Crypto World
Franklin Templeton Holds Over 118M XRP in Latest ETF Filing
TLDR
- Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF holds 118 million XRP, valued at approximately $216.37 million by the end of December 2025.
- The ETF, launched on November 24, 2025, is entirely focused on XRP, with 100% of its assets allocated to the digital asset.
- As of February 17, 2026, the ETF’s net asset value (NAV) is $16.08, reflecting a year-to-date return of -18.54%.
- Since its launch, the ETF has seen a 23.20% decline in returns, primarily due to fluctuations in XRP’s price.
- Other major cryptocurrency ETFs, such as those from Bitwise and Grayscale, have contributed to the growing institutional exposure to XRP.
Franklin Templeton’s XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), launched in late November 2025, has drawn attention for its growing holdings. The fund, trading under the ticker XRPZ, provides investors with exposure to XRP without directly purchasing the digital asset. As of December 31, 2025, the ETF’s holdings amounted to 118 million XRP, valued at $216.37 million.
118 Million XRP on the Books
According to Franklin Templeton’s latest SEC filing, the firm’s XRP ETF officially started on November 24, 2025. By the end of the year, the fund held 118,387,154 XRP, worth approximately $216.37 million. The report confirmed that 100% of the ETF’s net assets were invested in XRP.
The ETF’s primary structure focuses entirely on XRP, a pure-play approach without diversification into other assets. As of February 17, 2026, Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF reached $243.6 million in total net assets. Despite the challenges in the crypto market, the fund has continued to attract institutional investment.
Franklin Templeton ETF Performance
Despite strong institutional interest, Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF has faced challenges with market volatility. As of mid-February 2026, the fund’s net asset value (NAV) stood at $16.08, reflecting a year-to-date return of -18.54%. Since its inception, the ETF has experienced a decline of 23.20%, primarily due to the fluctuations in XRP’s price.
The cryptocurrency’s price saw a drop from $2.577 at launch to $1.11 by February 2026. At present, XRP price trades around $1.48, still significantly lower than its price at launch. These fluctuations have affected investor sentiment, as the firm cautions that past performance does not guarantee future results.
Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF is part of a broader trend of institutional involvement in cryptocurrency investment products. Other major ETFs, including those from Bitwise, Canary Capital, and Grayscale, have also accumulated significant amounts of XRP. Combined with Franklin Templeton, these ETFs now control $1.06 billion in total assets focused on XRP.
Update (4.17.26 6:43 PM UTC): This article has been updated to reflect updated BTC prices and rally data.
Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial vessel traffic for the remainder of the current ceasefire, prompting quick market reactions.
“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in a Friday X post.
US President Donald Trump confirmed the opening of the passage in a Friday post on Truth Social.
Bitcoin (BTC) surged past $77,000 on Friday following the news, rising by over 3.7% in 24 hours and a weekly recovery of about 5%, according to data from CoinMarketCap and TradingView.
Brent crude oil futures sank to around $85 per barrel, falling 10% on the news, according to Tradingeconomics data.
Easing geopolitical tensions may bring more risk appetite among crypto investors. However, the two-week ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran is set to expire on April 22, with the threat of renewed escalation continuing to weigh on market sentiment.
Investors who sold assets in March are now “rushing back into the market” while risk appetite is returning amid the signs of geopolitical deescalation, according to a Friday X post from The Kobeissi Letter, adding that the S&P 500 index added $7 trillion over the past three weeks.
Related: Tom Lee says ‘mini crypto winter’ is over, sees Ether above $60K
Axios says US weighs broader Iran deal
Adding to the positive news, Axios reported Friday that US officials were discussing a proposal to release as much as $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Axios said the proposal was part of a three-page framework being discussed as part of efforts to end the war.
Still, the US naval blockade will remain in “full force and effect” until the US’ transaction with Iran is “100% complete,” wrote President Trump in a Friday Truth Social post, adding that “most of the points are already negotiated.”
Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author
Polymarket prediction market odds of the Strait of Hormuz “returning to normal” by the end of May spiked to 73% on Friday, following news that Iranian officials have temporarily opened up the Strait of Hormuz as part of a ceasefire deal.
