Prediction market Polymarket applied for a license to offer U.S. users margin trading, enabling them to place bets with less upfront capital, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Polymarket’s U.S. affiliate, Coming Home GBA LLC, filed for a futures commission merchant license with the National Futures Association, Bloomberg said, citing a company representative. Polymarket will also require authorization from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for changes to its rulebook that would allow trading without fully collateralized positions.

Prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi offer yes-or-no wagers on the outcomes of events, such as weather, sports and elections. Margin trading lets investors open positions with less upfront capital, a practice common in traditional markets. Kalshi received clearance to offer margin trading in March.

Polymarket’s application comes as prediction markets continue to grow. Volumes hit $51 billion last year and are on pace to reach about $240 billion in 2026. Wall Street broker Bernstein recently said it expects volume to rise to $1 trillion by 2030 as the sector evolves from niche wagering into wide-based “information markets” spanning sports, crypto, politics and the economy.

Bitcoin BTC$64,314.69 is trading around $64,000, marking 307 days within the $60,000- $70,000 range.

The consolidation range is now the third longest period spent in any $10,000 price band in bitcoin’s history, behind only the $10,000-$20,000 and $20,000-$30,000 ranges during the bear markets of 2018 and 2022 respectively, according to Glassnode data.

From a technical perspective, bitcoin continues to trade above its 200-week moving average, currently around $62,873. Historically, prolonged moves below this level have been short lived, making it a closely watched gauge of the long term trend.

Despite holding near $64,000, bitcoin remains roughly 50% below its all-time high reached in October.

Onchain data also points to a significant area of support. Glassnode’s Entity Adjusted UTXO Realized Price Distribution, which tracks the price at which bitcoin last changed hands between economic entities, shows that about 6% of the circulating supply sits between $58,000 and $64,000.

Whether this range ultimately resolves higher or lower remains uncertain, but the prolonged sideways trading has established one of bitcoin’s largest cost-basis clusters to date.

“The four companies will examine issues in product design, the need for proof-of-concept initiatives, and the possibility of future issuance,” Metaplanet said in a statement. “At this time, nothing has been determined regarding issuance timing, terms, yield, product details, distribution methods, or the form of collaboration.”

Japan’s traditional credit market leans in favor of large corporations with public bond offerings. Mid-sized and growth companies often face high costs and operational burdens around issuance, sales, investor management, interest payments and redemptions, according to Metaplanet.

Digital credit could open the debt market to these smaller companies, bridging traditional capital markets with onchain technology, enabling 24/7 global trading and settlement, holder-level rights management, automated pro-rata interest calculations and transparent onchain payments/redemptions.

Key roles

Each company is bringing its own strength to the table. Metaplanet and its securities arm will design and create the new products that combine bitcoin with credit offerings. They’ll also handle selling them to investors, communicating with customers, and managing everything afterward.

JPYC will explore the use of its stablecoin in the process, making sure it can be used smoothly for payments and redemptions.

Progmat will provide a secure, regulated system for turning the products into digital tokens on the blockchain. This includes tracking ownership, handling transfers, and connecting everything to the stablecoin payments system.

TLDR

• SK Hynix completed a historic $26.5 billion capital raise through US markets, setting a record for foreign company listings
• The offering saw oversubscription exceeding seven times available shares, signaling robust investor interest
• Trading commenced on Nasdaq today under ticker symbol “SKHY”
• Despite recent 25% decline over two weeks, SK Hynix stock has surged 680% year-over-year
• Capital will finance manufacturing expansion and equipment purchases to address AI semiconductor demand

On Thursday, South Korean memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix set its American Depositary Receipts at $149 apiece, successfully completing a landmark $26.5 billion fundraising that represents the biggest US listing ever achieved by an international corporation. The semiconductor producer issued 177.9 million ADRs, with individual units representing one-tenth of a common share traded in Seoul.

Trading activity for the new listing launched today on Nasdaq, where shares trade under the ticker symbol “SKHY.”

Investor enthusiasm for the offering proved substantial. According to a source with direct knowledge of the transaction, demand from institutional and retail buyers exceeded available shares by more than sevenfold, although SK Hynix refrained from providing official commentary regarding pricing dynamics or subscription levels.

