Kraken has expanded its regulated brokerage offering by launching trading in more than 7,000 US-listed stocks for eligible customers in the European Economic Area (EEA). The move adds traditional equity exposure to the exchange’s existing focus on cryptocurrencies and its growing tokenized-assets lineup.

According to Kraken, the service is available to EEA users through Kraken Pro and its mobile app under the firm’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) authorization. The company says customers can trade US-listed shares alongside crypto markets and tokenized equity products from a single platform.

Key takeaways

• Kraken now supports trading of 7,000+ US-listed stocks for eligible EEA customers under its MiFID II authorization.
• The offering is accessible via Kraken Pro and Kraken’s mobile app.
• US shares can be held alongside tokenized equity exposure (“xStocks”) within the same ecosystem.
• Kraken says eligible customers can trade commission-free, subject to applicable conditions.
• Kraken plans to expand its integrated equities offering to additional markets in the coming months.

How Kraken’s integrated equities push works

Kraken’s announcement positions the new US-stock access as part of a broader strategy to combine conventional market instruments with tokenized representations. The company says customers can trade directly through Kraken’s brokerage framework while also retaining the option to use its tokenized equity products.

Kraken also highlighted that its equities offering aligns with its existing product slate: more than 600 crypto assets plus over 700 xStocks. xStocks are tokenized versions of publicly listed equities and are designed to allow users to gain exposure to those underlying assets through tokens.

By pairing traditional share trading with tokenized equity offerings, Kraken is effectively reducing the need for users to switch between different platforms or infrastructures to pursue both “native” crypto exposure and conventional equity exposure. For traders and portfolio builders, that matters because it can simplify custody, account access, and execution pathways—at least within Kraken’s ecosystem—while offering a single interface for multiple asset types.

Regulation and operating structure

Kraken said the service is delivered by Payward Europe Digital Solutions, the company’s Cyprus-based investment firm. The regulatory framing is an important part of the story: Kraken’s ability to offer traditional stock trading in Europe hinges on its MiFID II authorization.

Kraken stated that eligible customers can trade US-listed stocks commission-free, while also noting that the offer remains subject to applicable conditions. The practical detail for users is that commission-free pricing may not be identical to “no costs”—spreads, fees tied to execution, and other terms can still apply depending on the product and account type. Kraken’s statement indicates the company is leaning into cost competitiveness as a way to attract liquidity and retail usage alongside its crypto business.

xStocks growth underscores Kraken’s tokenized-equity ambitions

While the headline is about US-listed stocks, Kraken’s tokenized-equities business provides context for why the exchange is making the integration step now. Kraken launched xStocks in 2025, offering tokenized exposure to US equities and exchange-traded funds, and it says xStocks has since generated more than $38 billion in total transaction volume.

Kraken further claims xStocks has become one of the largest tokenized stock issuers. Based on Token Terminal data shared in the announcement, xStocks is the second-largest tokenized stock issuer by market capitalization as of Monday, at roughly $609 million. Token Terminal places Ondo Finance ahead, at about $974 million, and notes that Binance’s bStocks is currently third-largest with around $544 million.

For investors watching the tokenized-assets sector, the ranking matters because tokenized equities are still in an evolving phase—liquidity, issuance, and market structure differ across products. Issuer scale can affect how easily users enter and exit positions and how closely token prices track their underlying reference assets. Kraken’s inclusion among the top issuers suggests its xStocks product has traction, but it also sets expectations: as Kraken expands into conventional equities, market participants will likely compare which portion of trading volumes remains token-focused and which portion shifts toward standard share execution.

What to watch next as Kraken expands beyond the EEA

Kraken said it plans to extend its integrated equities offering to additional markets in the coming months. That matters because access decisions often depend on regulatory clearances and operational readiness. It also raises a key question for users: whether Kraken will replicate the same stock universe size and commission structure as it expands, or tailor offerings by region.

Another practical item to monitor is how Kraken will position tokenized equities relative to conventional trading as product adoption grows. If Kraken’s platform increasingly captures both share trading and xStocks activity, investors may see tighter cross-asset workflows—while regulators and market observers will continue to scrutinize how tokenized products are marketed, priced, and risk-managed compared with their underlying markets.