The odds climbed to a high of 82% on Friday, after Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open. Since that time, the odds have fallen back down to 73%. He said in an X post:
“The passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by the Ports and Maritime Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
However, traders on the platform placed the odds of the Strait returning to normal activity by the end of April at just 40%.
The war in Iran sent shockwaves through financial markets, impacting crypto and energy prices, as investors and financial analysts react to political developments in the ongoing conflict.
Related: Iran conflict hints Bitcoin’s addressable market could exceed gold: Bitwise
Bitcoin rises on the ceasefire news, but the truce is “fragile”
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) surged on Friday in response to the temporary reopening of the Strait under the ceasefire, briefly tapping $78,000 before climbing down to about $77,358, the price at the time of publication.
Crypto market analyst Nic Puckrin told Cointelegraph that the ceasefire between the US and Iran announced in April is “fragile” and that core issues remain unresolved.
The fallout from the conflict will likely cast a shadow over financial markets for most of 2026, pushing back any interest rate cuts to Q3 2026 at the earliest, if rate cuts materialize at all this year, Puckrin said.
“A ceasefire that results in the end of geopolitical tensions, a sustained drop in oil prices toward $80, and ideally also softer-than-expected economic data that calms stagflation fears” are all needed for BTC to reclaim the $90,000 level, he said.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US naval blockade on Iran would “remain in full force and effect” until the “transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
Stanford’s 2026 AI Index shows the performance gap between US and Chinese AI models has compressed to just 2.7%, down from a double-digit lead as recently as 2023, as Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 holds a 39-point Elo lead over ByteDance’s best-performing model on the benchmarks Stanford tracks.
Summary
- The 423-page report, released April 14, finds that the US and Chinese models have traded first place multiple times since early 2025, with DeepSeek-R1 briefly matching the top US model in February 2025 before being surpassed.
- The US leads China in private AI investment ($285.9 billion vs $12.4 billion) and notable model production (50 vs 30 in 2025), while China leads in AI publication volume, patent output, and industrial robot installations.
- The number of AI researchers entering the US has dropped 89% over seven years and 80% in the past year alone, a trend the report attributes in part to H-1B restrictions under the Trump administration.
Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, released April 14, documents the near-disappearance of the US performance advantage in artificial intelligence, with the top American model leading the best Chinese model by just 2.7% on the Arena Leaderboard benchmarks Stanford tracks as of March 2026.
The 423-page report from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI puts the specific figures starkly: in 2023, performance gaps between leading US and Chinese models ranged from 17.5 to 31.6 percentage points on major benchmarks including MMLU, MATH, and HumanEval. By the end of 2024, those gaps had collapsed to 0.3, 1.6, and 3.7 percentage points respectively. The current 2.7% Elo lead between Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 and ByteDance’s Dola-Seed-2.0 Preview is narrow enough to flip on the next major release from either side.
The US advantage remains substantial in investment, infrastructure, and model production. American companies poured $285.9 billion into AI in 2025, 23.1 times China’s $12.4 billion private investment. The US produced 50 notable AI models in 2025 against China’s 30. The US hosts 5,427 data centers, more than ten times any other country.
High-impact patents, where quality of innovation matters more than volume, also favor the US. China leads globally in total patent output, filing 69.7% of all AI patents worldwide. But Stanford’s analysis distinguishes between patent volume and patent impact, and American researchers still produce more commercially influential intellectual property.
Where China Has Surged
China now produces 23.2% of all global AI publications and receives 20.6% of all global AI research citations, compared to 12.6% for the US. Chinese organizations installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024, versus 34,200 in the United States, with China accounting for 51.1% of global industrial robot installations. The report notes that Chinese government guidance funds, estimated at $912 billion deployed across industries since 2000, mean that private investment figures substantially understate China’s total AI resource commitment.
South Korea has emerged as the world leader in innovation density, filing more AI patents per capita than any other country, introducing a third significant competitor into a rivalry previously framed as bilateral.
The Talent Warning
The report’s most alarming finding for US policymakers may be the talent data. The number of AI researchers entering the United States has dropped 89% over the past seven years, with an 80% decline in the past year alone. New H-1B visa restrictions that include a $100,000 employer fee per hire are cited as a contributing factor.