The ADRs were established at a 2.7% premium relative to SK Hynix’s three-day average trading price preceding the offering.

SK Hynix stock advanced 5% during Thursday’s Seoul trading session, even as shares have retreated approximately 25% across the most recent two-week period. Notwithstanding this recent correction, the stock maintains remarkable gains of 680% over the trailing twelve months.

The company’s forward price-to-earnings multiple for the next twelve months currently stands at 5.5 times — representing a decline from 7.9 times recorded at October’s conclusion — while American competitor Micron trades at 6.66 times forward earnings.

This Nasdaq listing strategy aims partially to narrow the existing valuation disparity. Micron has traditionally enjoyed advantages from immediate access to American capital markets, despite commanding smaller market share across essential memory product categories.

“SK Hynix leads on share and Nvidia proximity, Micron competes on power efficiency, US positioning, and momentum from third place,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of Futurum Group.

Funds generated through this capital raise will support construction of additional manufacturing facilities and procurement of advanced equipment necessary to accommodate accelerating artificial intelligence chip requirements.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

SK Hynix commands the leading position globally in high-bandwidth memory chip production — essential components integrated into cutting-edge processors that drive AI data centers worldwide.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed last month that SK Hynix would continue as Nvidia’s primary supplier, adding that prevailing chip supply constraints are anticipated to persist for multiple years ahead.

“As long as there is demand for graphic processors and AI data centers, SK Hynix is indispensable,” said Yoo Hoi-jun, an electrical engineering professor at KAIST.

According to Rolf Bulk, head of semiconductors at Futurum Equities, the HBM market is forecast to expand from approximately $65 billion during the current year to $120 billion by 2027, ultimately reaching roughly $290 billion by decade’s end in 2030.

Listing Comes at a Crossroads for Chip Stocks

The semiconductor sector overall has experienced some momentum loss during recent weeks, as market participants express concerns about the trajectory of AI infrastructure spending expansion affecting the industry.

SK Hynix’s market debut is drawing scrutiny as an indicator of whether strong demand for memory chip manufacturers persists. Market observers and industry analysts view this listing as a gauge for the broader artificial intelligence investment landscape.

“SK Hynix holds the edge in production scale and maturity. Since demand is far outweighing supply, they have had tremendous pricing power,” said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management.

SK Hynix’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion in its domestic Korean market during May. Both SK Hynix and Samsung have now joined the exclusive circle of companies valued above $1 trillion, a group that includes Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet.

South Korea’s government announced initiatives in June targeting over $880 billion in collaborative investment with SK Hynix and Samsung to advance the nation’s semiconductor and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

HSBC has completed its first blockchain-based issuance of a digitally native structured product, using tokenized U.S. dollar-denominated notes in a private placement for institutional investors in Hong Kong.

According to HSBC, the pilot transaction involved U.S. dollar-denominated structured notes issued in Hong Kong with support from Asia-Pacific digital market infrastructure operator Marketnode, which acted as both the tokenisation agent and digital paying agent.

By issuing the notes directly on blockchain, Marketnode enabled digital issuance while also managing payment flows between HSBC and the investor. HSBC said the pilot tested how tokenisation can make the issuance, settlement, administration, and servicing of structured products more efficient for institutional markets.

Speaking about the transaction, Suvir Loomba, regional head of securities services for Asia at HSBC and a board member of Marketnode, said the issuance builds on the bank’s digital asset work and demonstrates how it is working with market participants to develop practical blockchain solutions for institutional finance.

Loomba added that tokenisation can simplify multiple stages of a structured product’s lifecycle, including issuance, settlement, administration, and ongoing servicing.

“As one of the leading issuers of structured products in Asia, we see clear potential for tokenisation to improve the efficiency of issuance, settlement and servicing, whilst creating a more scalable foundation for future product innovation,” HSBC’s head of institutional sales for Asia, Patrick Boumalham, said in an accompanying statement.

According to HSBC, the structured product pilot forms part of its digital assets strategy and demonstrates how blockchain technology can be applied to improve capital markets processes for institutional participants.

Hong Kong continues to build tokenised markets

The latest pilot adds to Hong Kong’s ongoing push to bring traditional financial products onto blockchain infrastructure.

