The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation hits a hard deadline on July 1 when the transitional period ends and in-scope crypto asset service providers operating under national regimes must either hold a MiCA licence or stop serving EU clients.

A spokesperson from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) told Cointelegraph that from that date, non-authorized entities “will not be allowed to operate within the EU” and should implement wind-down and client migration plans rather than rely on open-ended transitional status while awaiting a decision.

The deadline could force some crypto firms to suspend EU operations while their applications remain under review, potentially affecting millions of users who continue to engage with platforms that are not yet authorized under MiCA.

In France, 19 crypto asset service providers (CASPs) have been authorized so far, and roughly 25 applications remain under review, a spokesperson for the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) told Cointelegraph.

From July 1, providers that are not MiCA-authorized “must cease their activities,” the spokesperson said, pointing to a February AMF warning that unauthorized crypto asset services are a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison and a 30,000 euro (roughly $35,000) fine.

The watchdog says it can also add firms to a blacklist, issue public warnings and seek court orders to block access to the websites of unauthorized providers targeting French users.

AMF warning to unregulated crypto asset platforms. Source: AMF

Germany has set a licensing requirement under its national implementation of MiCA, requiring crypto asset service providers that were operating under prior exemptions to obtain authorization by June 30, a spokesperson from German regulator BaFin told Cointelegraph.

The country generally follows EU and national deadlines, the spokesperson said, and may apply enforcement measures “where possible and appropriate,” adding that some applications remain under review.

In contrast, Austria chose not to extend grandfathering for virtual asset service providers under its pre-MiCA regime, which ended on Dec. 31, 2025, so no exchanges are still operating without a license in the country.

A spokesperson from the Finanzmarktaufsicht (FMA) told Cointelegraph it has licensed nine CASPs so far and that MiCA application volume is “significant,” although it does not disclose how many applications are pending.

Related: France’s AMF regulator sets June 30 deadline for MiCA licensing

Lawyers warn pending applications offer no protection

Having an application in the queue will not shield CASPs from the deadline, Niall Esler, head of the regulatory and risk advisory practice at law firm Walkers, told Cointelegraph. He said that companies still serving EU clients without authorization after the transition ends will be operating unlawfully and cannot expect to continue business as usual.

MiCA requires member states to give national authorities powers to order an immediate halt to services, compel client offboarding, name firms publicly and impose administrative fines for unauthorized activity.

Statement on the end of transitional periods. Source: ESMA

That could affect a substantial number of European crypto users. According to analysis shared with Cointelegraph by OKX Europe, of 18.5 million crypto app downloads in Europe between May 2025 and May 2026, about 7.6 million (41%) were to exchanges that do not appear on the independent register of MiCA-authorized providers compiled from ESMA and national data.

ESMA declined to provide an estimate of how many EU users remain on non-authorized platforms, saying it cannot share non-public information.

OKX Europe CEO Erald Ghoos said app download figures understate the issue because they miss users who access exchanges via web browsers or installed apps earlier and remain active.

To bridge that gap, OKX says it combined App Store data with web traffic estimates and search trends to approximate active usage. Ghoos said the company believes “approximately 60% of European crypto users are actively engaging with platforms that hold no MiCA authorization,” including some of the world’s largest exchanges by trading volume.

Related: Europe’s MiCA regime puts smaller crypto firms under pressure

Some exchanges still seeking MiCA approval

Several major exchanges are still awaiting MiCA authorization as national regulators review their applications.

Bitget, for example, applied for a MiCA license in Austria in 2025. The company’s chief legal officer told Cointelegraph it expects regulatory approval in the second quarter of 2026 and will not offer services in the European Economic Area until authorization is granted.

Binance, meanwhile, applied for a MiCA licence in Greece in January through the country’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission and is not currently listed among MiCA-authorized providers in the EU. The company did not respond to a request for comment on its application status.

Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO

Welcome to our institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week:

• Alex Tapscott on the stalling of the CLARITY Act and how it’s impacting the average American consumer.
• Aisha Hunt writes that crypto will grow by upgrading Wall Street’s trusted products rather than replacing them.
• Top headlines institutions should pay attention to by Helene Braun
• “RWA Perp Volume by Category: Equities Overtake Commodities” in Chart of the Week

-Alexandra Levis

Expert Insights

What about the American consumer?