The Stanford data landed directly in the context of the ongoing US-China AI race that has driven the most significant infrastructure and semiconductor investments in the country’s history, including the NVIDIA Ising quantum AI models launched this week and the Terafab chip project. For AI tokens and the broader crypto-AI intersection, the convergence of the two countries’ capabilities matters: it removes the assumption that US systems have a durable lead and raises the competitive stakes on each new model release.
CFTC AI news came directly from Capitol Hill Thursday as Chairman Mike Selig told the House Agriculture Committee that artificial intelligence tools, specifically Microsoft’s Copilot, are filling surveillance and investigation gaps at an agency that has lost roughly 25% of its workforce since 2025, even as Congress prepares to hand it primary oversight of the US crypto market.
Summary
- Tools such as AI are going to be very helpful in surveilling and bringing the investigations, and we’re incorporating that into various workflows,” Selig told lawmakers, citing Copilot as one productivity tool across the agency.
- The CFTC currently operates with only Selig as its single sitting commissioner out of five required by law, with four seats vacant including both minority-party positions.
- Selig confirmed “numerous investigations ongoing” in prediction markets, where platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi have drawn scrutiny for well-timed trades tied to US military actions and government announcements.
CFTC AI news emerged from Thursday’s House Agriculture Committee oversight hearing as Chairman Mike Selig defended his agency’s shrinking headcount by pointing to productivity gains from AI tools, even as lawmakers pressed him on whether the CFTC has the resources to oversee both a rapidly growing crypto market and a prediction market sector that has ballooned into the billions of dollars in annual volume.
The agency has lost approximately 25% of its staff since 2025 under President Trump’s federal workforce reduction drive. Enforcement division staffing, at roughly 108 positions after a recent budget request for three new hires, is still 23% below the 140 enforcement employees on record in 2025. The CFTC currently operates with Selig as the sole sitting commissioner, with four of five legally required positions unfilled including both minority-party seats.
“Tools such as AI are going to be very helpful in surveilling and bringing the investigations, and we’re incorporating that into various workflows,” Selig told lawmakers. He specifically cited Microsoft’s Copilot as one productivity tool woven into agency workflows. When asked directly about the staff declines, Selig replied: “We are running more efficiently and effectively.”
The CFTC is simultaneously pursuing two expansions that would dramatically increase its regulatory footprint. First, the CLARITY Act, which is moving toward a Senate Banking Committee markup in late April, would designate the CFTC as the primary regulator of non-securities crypto trading, giving it oversight of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and every digital commodity that doesn’t meet the SEC’s securities definition. Second, the CFTC is asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets, a claim currently being contested in courts by multiple states.
Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson noted the contradiction. “We’re putting a lot on your plate with digital assets, and we’re obviously going down this path with prediction markets,” he told Selig, then asked him to request more staff if operational needs required it. Selig said “Absolutely” and reiterated that enforcement remains a “top priority.”
Prediction Market Investigations and Insider Trading
The prediction market scrutiny has been intense. Multiple members questioned Selig about trades on Polymarket, Kalshi, and other platforms in which small numbers of anonymous accounts appear to have made significant profits on bets tied to US military actions and government announcements, suggesting potential access to non-public information. Reports have identified roughly six Polymarket accounts that earned $1.2 million on correct bets about US Iran strikes placed hours before the February 28 action became public.
Selig said the agency has “numerous investigations ongoing” in prediction markets but declined to quantify or describe them, saying doing so could compromise active work. He described the regulated platforms as the “first line of defense” before the CFTC acts.
Ranking Member Angie Craig of Minnesota said flatly that the CFTC “cannot adequately oversee digital commodity trading and prediction markets” with current resources. She and Thompson announced plans to write to the White House urging bipartisan commissioner nominations. The single-commissioner structure has broader implications for the CLARITY Act rulemaking process: Selig indicated he would not wait for a full commission. “We cannot for the sake of the American people slow down our rulemaking,” he said, signaling he would advance major regulations alone if necessary, a position that could invite legal challenges to any rules adopted without bipartisan deliberation.
As the CFTC’s crypto role expands, Selig’s claim that AI can offset a quarter of the workforce will face a direct test once the CLARITY Act passes and the full weight of digital asset oversight lands on an agency that, by its own data, has 23% fewer enforcement officers than it needs.