In June, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority established a tokenized bond expert group after the government issued more than HK$6.8 billion ($868 million) in tokenized bonds across several offerings. The group includes HSBC, JPMorgan Securities, Standard Chartered, UBS, Ant Digital, HashKey Group, and other market participants, and is examining legal frameworks, market practices, and infrastructure needed to expand tokenized bond activity.

HSBC has also continued to strengthen its digital asset presence in the city. In April, the bank became one of the first institutions to receive a Hong Kong Monetary Authority stablecoin issuer license under the city’s new regulatory framework, allowing it to issue regulated stablecoins alongside Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint Financial.

Bitcoin (BTC) institutional demand is “not yet strong” despite positive inflows to the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Key points:

• Bitcoin ETF flows reverse a ten-day losing streak, but analysis warns that demand remains weak.
• An “overwhelming” sell-off is nonetheless over, says Swissblock.
• Overall BTC demand shows a clear gap between spot and derivatives trends.

Swissblock on Bitcoin ETF outflows: “The storm has passed”

In new X commentary on Thursday, crypto investment company Swissblock called an end to the “most overwhelming” ETF sell-off in history.

“The storm has passed: The most overwhelming ETF distribution wave of this bear market has ended,” it wrote. 

“As Bitcoin Risk continues easing from Capitulation Risk, Spot ETF flows have turned slightly positive again.”

Beginning June 17, the ETFs saw ten straight days of net outflows totaling $2.7 billion, data from UK-based investment company Farside Investors confirms.

The cohort then began to reverse the trend, and saw over $500 million of net inflows over three trading days before a net $84.9 million outflow for Wednesday.

US spot Bitcoin ETF netflows (screenshot). Source: Farside Investors

Swissblock described the results as a “caveat” to the recovery signal.

“ETF accumulation is positive, but not yet strong. Institutional conviction is not returning with full force,” it added. 

“Has the storm passed? Or is Bitcoin simply in the eye of the storm?”

US spot Bitcoin ETF netflows. Source: Swissblock/X

Bitcoin spot markets fail to match futures demand rebound

As Cointelegraph reported, analysis sees overall demand as a key stumbling block on the way to a bullish market recovery.

Related: BTC speculators in focus as analysis says ‘textbook Bitcoin bottom’ is underway

In fresh research for onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant this week, contributor IT Tech saw conditions partially improving, albeit with a clear divide between spot and derivatives markets.

“A week ago, the 30-day cumulative demand was close to -500K BTC. Today, it’s recovered to roughly -75K BTC,” they summarized.

In that time, futures demand went from -295,000 BTC to a “slightly positive” figure, while spot demand stayed negative.

“This tells us something important. The latest bounce has been driven primarily by derivatives traders, while spot buyers are still relatively cautious,” IT Tech commented. 

“Historically, the strongest and most sustainable rallies begin when both futures and spot demand move higher together.”

Bitcoin demand comparison (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant

The crypto market recorded its third straight quarter of negative returns in Q2 2026, marking its longest losing streak since 2022, according to a market review published by Bitwise.

The Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index fell 15.4% during the quarter. Eight of its 10 assets ended the period in the red. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds also recorded their worst quarter of outflows since their launch.

Crypto prices extend quarterly decline

Bitwise reported that onchain activity, trading volume and assets held in decentralized finance protocols declined during Q2. Meanwhile, crypto’s correlation with stocks increased, linking digital asset prices more closely with traditional risk markets.

The company said Q2 was “a tough quarter for crypto.” The latest decline extended the market’s run of negative returns to three consecutive quarters, the longest such period since the 2022 bear market.

Spot Bitcoin ETF outflows added to the selling pressure during the quarter. The funds have become an important source of institutional demand since their U.S. launch, but the record quarterly withdrawals showed that investors reduced their exposure as market conditions weakened.

However, ETF flows have changed direction several times during the current market cycle. Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $3.4 billion across seven consecutive weeks of inflows by May 2026.

Stablecoins and tokenized assets continue growing

Despite lower crypto prices, Bitwise said stablecoin settlement volume reached 2.3 times the volume processed by Visa. The company added that stablecoin issuers now hold more U.S. Treasury securities than most countries.

As reported by crypto.news, adjusted stablecoin transaction volume reached $10.9 trillion in 2025, while total settlement volume reached $33 trillion under broader measurements.