By Alex Tapscott, CEO, CMCC Global Capital Markets

The little guy is getting lost in the political horse-trading around the CLARITY Act.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee recently advanced the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, legislation that, if enacted, could finally establish clear rules for digital assets in the United States. The bill has survived months of bipartisan negotiations and horse trading between banking interests and upstart fintech companies.

A bipartisan compromise brokered by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) broke a log-jam that had slowed down the bill’s progress. In the end, the banks got most of what they wanted in this “deal”: the legislation explicitly prevents fintech platforms from treating stablecoins, digital assets backed by dollars, as interest bearing accounts, while still permitting them to pay rewards and bonuses, as banks and credit card issuers do.

That should have ended the debate. Yet banking lobby groups are demanding tighter restrictions to eliminate many forms of consumer rewards altogether. Clearly, they seek to squash this already compromised bill before a full Senate vote, so that it never reaches the Resolute Desk.

Lost amid the political wrangling of crypto and banking interests is the average American consumer.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Americans paid roughly $5.8 billion in overdraft fees in 2023, even after years of industry efforts to reduce so-called “junk fees.” Overdraft charges disproportionately hit financially vulnerable households, with nearly 80% of fees concentrated among 9% of accounts. And then there are account minimums, wire charges and payment delays, which add friction. Meanwhile, the average savings rate is only 0.38%.

Consumers want financial services to move faster, cost less and earn them more.

Stablecoins are gaining popularity because they herald a world where digital dollars move across the internet as cheaply and seamlessly as a WhatsApp message. They can lower remittance costs, improve access to digital commerce, expedite real-time payments and create new ways for consumers to save, spend and transact online.

And Americans are asking for CLARITY because many already use these tools. According to the Crypto Council for Innovation, one in five American adults now owns cryptocurrency. That’s roughly 68.5 million people. Stablecoins are among the fastest-growing categories of digital assets, particularly among younger consumers, immigrants, freelancers and underserved communities seeking faster and cheaper financial tools. Four in five merchants believe accepting crypto could help attract new customers, while 73% of small business owners expect crypto payments to grow.

That’s what makes this debate so politically mystifying. For years, progressives argued that concentrated financial power harmed consumers and Main Street. They criticized large banks for extracting rents while lobbying against regulations that diluted bank influence. Those critiques were often correct. Today some of those progressives, like Elizabeth Warren, who championed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are now defending banking profits against a technology that could inject real competition into financial services and empower consumers and small businesses.

Congress should pass CLARITY in its current form to benefit American consumers and preserve American competitiveness and leadership in the next era of financial technology. This lead is by no means assured: today, 88% of global crypto trading volume occurs on non-U.S.-based exchanges, while foreign-issued stablecoins account for 75% of stablecoin volume. Over the past decade, the U.S. share of global crypto developers has fallen from 38% to just 19%.

Do American politicians want their country to continue leading, or do they prefer watching such financial transformation from the sidelines?

In the 1990s, the Clinton administration helped usher in the commercial internet through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a bipartisan effort expanding innovation and competition. Now, Congress has an opportunity to unleash the new internet of value by passing CLARITY.

Under GENIUS and CLARITY, stablecoin issuers must meet strong reserve requirements, transparency obligations, anti-money laundering standards, cybersecurity rules and consumer protections. Sensible public policy will unleash investment and innovation, as it did in the internet era.

This story need not end in conflict between banks and blockchains. Incumbents can just as easily embrace blockchain and its various benefits, from real-time global settlement and tokenized assets, to new forms of on-chain lending, payments, savings and commerce.

The question is whether lawmakers will vote to lead this next technological revolution and advance the interests of American consumers or cede the future to entrenched interests.

Principled Perspectives

Why Crypto May Need ETFs More Than ETFs Need Crypto

By Aisha Hunt, founder of Kelley Hunt, PLLC

Crypto spent its first decade trying to replace Wall Street. Its next trillion dollars may come from partnering with it. The first wave of tokenization focused on creating new assets, new venues and new systems outside traditional finance. Some of that innovation mattered. Much of it struggled with the same problem: markets do not scale on technology alone. They scale on trust, liquidity and distribution. That reality favors ETFs.

The ETF wrapper became one of the most successful financial products of the modern era because it solved practical investor problems at scale: low-cost access, transparency, intraday liquidity, operational simplicity and broad distribution across brokerage platforms and advisory channels.