Crypto World
Ton Price Prediction: TON Targets $1.51 While Pepeto 300x Heats Up After CoinMarketCap Listing
The ton price prediction for April 2026 covers TON technical levels, Rakuten Wallet’s launch of TON spot trading on April 15, and how the Pepeto presale compares for traders watching the meme coin and exchange token space.
Toncoin (TON) gained 12% over the past seven days after Rakuten Wallet opened spot trading for the token on April 15 and the Catchain 2.0 upgrade cut block times to 400 milliseconds, per Blockonomi. Trading volume jumped 148% in 24 hours while the top 100 whale wallets added 189,730 TON during the same stretch. The ton price prediction at a $1.51 breakout looks solid, but the tools that help retail traders catch the next wave before the crowd still do not exist for most buyers.
Pepeto was built to close that gap with a live exchange that spots early entries before the wider market picks up on them. More than $8,940,333 raised and a verified CoinMarketCap page put Pepeto days from its Binance listing. The window to lock in presale price is shutting fast.
Ton Price Prediction: TON Holds $1.41 With a $1.51 Breakout in Sight
TON trades at $1.41 today, sitting roughly 83% below its $8.25 all time high, and the $1.51 resistance level will shape where it heads next this month. Blockchain News projects the ton price prediction for late April between $1.35 and $1.51, with an average target near $1.42.
Changelly reported that TON is building inside a range between $1.35 and $1.51 with RSI near 51 in neutral ground, and a clean break above $1.51 could push the next leg toward $1.60 on rising volume.
Tokens built to catch the move before it starts
Pepeto: If you missed last cycle’s best entries, this is the one staring you in the face right now
When whale wallets add nearly 190,000 TON in a single week and a major Japanese exchange opens the trading pair, capital is clearly lining up. Most retail wallets only notice the flow once the move already happened. Pepeto just landed on CoinMarketCap, and the Binance listing is days away. The exchange closes that timing gap with tools that flag early entries before the broader market catches on.
The cross chain bridge pushes meme tokens between networks in seconds, and the scanning engine spots new projects at their cheapest price point.
Behind this entry sits a finished SolidProof audit protecting the contract, the same founder who built the original Pepe to an $11 billion market cap with zero products, and a team member who previously worked inside Binance running the listing rollout.
At $0.0000001863 per token, more than $8,940,333 has flowed into the presale across 420 trillion tokens, with staking running at 185% APY. Once Binance trading goes live, the analyst target sits between 300x and 1000x from this floor. Last cycle rewarded the earliest wallets with life changing gains, and Pepeto carries the same setup now, a confirmed listing closing in while presale buyers hold the lowest entry that vanishes the moment public trading opens.
Ton Price Prediction: TON Targets $1.51 in April and $5.03 by Year End From $1.42
Toncoin (TON) Price at $1.42 as Rakuten Wallet Opens Spot Trading
Toncoin (TON) trades at $1.42 according to CoinMarketCap, ranked number 33 with a $3.45 billion cap per CoinMarketCap. Blockchain News targets a $1.42 average for April with a peak near $1.51. Changelly’s bull case hits $5.03 by mid autumn 2026, roughly 256% from current levels.
The network just processed Catchain 2.0 and volume jumped 148% in a day, but even the bullish TON forecast delivers gains that take months. A presale backed by a confirmed Binance listing hands you the ground floor now, with weeks to listing day instead of months of waiting.
Conclusion
The ton price prediction targets 256% at best over months while the network absorbs Catchain 2.0 and capital keeps flowing in, but last cycle the wallets that hit the biggest returns entered the strongest setups while fear was still running. That missed window is what Pepeto was built for, with a working exchange, a finished SolidProof audit, a Pepe cofounder driving the build, and the Binance listing locked in.
Getting in at presale price while TON keeps you waiting months for smaller gains is where real crypto wealth gets built. Click below to enter the Pepeto presale before the Binance listing hits.
Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale
FAQs
What does the ton price prediction look like for April 2026?
Toncoin (TON) targets a range of $1.35 to $1.51 for April with a breakout level at $1.51 after Catchain 2.0 cut block times to 400ms. Pepeto at presale price with a confirmed Binance listing offers returns that TON cannot match from $1.41.
