overrides nothing,” but the Bank of England would still have to publish annual accounts of its work on payments innovation and digital money.

He suggested that this publication requirement could matter particularly because it would place additional attention on the stablecoin rules the central bank finalized in June. In other words, even if the innovation mandate cannot dilute stability obligations, the reporting component could increase the visibility of how those obligations are applied in practice.

Existing stablecoin requirements and a key reserve debate

Sakharov focused on specific requirements for “systemic stablecoin issuers,” including a reserve structure that—per his comments—requires issuers to keep at least 30% of their backing assets in non-interest-bearing deposits at the central bank.

He argued that the “reserve split is the first thing to fix,” adding that the requirement could influence whether a stablecoin business is commercially viable. This is a notable point for investors and operators because reserve rules directly affect cost structure, risk management, and the economics of issuance—factors that can shape which issuers can scale while still meeting compliance expectations.

Importantly, the Bank of England’s innovation mandate does not automatically change those reserve mechanics. However, by tying central bank reporting to digital payments innovation, the proposal could create additional pressure—politically and publicly—for regulators to explain how stablecoin market design aligns with broader payments modernization goals.

UK stablecoin momentum: from interoperability tests to cross-border alignment

The new mandate arrives as the UK increases its operational and policy work around stablecoins. In August, a group participating in the Bank of England’s Digital Pound Lab began testing whether a stablecoin could interoperate with a simulated digital British pound for a cross-border trade payment. HM Treasury and project reporting described the experimental platform as not using real customers or money.

Earlier, in mid-July, the UK and US published a joint statement on stablecoins that signaled intent to enable their use in cross-border finance and called for closer alignment between regulatory frameworks. The statement indicates the UK is seeking interoperability not just at the technical level, but also in how rules may converge across jurisdictions.

The UK’s approach also shows a pattern of adjusting earlier constraints. Cointelegraph previously reported that the Bank of England dropped plans to cap individual holdings at 20,000 British pounds and business holdings at 10 million British pounds, replacing those limits with a temporary cap of 40 billion pounds (about $52.9 billion) on issuance for each “systemic stablecoin.” That shift, paired with the July and August policy and testing activity, suggests UK regulators are working toward a structure that emphasizes systemic risk while allowing broader participation than earlier retail- and business-specific limits.

Additionally, the UK government’s direction to expand the Bank of England’s mandate fits within a broader effort to support innovation in tokenized and distributed ledger-based approaches—an idea echoed by City Minister Lucy Rigby, who said tokenisation and DLT could transform financial markets globally.

As lawmakers prepare for House of Lords debates on Sept. 7 and 9, market participants should watch not only whether the mandate is adopted, but also how the Bank of England translates “innovation” into measurable actions—especially in areas like systemic issuer requirements and reserve design that currently influence stablecoin business economics.

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Bitcoin steadied above the psychological $80,000 level as a sharp rebound in US equities helped risk assets across markets. TradingView data showed BTC/USD pushing to a local high of $80,808 around the Wall Street open, with traders watching whether the latest move can hold as support.

The catalyst behind the broader bounce was Nvidia’s earnings surprise. Nvidia reported Q2 earnings of $96.2 billion—nearly $4 billion above expectations—sending its stock up more than 9% and lifting the Nasdaq Composite as investors rotated back into high-growth equities.

Key takeaways

• BTC reclaimed the $80,000 area after Nvidia’s earnings beat sparked a broader lift in US stocks and sentiment.
• Markets are focused on Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole keynote on Friday amid uncertainty around inflation and the Fed reaction function.
• CoinGlass data showed crypto liquidations running around $417 million over 24 hours, suggesting pressure is easing as buyers absorb nearby sell liquidity.
• Analyst David Eng says the derivatives “liquidity wall” looks weaker ahead of August options expiry on Deribit, potentially improving the odds of a cleaner upside path if $82,000 breaks.

Nvidia lifts risk sentiment, Bitcoin follows

Nvidia’s upside surprise quickly spilled into crypto markets. After Wednesday trading, the company posted Q2 earnings of $96.2 billion—nearly $4 billion higher than expectations—prompting a major rally in its shares on Thursday. The stock surge translated into a wider market tailwind: the Nasdaq Composite was up about 1% at the time of writing, while Nvidia’s market capitalization increased by more than $400 billion.

That stock-market momentum mattered for Bitcoin in the near term because it reinforced the “risk-on” conditions that typically support higher-beta assets. TradingView charts reflected this with BTC/USD moving back toward and above $80,000 as bulls tried to defend the level early in Thursday’s session.

Commentary from trading resource The Kobeissi Letter on X highlighted the magnitude of the move, writing that Nvidia appeared on track for one of the biggest single-day market cap gains in stock history.

Jackson Hole focus returns as rates remain the swing factor

Even with crypto riding equity strength, attention is shifting quickly to monetary policy. Jackson Hole is already underway, and investors are bracing for Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s keynote speech on Friday.

The underlying reason is simple: Warsh’s comments could influence expectations for how quickly interest rates move—especially given the mix of inflation data and volatility in government bond yields referenced in coverage leading up to the event. According to CNBC, Kathy Bostjancic, chief US economist at Nationwide, said Warsh’s address is likely to be “extremely key” because long-term rates have risen and uncertainty remains about the inflation path and the Fed’s reaction function.

For Bitcoin traders, that matters because shifts in the interest-rate outlook often change how investors price duration risk, liquidity, and correlation across assets. When rates stabilize or expectations soften, conditions can become more supportive for crypto; when they reprice upward, momentum can fade quickly.

Sell-side liquidity appears to thin ahead of August options expiry

In crypto-specific flows, liquidation activity offered another clue. CoinGlass data showed liquidations edging higher to roughly $417 million over the prior 24 hours. The key nuance is how the market behaved: buyers were reportedly chipping away at an area of significant ask liquidity, helping Bitcoin hold firm rather than accelerating lower.

Earlier reporting cited a liquidity zone extending up to $86,000 that had been creating friction for additional upside. The current setup appears different in timing: with a major derivatives milestone approaching, that resistance may start to lose potency.

On the derivatives side, analyst David Eng described the prevailing “liquidity wall” as “weakening” ahead of Friday’s August options expiry on Deribit. The expiry cited in the report is $6.58 billion, corresponding to 81,700 BTC at the time referenced, with Eng suggesting that once Bitcoin clears $82,000, the path to higher levels (noted as $85,000+) could become “much cleaner.”

Options expiry events can increase volatility because market makers and traders rebalance positions when contracts settle. When open interest is concentrated around certain strikes, price often gravitates toward those levels as hedging and arbitrage dynamics intensify near the cutoff.

What traders should watch next

The near-term question for Bitcoin is whether it can consolidate above $80,000 and then challenge $82,000 with less friction than earlier in the week. If the liquidity pressure Eng flagged continues to dissipate into the August options expiry window, traders may see a more decisive move upward; if rates guidance from Warsh jolts markets the other way, the support narrative could be tested again quickly.