Those advantages took decades to build. Tokenization does not erase them. In fact, it may amplify them. If blockchain rails can be integrated into ETFs, investors may not have to choose between innovation and protection. They could gain exposure to familiar products with the potential benefits of faster settlement, programmable ownership, collateral mobility and broader digital interoperability, all inside a structure already trusted by institutions, advisors and retail investors.

That is a far bigger commercial opportunity than asking trillions of dollars to migrate into unfamiliar vehicles. This is why one underappreciated development matters. On January 21, 2026, F/m Investments LLC and The RBB Fund, Inc. filed what is believed to be the first exemptive application by an ETF issuer seeking to tokenize shares of an exchange-traded fund, TBIL, the U.S. Treasury 3 Month Bill ETF. The proposal would record ownership on a permissioned blockchain ledger while preserving the same fund, same economics, same exchange listing and same regulatory framework. The application remains pending before the SEC, and there can be no assurance relief will be granted. That may sound like a niche legal filing. It is not. It is a test of whether capital markets modernization happens inside the regulatory perimeter or outside it.

That distinction matters to investors because the next major on-chain growth category may not be speculative tokens. It may be trusted yield, usable collateral and regulated exposure. Stablecoins already demonstrated the demand for digitally native dollars. The next logical step is digitally native instruments backed by real portfolios, real governance and real investor protections.

That is where tokenized ETFs could become powerful.

Imagine Treasury exposure that can plug into next-generation collateral networks. Imagine ETF shares that remain within familiar regulatory guardrails while operating on more modern rails. Imagine advisors and institutions accessing blockchain efficiency without having to underwrite experimental structures.

The first tokenization narrative was “replace incumbents.” The stronger narrative may be “upgrade incumbents.” That does not diminish crypto; it commercializes it.

For regulators, tokenized ETFs may offer a pragmatic path forward: enable innovation where investor protections remain intact, rather than pushing demand into parallel channels with greater uncertainty. For exchanges, custodians, brokers and market makers, it could create a new infrastructure layer around products investors already understand.

For issuers, it may become a race. The firms that combine trusted wrappers, credible assets and functional on-chain rails could capture disproportionate flows. And for allocators, the signal may be simple: blockchain technology is becoming less about novelty and more about plumbing.That is usually when real adoption begins.

The broader lesson is that distribution often beats disruption:

Who already has trusted wrappers?

Who already has liquidity?

Who already has access to advisors, retirement assets and institutions?

Who can bridge old rails and new rails fastest?

Those questions point toward ETFs.

The next trillion dollars of tokenized assets may not come from inventing something entirely new; they may come from upgrading what already works. Crypto’s first era was about building outside the system. Its next era may be about powering the system.

Headlines of the week

By Helene Braun

A few of crypto’s biggest debates converged this past week as Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) sold bitcoin to fund preferred stock dividends, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon escalated his fight against yield-bearing stablecoins during the CLARITY Act debate, and Citi projected tokenized securities could grow into a $5.5 trillion market by 2030, driven by rising demand for onchain Treasuries and tokenized stocks.

Chart of the Week

RWA Perp Volume by Category: Equities Overtake Commodities (excluding oil)

RWA perps run ~$45–60 billion/week, and flow is rotating out of commodities into equities. Equities roughly tripled to ~$18 billion and just overtook the commodities (excluding oil) block, while oil faded after its April macro spike. This implies that crypto-venue derivatives are increasingly used for 24/7 equity exposure, with commodities now the episodic, event-driven slice.

Listen. Read. Watch. Engage.

Looking for more? Receive the latest crypto news from coindesk.com and market updates from coindesk.com/institutions.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc., CoinDesk Indices or its owners and affiliates.

The ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5 has continued to expand despite Western sanctions, processing more than $110 billion in cumulative on-chain transactions, according to CertiK. Issued by Old Vector LLC in Kyrgyzstan on behalf of Russia’s cross-border settlement firm A7 LLC, the token now accounts for roughly 43% of the global non-dollar stablecoin market, with its holder base growing from about 13,000 wallets in February 2025 to 29,000 by May 2026.

CertiK describes A7A5 as a leading example of a sanctions-evasion stablecoin ecosystem, linking its activity to Russian cross-border settlement channels. The European Union’s 19th sanctions package, adopted on October 23, 2025, forbids A7A5 transactions from November 12, 2025. Yet, CertiK notes that the reserve and issuance architecture places key assets outside direct Western enforcement reach.