How does Toncoin’s Rakuten Wallet listing change the outlook for TON holders watching Pepeto?
Rakuten Wallet added TON spot trading on April 15, boosting volume 148% in a single day. Pepeto at $0.0000001863 with $8,940,333 raised and a Binance listing days away gives traders a presale floor that turns into 300x to 1000x when volume opens.
Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.
Summary
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has accused crypto exchange Zondacrypto of using “Russian funds linked to organized crime” and “Russian security services” to finance opposition politicians and block a MiCA‑style crypto bill.
- Tusk told parliament that some lawmakers fighting his government’s crypto‑asset legislation were “serving the interests” of Zondacrypto, which he said sponsored a CPAC event in Poland where former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem endorsed nationalist Karol Nawrocki’s presidential bid.
- President Nawrocki, elected in June 2025 with backing from former U.S. President Donald Trump, has twice vetoed MiCA‑aligned regulation, leaving Polish exchanges in legal limbo and deepening a national‑security‑tinged standoff over how to police digital assets.
Speaking in the Sejm on Friday ahead of a vote on overturning his rival’s veto, Tusk claimed that “Russian money was behind the Zondacrypto cryptocurrency platform,” which he alleged has “supported political and social initiatives” aligned with right‑wing groups in Poland. He told lawmakers that the firm’s backing was tied “not only to Russian capital” but also to “groups connected to the so‑called bratva, a term for Russian mafia organizations, as well as Russian security services.”
Tusk links Zondacrypto to Russian ‘Bratva’ and intelligence
According to Tusk, internal security agency findings show that Zondacrypto “sponsors political and social gatherings in Poland and champions very particular political factions,” including politicians from the former ruling Law and Justice party and the far‑right Confederation. He highlighted the exchange’s role as a “significant sponsor” of a Conservative Political Action Conference event in Rzeszów in March 2025, where Kristi Noem publicly backed Karol Nawrocki’s presidential campaign.
Tusk framed the latest vote as a security test, telling parliament there is “no doubt that this market is extremely vulnerable to manipulation by foreign services, intelligence organizations, and criminal enterprises.” In a post on X, he cast the regulatory fight as a straight choice between “Russian money and services versus the security of the state and citizens.”
The political clash comes after President Nawrocki twice blocked government efforts to align Poland with the EU’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets framework. In February, he vetoed a second crypto‑asset bill he described as “practically identical” to legislation he had already rejected in December 2025, arguing that the government’s model was “flawed” and would hurt consumers and smaller firms.
That stance has left Warsaw as a MiCA outlier. Without enabling legislation, Polish exchanges and wallet providers have no domestic route to start the licensing process required under EU rules, putting them at a disadvantage to peers in countries that are already issuing MiCA authorizations. A previous attempt to overturn an earlier veto also failed in December 2025, when parliament upheld Nawrocki’s decision despite Tusk warning that unregulated platforms were “particularly vulnerable to manipulation by foreign intelligence services, organized crime, and mafias.”
For now, Zondacrypto has not publicly commented in detail on the latest accusations, while the president’s office insists it does not oppose crypto regulation per se but rejects the government’s approach. As other EU members move ahead with MiCA licensing and enforcement, Poland’s fight over whether its crypto market is a vector for Russian “Bratva” money or a sector strangled by political point‑scoring is turning into a wider test of how national security, party financing and digital‑asset rules intersect in Europe.
Related crypto.news coverage on regulation and security risks in digital assets includes an explainer on why the U.S. is pushing tokenization‑friendly accounting, an analysis of how Trump‑era regulatory pullbacks reshaped the SEC’s crypto unit, and a report on MiCA‑aligned stablecoin rules emerging in other jurisdictions.
TLDR:
- Over 257K LINK tokens moved from Binance hot wallets to external addresses within a 15-hour window
- Transfers were distributed across wallets like 0x21a, 0x28C, and 0xDFd, showing multi-address activity
- Wallet 0x3C1 recorded the largest single transfer, moving 64,699 LINK worth about $618K in one transaction
- Repeated LINK outflows suggest ongoing exchange-to-wallet movement tracked across on-chain monitoring systems
Large Bitcoin exchange activity on Binance shows notable LINK withdrawals moving from hot wallets to multiple private addresses reported recently.