For now, EEA customers get a broader “all-in-one” access point for US equities, crypto, and tokenized stocks via Kraken’s Pro platform and mobile app—setting the stage for what could be a more competitive next phase in regulated digital asset brokerage. The next developments to watch are Kraken’s rollout timeline to other regions and the ongoing balance between traditional share volumes and tokenized equity demand.

MoonPay has added Cash App Pay to its checkout, giving eligible US customers a way to purchase cryptocurrency using funds from their Cash App balance. The payments provider says the option is available both on MoonPay’s own platform and through select partner integrations, removing the need to move between apps or complete additional logins.

In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Tuesday, MoonPay said Cash App Pay is now live for users across its network of wallet and payments partners, including Trust Wallet, Bitcoin.com, MetaMask, Moonshot, Ledger, BitPay, Uniswap, Tangem, LOBSTR, and Edge.

Key takeaways

• MoonPay’s checkout now supports Cash App Pay, allowing US users to fund crypto purchases directly from their Cash App balance.
• The integration is also available through select MoonPay partners, including major wallet and onchain platforms such as MetaMask and Uniswap.
• MoonPay’s payments stack already includes integrations with PayPal and Venmo, after adding PayPal in 2024 and expanding to Venmo later.
• Cash App, operated by Block, supports buying and selling Bitcoin in-app—MoonPay’s integration broadens the range of crypto options available to users who prefer Cash App funding.
• The company is licensed in New York and authorized in the Netherlands under EU crypto rules, reflecting its ongoing push to expand beyond traditional onramps.

A simpler path from Cash App funds to crypto

For users, the practical change is convenience. MoonPay says customers can buy cryptocurrency by using their Cash App balance through MoonPay’s checkout flow, without switching apps or completing a separate login. The goal is to reduce friction at the moment money changes hands—an area where crypto purchases have often struggled against the “just don’t make me do it twice” expectations of mainstream payment users.

Cash App already offers in-app Bitcoin buying and selling, which helped make it a familiar onramp for millions of people. MoonPay’s integration extends that funding method beyond Bitcoin, potentially making it easier for Cash App users to access a wider selection of assets via partner wallets and platforms.

Block’s shareholder reporting indicates Cash App had 59 million active users in June, according to its second-quarter shareholder letter linked by Cointelegraph. As MoonPay plugs into that user base through Cash App Pay, the integration could improve discovery and conversion for assets accessible through its supported partners.

Available across MoonPay’s checkout and partner ecosystem

MoonPay positioned the rollout as part of its broader distribution strategy—pushing payment options not only through its own interface, but also through third-party applications. In Tuesday’s announcement, the company named a range of partners where Cash App Pay is supported, spanning self-custody wallets, crypto services, and payment/commerce tools.

These include wallets and ecosystems such as Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Ledger, Tangem, and Bitcoin.com, as well as platforms like Uniswap and BitPay. For users, that matters because it means they may not need to choose between a wallet they already use and a payment provider they trust; instead, the funding method can travel with the interface.

MoonPay’s payments expansion: PayPal, Venmo, and now Cash App Pay

The Cash App Pay addition continues MoonPay’s ongoing effort to broaden the range of mainstream payment routes it can offer. Cointelegraph notes that MoonPay supports payment integrations with PayPal and Venmo as well—PayPal was added in 2024, and MoonPay later expanded to Venmo.

By stacking familiar consumer payment brands on top of its crypto checkout infrastructure, MoonPay is effectively targeting a recurring user need: the ability to fund crypto purchases through everyday financial accounts. Cash App Pay is a particularly notable fit because Cash App is already designed around balance management inside a single app, which may reduce friction for users who don’t want to learn a new payment flow.

Regulatory footing and a shift beyond simple onramps

MoonPay said its operations are backed by licensing and authorization frameworks. The company is licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services through a BitLicense and Limited Purpose Trust Charter, and it is authorized under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in the Netherlands.

The integration also arrives during a period when MoonPay has been broadening its focus beyond a pure “fiat-to-crypto onramp.” Cointelegraph reported that the company has pursued multiple acquisitions and product moves during 2026.

Earlier in the year, MoonPay acquired Solana trading infrastructure provider DFlow in May, following an April deal for crypto security firm Sodot. In July, MoonPay acquired cross-chain infrastructure startup Glide and launched PayBox, described in prior Cointelegraph coverage as a vault designed to let ChatGPT and Claude users authorize crypto transactions while keeping custody of their assets.