Key takeaways

• A7A5 has surpassed $110 billion in cumulative on-chain activity and commands about 43% of the global non-dollar stablecoin market, with wallets swelling to roughly 29,000 by May 2026.
• The project’s reserves sit in banking networks outside Western jurisdictions, and its design minimizes centralized control to resist direct enforcement.
• Liquid supply is distributed through DeFi pools (Curve, Uniswap) to avoid centralized exchange freezes, and the system deliberately lacks a centralized kill switch.
• Regulators have begun to squeeze onramps and execution points via the EU’s sanctions package and parallel actions, even as the blockchain itself cannot be “erased” by regulators from the outside; enforcement targets choke points.

Sanctions-era architecture and growth

The A7A5 project, launched in January 2025 by Old Vector LLC—a Kyrgyz entity acting for the Russian cross-border-settlement group A7 LLC, co-owned by Moldovan-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor and Russian state-owned lender Promsvyazbank—has intentionally built its framework to endure outside Western financial rails. CertiK notes that the reserves backing A7A5 sit largely in Central Asian banking networks and in the Russian banking system, reducing exposure to Western sanction enforcement.

A7A5’s design also emphasizes a distributed issuance and freezing model. Rather than anchoring control to a single centralized infrastructure, the project relies on decentralized finance liquidity layers, including Curve and Uniswap, to disperse liquidity and prevent unilateral freezing by centralized venues. Jonathan Riss, OSINT and blockchain intelligence analyst at CertiK, explained that this structure makes direct blockchain “rewrites” by regulators ineffective, while opening multiple points for enforcement actions to target residual choke points.

“While Western regulators cannot directly rewrite the Ethereum or Tron blockchain to erase A7A5, the EU’s 19th package and parallel US/UK actions target the physical and digital choke points.”

Riss emphasized that the three immunities crafted into A7A5—reserves outside Western reach, a non-centralized kill-switch, and DeFi-based liquidity—create practical resilience against sanctions that crippled other stablecoins in the past. CertiK characterizes A7A5 as one of the clearest examples of sanctions-evasion in a stablecoin ecosystem, closely tied to Russia’s cross-border settlement architecture.

The stablecoin’s path to prominence has not been accidental. A7A5’s on-chain activity and user base point to meaningful demand for ruble-based settlement and payments that can operate across borders even when traditional financial rails are constrained. The use of DeFi pools helps preserve liquidity in a way that reduces single points of failure, a feature that distinguishes A7A5 from more tightly centralized stablecoins.

Regulatory response and market dynamics

Washington and Brussels have moved to curb sanctioned assets by targeting the on- and off-ramp infrastructure that supports their circulation. The EU’s 19th sanctions package, in force for A7A5 from November 12, 2025, marks a meaningful escalation in the legal framework surrounding such tokens. However, the legal reach of sanctions—particularly when assets are held in jurisdictions outside Western control—remains a point of contention. As CertiK’s assessment suggests, regulators can strip access at centralized gateways and choke points, but they cannot “rewrite” the blockchain itself.

Beyond the paper trail of sanctions, A7A5 has demonstrated tangible market activity. The token recorded about $11.2 billion in trading volume for A7A5/RUB and roughly $6.1 billion for A7A5/USDT pairs, with Grinex (the successor to Garantex) serving as a primary conduit. This is notable given Garantex’s history as a laundering venue linked to illicit flows and later enforcement actions. In 2025, the U.S. Secret Service seized the Garantex domain, and Tether froze approximately $28 million in USDT held in wallets tied to Garantex, underscoring how on- and off-ramps still attract regulatory scrutiny even as new rails proliferate.

Owners and governance structures also weigh into the risk profile. The Ruble vault’s control framework was designed to retain issuance and reserves outside Western control, but the project’s governance is not centralized in a single public-facing entity. The leadership and ownership history surrounding A7A5’s parent entities suggest potential regulatory and compliance risk as authorities escalate enforcement against sanction-busting financial instruments.

Ownership, governance, and regulatory exposure

At the core of A7A5’s governance is Ilan Shor, who holds 51% of A7 LLC, the parent company behind the stablecoin’s issuance. Shor’s legal history adds a layer of geopolitical and regulatory sensitivity to the project. A Moldovan court convicted him in 2014 for theft from Moldovan banks, and he fled Moldova in 2019 to obtain Russian citizenship. He was sentenced in absentia in 2023 and currently resides in Moscow. This ownership backdrop has intensified attention on the project as Western authorities seek to constrict sanctioned digital assets from multiple angles.