Visa has also expanded its direct involvement with blockchain payments. Visa’s stablecoin settlement run rate reached about $7 billion as of March 2026.

Meanwhile, tokenized real-world assets rose 50.3% during the first half of 2026 to $32.89 billion, according to Bitwise. The sector includes blockchain-based versions of assets such as government bonds, private credit and investment funds.

The figure follows continued institutional interest in tokenization. As crypto.news previously reported, the tokenized real-world asset market approached $34 billion as Treasury products and Ethereum-based assets led the sector’s growth.

Prediction markets and crypto stocks resist downturn

Prediction market trading volume reached a record $43.2 billion in Q2. That total was almost 18 times higher than the volume recorded during the same period one year earlier.

Crypto-related stocks also performed better than major digital assets. The Bitwise Crypto Innovators 30 Index rose 30.6% during the quarter, even as the firm’s large-cap crypto index recorded a double-digit loss.

In addition, Bitwise said Hyperliquid, PancakeSwap and Aave each generated about $900 million in revenue during the previous year. The data points to continued demand for decentralized trading, lending and derivatives platforms.

Hyperliquid processed more than $41 billion in seven-day perpetual futures volume by May 2026. Its open interest also reached approximately $9.4 billion.

Onchain data remains above the 2022 bottom

Bitwise compared current market data with conditions at the bottom of the 2022 crypto downturn. Ethereum transaction activity has increased by about 13 times since then, while DeFi total value locked has risen by more than 60%.

Stablecoin assets under management have also roughly doubled from the 2022 market low. Bitwise said, “It’s only prices that haven’t kept pace.”

The company said the crypto industry is now about twice the size it was at the previous cycle’s bottom. However, Bitwise also warned that stronger network activity and wider institutional participation may not prevent further short-term price weakness.

SWIFT says its blockchain-based ledger for financial messaging is now ready for initial use, marking a meaningful step toward giving banks a more clock-agnostic way to move value across borders. After nine months of development, SWIFT announced that 17 major institutions are preparing to pilot cross-border payments using tokenized bank deposits on the platform, with an initial controlled go-live phase expected to follow.

According to SWIFT, participating banks—including HSBC, Citigroup, BNP Paribas, UBS, ANZ, DBS, and Standard Chartered—will test how tokenized deposits can support 24/7 cross-border payments, including overnight and weekend transactions, while keeping the compliance, credit, risk, and control standards built into existing payment processes.

Key takeaways

• SWIFT’s blockchain ledger is reported as ready for initial use after nine months of development.
• 17 banks plan to pilot cross-border transfers using tokenized bank deposits on the SWIFT platform.
• The initiative targets 24/7 settlement behavior, extending payment availability beyond traditional banking hours.
• SWIFT emphasizes that the approach aims to preserve existing compliance, credit, risk, and control requirements.
• SWIFT indicated further expansion of the ledger’s functionality and availability after the first limited rollout.

From messaging to tokenized deposits

SWIFT’s role in global finance is largely about connectivity: its interbank messaging network links more than 11,500 banks and financial institutions across over 200 countries and territories. While SWIFT already supports rapid message delivery on its existing rails—SWIFT said 75% of payments reach the beneficiary bank within 10 minutes, often in seconds—the new effort focuses on what happens when settlement needs to operate regardless of the time of day.

The company’s announcement frames the ledger as an extension of SWIFT’s “resilient global platform,” intended to help “regulated digital assets” move across borders with greater velocity and flexibility. In remarks shared in the announcement, Thierry Chilosi, SWIFT’s chief business officer, said the ledger allows tokenized value to move internationally while maintaining the same levels of resiliency, security, and compliance that global finance expects.

For market participants, the practical significance is not just the use of blockchain, but the target operational outcome: keeping established governance structures while enabling payment flows that are less dependent on bank working hours.

Why the pilot matters for cross-border payments

In SWIFT’s description, the pilots are designed to test cross-border payment capabilities using tokenized deposits, without discarding the compliance and risk frameworks embedded in current processes. That emphasis is important because many tokenization efforts struggle with the same central question: how to integrate new settlement mechanics into existing regulatory and institutional controls.

SWIFT said the ledger will allow participating banks to support 24/7 cross-border payments, explicitly including overnight and weekend activity. That directly addresses a longstanding operational bottleneck in traditional payment infrastructure, where cut-off times and settlement windows can constrain responsiveness—especially for time-sensitive transfers.