Data shared by Nazoku indicates over 257,000 LINK tokens moved within fifteen hours across several identified wallet addresses on Binance.
Binance records over 257K LINK withdrawals
On-chain tracking systems recorded heavy LINK movement from Binance hot wallets to externally controlled addresses during recent hours.
Transfers involved multiple destination wallets including 0x21a, 0x28C, and 0xDFd as reported by monitoring dashboards across network systems.
Total recorded withdrawals exceeded 257,000 LINK tokens, valued at approximately 2.45 million dollars at time reporting market data feeds.
Activity was tracked across multiple blockchain analytics platforms observing continuous movement from exchange wallets to private storage systems reporting.
One highlighted transaction involved wallet 0x3C1 transferring 64,699 LINK in a single movement from Binance account as recorded data.
Such transfers were followed closely by market observers tracking exchange reserves and liquidity changes across trading platforms daily updates.
Blockchain monitoring platforms also captured repeated withdrawal patterns showing consistent movement of LINK tokens from exchange hot wallets.
Several analytics services confirmed that transfers were distributed across multiple addresses without a single dominant flow source.
Data collected across monitoring tools showed continued outflow activity over a fifteen-hour observation window involving several wallet clusters.
These movements were recorded through real-time dashboards tracking exchange wallet behavior across multiple blockchain networks.
Large wallet accumulation observed across identified addresses
Wallet accumulation activity involved several newly identified addresses receiving LINK from centralized exchange withdrawals during the observation period.
Top receiving wallets included address 0x21a, 0x28C, and 0xDFd, showing repeated inflows within short intervals on-chain movement logs.
Wallet 0x3C1 recorded the largest single transaction, moving 64,699 LINK tokens from Binance infrastructure wallets, according to analysis data.
This transaction stood among the highest value transfers during the observed reporting cycle across tracking systems data checks.
Blockchain monitoring platforms noted repeated transfer patterns suggesting ongoing distribution from exchange custody systems across reported datasets logs.
Multiple wallets showed consistent inflows, indicating structured movement rather than isolated transfers within exchange-linked accounts.
Data shows continued movement of LINK tokens leaving Binance hot wallets over a fifteen-hour window, as recent network tracking.
Monitoring services continue tracking LINK movements from Binance wallets to assess ongoing exchange supply changes in real-time systems.
Further wallet transfers are expected to be analyzed as blockchain data updates become available through feeds, continuing surveillance logs.
Data aggregation platforms maintain records of LINK flows across exchanges, providing transparency for market participants’ network monitoring reports.
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, agreed to acquire Bitnomial, the first US crypto derivatives platform to hold all three CFTC licenses simultaneously, for up to $550 million in cash and stock, in a deal that values Payward at $20 billion and is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
Summary
- Bitnomial is the first crypto-native US firm to hold all three CFTC licenses required for a full-stack derivatives business — a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization, and a futures commission merchant — giving Payward the infrastructure to run an exchange, clear trades, and offer brokerage services inside one regulated framework.
- The deal follows Deutsche Börse’s $200 million investment for a 1.5% stake in Payward and builds on Payward’s $1.5 billion NinjaTrader acquisition in 2025, completing regulated derivatives coverage across the US, UK, and EU.
- Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company is “adding the infrastructure layer that makes the next generation of US derivatives possible,” framing the acquisition as foundational infrastructure rather than a traditional company purchase.
The deal covers 100% of Bitnomial’s equity. The Chicago-based firm spent over a decade securing three separate CFTC approvals — a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization, and a futures commission merchant registration — the combination that allows a single entity to run an exchange, clear trades, and offer brokerage services under one CFTC-regulated roof. No other crypto-native US firm holds all three simultaneously.
Payward will integrate Bitnomial’s infrastructure across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and Payward Services, its business-to-business platform. Banks, fintechs, and brokerages will access regulated US crypto derivatives through a single API covering futures, options, and leveraged products inside a CFTC-regulated framework.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi described the acquisition as foundational rather than transactional. “We are not acquiring a company,” he said. “We are adding the infrastructure layer that makes the next generation of US derivatives possible.” Building a CFTC-regulated clearinghouse independently requires years of regulatory engagement and capital commitment. Bitnomial collapses that timeline to the length of a deal close.