The combination of Shor’s ownership, the token’s opaque reserve geography, and the reliance on DeFi rails creates a unique governance and risk profile for A7A5. Observers will be watching how regulators pursue enforcement actions that can disrupt liquidity or compel exchanges and liquidity providers to comply with sanctions, even as the asset circulates across borderless, permissionless networks.

As the regulatory landscape evolves, market participants should monitor how additional sanctions packages or enhanced enforcement actions affect onramps, liquidity provisioning, and cross-border settlement flows tied to ruble-denominated stablecoins. While the blockchain itself remains outside direct regulatory rewriting, the surrounding infrastructure—exchanges, custodians, and banks—continues to be a focal point for policymakers aiming to constrain sanctioned financial activity.

Readers should keep an eye on how this ecosystem adapts to shifting compliance requirements, potential liquidity pressures on DeFi pools, and any new oversight that targets the facilities that make sanctions-busting stablecoins viable—while hoping for clearer international norms on what constitutes legitimate cross-border settlement in a digitized world.

Binance announced it is shutting down support for non-fungible tokens on Binance Exchange and moving NFT management to its self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, Binance Wallet. 

The exchange said this will offer NFT holders “easier access to Web3 and decentralized features,” according to a Wednesday announcement.  

NFT Holders have until July 3 to withdraw their transferable NFTs from the platform before they become inaccessible. For non-transferable NFTs that can’t be withdrawn by design, Binance Academy will provide a PDF certificate of course completion.

The decision shows that more exchanges are winding down support for NFTs and refocusing on other areas, such as tokenized assets. Binance is the latest exchange to wind down support for NFTs after similar moves from other platforms, such as crypto exchange Kraken, which shut down its NFT marketplace in February 2025. 

NFT marketplace OpenSea also announced halting support for BNB Smart Chain-native NFTs in August 2023. 

Binance announces a halt to NFT support on Binance Exchange. Source: Binance

Binance to offer fee reimbursement for NFT migration

Binance said it will offer two promotions for NFT withdrawal fee reimbursements for one month.

The first one includes a reimbursement for general NFT withdrawal fees for non-CR7 NFTs. The second involves a withdrawal reimbursement for CR7 NFTs.

The exchange said it will select up to 100,000 users for the reimbursement, with each receiving 1 USDC (USDC) for an eligible NFT withdrawal, credited to eligible users’ Binance spot accounts by July 3.

Related: Kaiko acquires Amberdata in blockchain data consolidation push

The broader NFT sector has been declining for some time. Leading NFT collections have yet to recover to their previous all-time high seen in the summer of 2022.

CryptoPunk, floor price, all-time chart. Source: NFTPriceFloor.com

CryptoPunks, the largest NFT collection by market capitalization, is currently trading at 30.9 ETH, down 61% from its all-time high of 80.9 ETH recorded in July 2022.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price was trading at 7.9 ETH, down 93% from its all-time high of 128 ETH seen in May 2022, data from NFTPriceFloor shows.

Magazine: Digital art will ‘age like fine wine’: Inside Flamingo DAO’s 9-figure NFT collection

• Real Finance and Anchorage Digital form RWA infrastructure pact.
• Partnership combines tokenization, custody, and settlement tools.
• Firms target institutional adoption of on-chain capital markets.

Real Finance and Anchorage Digital have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at supporting the full lifecycle of tokenized assets, as institutional interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization continues to grow.

The collaboration combines Real Finance’s blockchain-based tokenization infrastructure with Anchorage Digital’s regulated custody, treasury management, settlement, and institutional security capabilities.

The companies said the partnership is designed to address key operational challenges that have slowed broader institutional adoption of tokenized financial products.

Under the agreement, the two firms will work together across asset issuance, custody, settlement, servicing, and secondary market liquidity.

The initiative is intended to provide a more integrated framework for institutions looking to participate in on-chain capital markets.

Focus on custody and tokenization infrastructure

Real Finance operates an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 blockchain developed specifically for real-world asset tokenization.

Anchorage Digital, meanwhile, is the parent company of the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States and serves as a qualified institutional custodian.