It also places SWIFT in the middle of a broader shift in financial infrastructure: banks are increasingly exploring tokenized assets and settlement, but they want that evolution to happen within trusted, regulated systems rather than as isolated experiments.

Part of a wider push toward tokenized settlement

SWIFT’s move lands amid a series of parallel developments from major financial players that point to renewed momentum in tokenized deposits and securities infrastructure.

Earlier, a consortium of banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, BNY, and Wells Fargo—announced plans to launch a tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027. The Clearing House would operate the network and connect traditional payment rails with digital asset infrastructure to enable 24/7 settlement.

In the markets sphere, the New York Stock Exchange previously partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to build blockchain-based infrastructure for tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds. Separately, the parent company of the NYSE, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has also shared plans for a tokenized securities venue aimed at 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding, and onchain settlement.

Taken together, these efforts suggest a sector-wide attempt to reduce the friction between “tokenized” workflows and the operational realities of regulated financial institutions. SWIFT’s pilot is another data point in that transition, particularly because SWIFT is not an issuer or a single-venue market—it is the messaging backbone for interbank communication globally.

What to watch next after initial go-live

SWIFT said it plans to expand the ledger’s functionality and availability after the initial controlled go-live phase. That sequencing matters: a controlled rollout typically helps institutions validate technical performance and governance requirements before scaling participation or expanding use cases.

For users ranging from treasury teams to payments operators, the next milestones will likely center on practical interoperability—how efficiently tokenized deposit transfers work across participating institutions and how smoothly the ledger integrates into existing operational and compliance routines. Investors and builders in digital asset infrastructure will also want to monitor whether SWIFT’s ledger becomes a repeatable baseline for cross-border settlement beyond the pilot group, or whether it remains a narrow-use experiment before wider adoption.

In the near term, the most important question is whether the pilots can demonstrate that 24/7 tokenized cross-border payments can coexist with established financial controls at scale. If SWIFT’s expansion follows the same logic, the ledger could become a significant bridge between traditional messaging standards and the settlement expectations of modern commerce.

Perpetual futures are on track to become one of the dominant trading instruments in global finance, with decentralized exchange Hyperliquid demonstrating how blockchain-based infrastructure could challenge traditional markets, according to Pantera Capital.

The blockchain-focused asset manager said in a Wednesday X post that perpetual futures offer structural advantages over traditional derivatives, including 24/7 trading, no contract expiries, simpler position management and continuous price discovery, making them increasingly attractive beyond crypto markets.

Pantera, an investor in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, said Hyperliquid has become the leading example of that shift by expanding perpetual futures beyond cryptocurrencies into equities, commodities and stock indexes as part of founder Jeff Yan’s vision of “housing all of finance.”

Hyperliquid’s growth has drawn attention from traditional finance, including NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), whose CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher, urged regulators to create a “level playing field” for launching 24/7 onchain perpetual futures contracts.

Pantera Capital said Hyperliquid has increased the market share of onchain perps, as DEX perps volumes rose to 14% of centralized exchange (CEX) perps volume, up from less than 1% in early 2023 when Hyperliquid launched.

Hyperliquid accounts for roughly 40% of onchain perpetual futures trading volume, according to Pantera. It ranks as the fourth-largest fee-generating protocol in the crypto industry, generating $13.5 million in weekly fees in the past seven days, according to DefiLlama data.

Top protocols by weekly fees generated. Source: DefiLlama

Related: UK payments blueprint outlines tokenized payments for ‘multi-money ecosystem’

Traditional finance embraces 24/7 markets

Cryptocurrency platforms and TradFi institutions are bringing more traditional investment products under blockchain wrappers.

On May 22, OKX announced plans to launch perpetual futures based on ICE’s Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude benchmarks under a partnership with the exchange operator.

Earlier in March, the NYSE partnered with tokenization platform Securitize as part of a broader effort to develop blockchain-based stock trading infrastructure with 24/7 trading and settlement for Wall Street.

In January, the NYSE’s parent company, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), shared plans for a tokenized securities venue designed for 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding and onchain settlement.  

Magazine: The 5 types of real world assets being tokenized fastest onchain