Payward generated $2.2 billion in revenue in 2025, up 33%, with its platforms processing roughly $2 trillion in transactions and holding over $48 billion in customer assets at year-end.
How This Fits Payward’s Broader Strategy
The Bitnomial deal completes Payward’s global derivatives build. The company acquired a UK crypto futures platform in 2019, launched EU regulated derivatives in 2025, and purchased NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion the same year, giving it retail futures access and a first CFTC registration. Bitnomial adds exchange, clearing, and brokerage licenses on top, creating a vertically integrated US derivatives business.
The announcement follows Deutsche Börse’s $200 million investment for a 1.5% stake, a transaction that valued Payward at approximately $13.3 billion. The $20 billion valuation embedded in the Bitnomial deal reflects the strategic premium the market is placing on regulated crypto derivatives infrastructure heading into an environment where the CLARITY Act would formally establish CFTC authority over non-securities digital asset trading.
The IPO Context
Payward’s IPO filing remains active. Co-CEO Sethi confirmed on April 14 that a public offering is “still on the table” despite pausing formal preparations in March due to difficult market conditions. A full-stack CFTC-licensed derivatives business strengthens both the institutional narrative and the revenue diversification story that supports a premium IPO valuation ahead of any eventual listing.
The bank says it plans to add other stablecoins across multiple blockchains to the service.
Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) announced on Friday that it has launched a stablecoin mint and redeem service, allowing its corporate and high-net-worth clients to convert directly between fiat and stablecoins from within their SGB accounts.
The in-bank stablecoin settlement service, which SGB first announced in February, at launch supports USDC on Solana for transactions above $100,000.
The launch follows SGB’s recent admission to the Circle Alliance Program, Circle’s global network of USDC-focused partners.
Per SGB’s announcement, the bank plans to add support for other stablecoins, including USDT, USDe and USDG, across multiple chains in the future.
To mark the launch, SGB is waiving gas and bank fees for minting and redeeming on the Solana blockchain for a limited period, with volume-based rewards to follow. Stablecoin minting and redemption are integrated into SGB Net, the bank’s proprietary clearing network, allowing funds to move between on-chain and off-chain environments within a regulated framework.
CEO Shawn Chan framed the launch as a response to real client pain points: cross-border capital movement has become a key constraint on growth, and embedding stablecoins into banking removes that friction:
“By integrating stablecoin mint and redeem directly into the banking environment, we enable real-time movement between fiat and digital assets, improving cash flow, payments, and treasury management. We are building the bank for a borderless world, where businesses and individuals operate across jurisdictions”
As Business Times reported, SGB is a fully licensed digital wholesale bank based in Bahrain, founded by Singapore-based private investment firm Whampoa Group and backed by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat.
The launch arrives as stablecoins cement their role in institutional finance. As The Defiant reported, stablecoins stopped being “crypto products” in 2025 and started acting like infrastructure, with enterprise adoption accelerating across payments, treasury, and settlement.
Last fall, Coinbase and Citigroup teamed up to help Citi’s institutional clients use stablecoins to move money faster without abandoning traditional banking systems, pairing Coinbase’s digital asset infrastructure with Citi’s payments network spanning 94 markets.
Earlier this month, Circle launched Circle Payments Network (CPN) Managed Payments, a stablecoin settlement solution designed to let TradFi firms use stablecoin rails for fiat transactions, abstracting complexity for the firms.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.
X’s new cashtags trading pilot for stocks and crypto reached an estimated $1 billion in volume within days of its Tuesday launch.
X generated approximately $1 billion in global trading volume following the launch of its cashtags feature on Tuesday, according to Head of Product Nikita Bier. The feature enables users to trade stocks and cryptocurrency directly on the platform, converting social engagement into financial execution at scale. The milestone was reached within days of the pilot going live.
The rapid adoption underscores X’s ability to leverage its massive user base for financial trading activity. The cashtags pilot represents a significant expansion of X’s presence in the retail and institutional trading landscape, combining social networking infrastructure with direct market access for crypto and equities.
Sources: WatcherGuru | BSCNews
This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.
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