As part of the partnership, Anchorage Digital will provide regulated custody and treasury infrastructure for the Real Finance ecosystem and its native ASSET token.

The companies also said Anchorage Digital will act as a foundational custody layer for tokenized financial instruments launched on the Real Finance blockchain.

The arrangement is intended to support broader institutional participation by offering regulated custody services alongside tokenized asset issuance.

In addition, both firms will support each other’s institutional client pipelines.

Real Finance expects to generate additional demand for custody services through asset issuers and onboarding initiatives, while Anchorage Digital plans to connect institutional clients with tokenization and blockchain infrastructure solutions built on Real Finance.

Companies target institutional adoption

Executives from both companies said the partnership is focused on building the infrastructure required for institutional-scale adoption of tokenized assets.

Ivo Grigorov, CEO of Real Finance, said:

“Real Finance and Anchorage Digital are collaboratively building the institutional infrastructure for the next generation of tokenized financial markets. Tokenization alone is not enough. Institutions need trusted, regulated layers that integrate custody, servicing, settlement, and lifecycle management. Together we are moving the industry from experimentation toward functional on-chain capital markets and delivering the unified experience institutions demand.”

Nathan McCauley, Co-Founder and CEO, Anchorage Digital, added:

“RWAs are one of the clearest examples of how blockchain can modernize capital markets, but institutions need more than tokenization rails alone. They need regulated, secure infrastructure that can support custody, settlement, and lifecycle connectivity at scale. Our partnership with Real Finance brings together the core building blocks institutions need to move from isolated pilots to real onchain capital markets.”

Addressing fragmentation in tokenized markets

The companies said the tokenized asset ecosystem remains fragmented across issuance, custody, compliance, settlement, servicing, and liquidity infrastructure.

According to the firms, institutions frequently cite operational trust concerns and disconnected counterparties as obstacles to wider adoption.

The partnership is intended to create a more connected framework by combining blockchain infrastructure, regulated custody, treasury management, settlement capabilities, and tokenization tools.

Real Finance and Anchorage Digital said the framework could support a range of tokenized asset classes, including private credit, investment funds, real estate, structured products, and bank-integrated financial instruments.

The announcement comes as financial institutions continue exploring tokenized assets as a way to modernize capital markets infrastructure and expand access to blockchain-based financial services.

By integrating custody, settlement, and tokenization capabilities within a single ecosystem, the two companies aim to address some of the operational challenges that have limited the growth of institutional on-chain markets.

OKX debuts World Cup-focused outcomes market built on new Exchange OS protocol

OKX has launched The Beautiful Game, a free-to-play outcomes market that lets users predict winners across all World Cup fixtures and compete for a portion of a multi-BTC prize pool. The product is powered by Exchange OS, OKX’s recently introduced open protocol that the company says provides matching and settlement infrastructure at the protocol layer.

The contest runs through July 20, 2026 and is open to eligible users of the OKX mobile app in markets where the promotion is permitted. OKX says the leaderboard-based tournament will distribute rewards proportionally at the end of the competition. Participation mechanics include daily check-ins, position commitments on matches, referral incentives and other platform activity that feed into players’ scores.

The launch comes alongside a company survey of 2,000 self-identified football fans who trade cryptocurrency, which found a substantial tilt toward crypto assets over sporting triumphs among respondents. Among the headline results: roughly three quarters said they would rather receive 1 BTC than see their favored national team win the World Cup. The survey also reported that a majority associate football more closely with crypto than other sports, and that many respondents see overlapping skill sets between sports prediction and crypto trading.

What Exchange OS adds — and why it matters

Exchange OS is presented by OKX as a permissionless infrastructure layer that sits on top of its X Layer EVM-compatible layer two. According to the company, the protocol handles trade matching and settlement so that third-party builders can deploy spot, perpetual, or prediction-market exchanges without rebuilding the low-level infrastructure.

If adopted, that pattern could reduce engineering overhead for teams hoping to launch market venues and accelerate experimentation in onchain trading products. OKX says deployers will retain control over listings, branding and user experience while relying on Exchange OS for the underlying operations.

From a market perspective, platforms that abstract matching and settlement into a shared protocol may increase interoperability and liquidity, but they also raise questions about centralization, governance and the extent to which responsibility remains with the protocol operator versus individual deployers.

Survey findings underscore a growing crossover between sports fandom and crypto

The OKX survey is notable for quantifying the overlap between football interest and crypto activity among a self-selected cohort of trading fans. Key figures include:

Preference for crypto rewards: Approximately 76% of respondents said they would choose 1 BTC over their favorite team lifting the World Cup trophy.

Emotional tradeoffs: About 23% indicated they would be more upset by their national team being eliminated than by a 20% loss in their crypto portfolio.

Perceived skill overlap: A large share—reported at 84%—said the cognitive skills that support trading, such as probabilistic thinking and pattern recognition, also apply to predicting football outcomes. Nearly half said their match calls would outperform their trading performance over the same time period.

These results suggest that gamified prediction products aimed at sports fans can tap into an audience already familiar with trading concepts and risk tolerance. For exchanges and app-based platforms, seasonal sports events like the World Cup offer predictable spikes in engagement and a natural promotional window for onboarding users.

Regulatory and operational considerations

Outcomes and prediction markets operate in a crowded regulatory landscape. Different jurisdictions treat these products as gambling, financial instruments, or unregulated entertainment, depending on local law and the structure of the offering. OKX’s release emphasizes region-by-region eligibility and the absence of required payments to participate, which reflects standard compliance precautions.

Even so, operators deploying similar markets will need clear legal strategies, robust user protections and transparent terms to limit exposure. Financial regulators and gambling authorities have in the past scrutinized platforms that offer monetary returns from event-based predictions. Projects that combine onchain settlement with centralized control over listings may attract additional regulatory attention.

Market implications and what to watch

For OKX, The Beautiful Game serves multiple purposes: it promotes app usage during a global sporting event, showcases Exchange OS as a layer for builders, and reinforces the company’s positioning at the intersection of trading and consumer engagement. The product’s free-to-play design lowers the barrier to entry and helps sidestep some payout and licensing complications that accompany real-money betting in regulated markets.

Observers should monitor several metrics and developments to assess the launch’s wider impact: user sign-ups and retention tied to the tournament, the rate at which external builders adopt Exchange OS, any regulatory inquiries in key markets, and whether similar products proliferate among incumbent exchanges and decentralized platforms.

Ultimately, OKX’s move illustrates the continued blending of sports fandom and crypto-native product design. If the protocol-layer approach to matching and settlement gains traction, it could reshape how prediction markets and niche exchanges are launched — but it will also test operator readiness for regulatory scrutiny and the operational demands of higher-volume, event-driven traffic.

Disclosure: The information in this article is based on company announcements and a survey published by OKX. It does not constitute investment advice.

The online gambling industry is no longer defined by a single style of platform. For years, players had to pick a side. On one end were the traditional operators built on regulated markets and familiar payment methods. On the other were the crypto-first casinos that grew quickly by offering speed and a more modern feel. Bet365 leads the first group. Stake.com leads the second. Both have huge user bases, and both have shaped what players expect from an online casino in their own way.

A new name is now showing up in conversations about which platform to try next. ZunaBet launched in 2026 with a crypto-first build, more than 11,000 games, a full sportsbook, and a loyalty program built around dragons. This article takes a closer look at how Stake.com and Bet365 compare, and why ZunaBet has quickly become one of the most talked-about new platforms in the space.

The Two Giants Players Already Know

Stake.com has built one of the strongest names in crypto gambling. It supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major coins, and its brand grew on the back of a fast platform, a clean interface, and a sportsbook that gave esports as much weight as traditional sports. Major sponsorships with sports teams and well-known creators have made Stake one of the most visible names in the space. For a lot of crypto-savvy players, it is the first stop.

Bet365 took a very different route. It started in UK sports betting and turned into one of the largest gambling operators in the world. The sportsbook is the core of the platform, with deep markets and one of the best live betting setups around. Casino games, poker, and live dealer products came later. Payments stick to cards, bank transfers, and a small list of e-wallets. Bet365 only operates in regulated markets, where it works inside strict local rules.

Both platforms have earned their spot. Stake fits players who want speed, crypto support, and a modern feel. Bet365 fits players who want a regulated, fiat-based experience tied to a long-established brand. The space in between, where crypto meets a massive library and a fully developed sportsbook, is exactly where newer platforms are starting to break through.

A Quick Look at ZunaBet

ZunaBet runs under Strathvale Group Ltd and operates on an Anjouan gaming license. The team behind it has over 20 years of combined industry experience, but the platform itself is brand new and built from scratch for a crypto-first audience.

The size of the library catches the eye right away. ZunaBet carries 11,294 games from 63 providers. The list of studios includes Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, Yggdrasil, BGaming, and Evolution. Slots take the largest share, while RNG table games and live dealer rooms cover the rest. Few crypto casinos come close to that kind of variety.

The sportsbook gets the same level of attention. It covers football, basketball, tennis, NHL, and other major sports with deep markets. Esports get equal focus, with markets on CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Valorant. Virtual sports and combat sports finish out the lineup. Players move between casino games and sports bets in one account, without bouncing between sites.

Crypto vs Traditional Money

Payments are where the three platforms separate most clearly.

Bet365 runs entirely on traditional banking. Cards, bank transfers, and a few e-wallets handle nearly every transaction. These methods are familiar but slow. Withdrawals can take a few business days. Some banks flag or block gambling-related payments. Players in certain regions are stuck with very limited options.

Stake.com is crypto-first and supports a healthy list of cryptocurrencies. Withdrawals move quickly, fees stay low, and the whole flow feels lighter than going through a bank.

ZunaBet pushes the crypto-first model even further. It supports more than 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT on multiple chains, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, and XRP. There are no platform processing fees, and withdrawals usually clear in minutes. Anyone with a wallet and an internet connection can play, no matter where they live. That kind of access is hard to match with bank-based systems.

For players who already use crypto in their daily life, this setup feels natural. Gambling becomes one more use case for the same digital wallet they already use for trading, payments, or savings.

Loyalty Programs: A Real Point of Difference

Each platform handles loyalty in its own way.

Bet365 uses a standard rewards system. Players earn points based on wagering and unlock perks like cashback and free spins. It works, but it follows the same template most traditional VIP programs use.

Stake.com runs a more modern rewards model with rakeback, weekly bonuses, and rank-based perks. It is especially popular with active players and has played a big role in the brand’s fast growth.

ZunaBet built something with more personality. Its loyalty system runs on a dragon evolution theme with six tiers: Squire, Warden, Champion, Divine, Knight, and Ultimate. Each tier brings better rakeback, starting at 1% and reaching 20% at the top. Higher tiers also unlock more free spins, with up to 1,000 available at the highest level. VIP club access, double wheel spins, and a mascot named Zuno tie everything together.

The 20% rakeback at the top tier is one of the highest in the industry. The bigger draw is how the progression feels. Climbing through dragon tiers is closer to leveling up a character in a video game than tracking points on a card. That kind of design lines up well with how younger players already engage with the apps and games they use outside of gambling.

The Welcome Offer

The welcome bonus is one of the easiest ways to compare platforms. Bet365 offers welcome bonuses tied to a single deposit, usually with wagering rules that take effort to clear. Stake.com puts less focus on a big upfront bonus and leans more on ongoing rewards and rakeback for active players.

ZunaBet leans hard into the welcome package. It spreads the offer across three deposits, with a total value of up to $5,000 plus 75 free spins. The first deposit gets a 100% match up to $2,000 plus 25 spins. The second adds a 50% match up to $1,500 plus 25 spins. The third closes things off with another 100% match up to $1,500 plus 25 spins. Combined, that works out to a 250% bonus across the first three deposits, which is well above the industry average.

Why ZunaBet Feels Built for the Next Generation

The strength of ZunaBet is in how the pieces fit together. Crypto-first payments. A massive game library. A real sportsbook with deep esports coverage. A loyalty program with character. Each piece points to the same kind of player. Someone who already lives online, manages money in digital wallets, follows esports, and wants a casino that feels modern and a bit fun.

Stake.com appeals to a similar group with its own style. Bet365 serves a more traditional side of the market. ZunaBet sits between those two worlds and combines the speed of crypto casinos with the size, depth, and design that newer players expect from a 2026 platform.

A Look at What Is Ahead

Stake.com and Bet365 are not going anywhere. Both have strong brands, large user bases, and proven products. They will keep serving the players who prefer their approach.

But the bigger picture is shifting. Crypto has gone mainstream. Esports betting is now a major category. Players want speed, choice, and platforms that feel alive instead of stuck in an older model. ZunaBet was built with those expectations in mind from day one rather than added on top of an older system. It is still a young platform, but it has already become one of the most talked-about launches of 2026. For players asking which platform to check out next, ZunaBet is fast becoming the easy answer.

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.