While Cash App Pay is still fundamentally about payments, MoonPay’s larger pattern suggests it is building a wider platform that can support not just entry into crypto markets, but also execution and infrastructure for services that operate across chains and applications.

What to watch next

As Cash App Pay rolls out through MoonPay and partner apps, users and builders should watch for which cryptocurrencies become available through each partner interface and whether MoonPay continues expanding to additional mainstream payment rails. The broader question is whether these integrations translate into sustained conversion—turning “one more checkout option” into a reliable default for new crypto buyers.

MARA’s performance reflects the slide in hashprice, the expected daily revenue generated by a unit of bitcoin mining power. In July last year, the hashprice was $63 for each petahash per second (PH/s) of power. It’s now around $31.80 per PH/s.

Not surprisingly, an increasing number of miners are finding it unprofitable to continue production and are turning off their machines, a process known as capitulation. As a result, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate — a measure of mining power — has dropped to 900 exahash per second (EH/s) from 1.14 zettahash per second (ZH/s), or about 21%.

This is already one of the longest capitulation cycles on record, and it may not be over.

In the meantime, the market has repriced companies that have secured AI and HPC contracts.

According to CoinShares’ first-quarter mining report, miners with HPC contracts trade at 12.3 times their enterprise value. That compares with the 5.9 times commanded by pure-play bitcoin miners.

The report also estimated that the industry had secured a cumulative $70 billion in AI and HPC contracts by the end of that quarter.

As the year progressed, miners have announced a growing number of contracts at increasingly large valuations. Just a week ago, for example, Riot Platforms (RIOT) signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic valued at $9.1 billion. Riot’s shares have climbed from around $3 to $20 over the past four years, highlighting how dramatically the market has repriced miners with exposure to AI infrastructure.

MoonPay has added Cash App Pay as a payment method for cryptocurrency purchases, giving eligible U.S. customers a way to fund MoonPay transactions directly from their Cash App balances.

MoonPay said Tuesday that Cash App Pay is now available through its own checkout and across selected partner platforms, including Trust Wallet, Bitcoin.com, MetaMask, Moonshot, Ledger, BitPay, Uniswap, Tangem, LOBSTR and Edge.

Customers using the option can pay for crypto with funds held in Cash App without moving money between separate services or completing another login during the purchase process. The integration adds another payment route for MoonPay users in the U.S., where Cash App already serves tens of millions of customers.

Operated by Jack Dorsey’s Block, Cash App reported 59 million active users in June, according to Block’s second-quarter shareholder report. Cash App already allows customers to buy and sell Bitcoin inside its own app, while the MoonPay connection gives eligible users access to additional cryptocurrencies available through MoonPay.

“Cash App is where tens of millions of Americans already manage their money,” MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said. “This integration means that those users can access the digital asset ecosystem, funded instantly from an app they already know and trust.”

MoonPay Cash App Pay joins its existing payment options

Cash App Pay joins PayPal and Venmo among the payment services that MoonPay has connected to its crypto purchasing infrastructure.

MoonPay added PayPal support in 2024 and later expanded its payment options through Venmo. An earlier crypto.news report covered the October 2024 Venmo integration, which allowed roughly 60 million U.S. users at the time to buy cryptocurrencies through MoonPay using their Venmo balances.

The setup followed a similar model to the new Cash App Pay service, allowing customers to use balances held in a familiar payments app while MoonPay handles the crypto transaction. Venmo support was subsequently made available across parts of MoonPay’s partner network.

Payment integrations form one part of MoonPay’s original fiat-to-crypto business, under which the company connects traditional payment methods with cryptocurrency purchases. Its platform currently supports methods including cards, bank transfers and several digital payment services, with availability depending on the customer’s location.

MoonPay said the Cash App option will work both through its direct checkout and supported third-party services. The partner list puts Cash App Pay inside several established self-custody wallets and crypto applications, including MetaMask, Ledger and Trust Wallet, without requiring each service to build a separate Cash App purchasing flow.

Under MoonPay’s regulatory setup, the company operates in New York under a BitLicense and Limited Purpose Trust Charter issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services. MoonPay is also authorized under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework through the Netherlands.

MoonPay has been building beyond its crypto onramp business

While the Cash App deal adds another consumer payment option, MoonPay has spent much of 2026 adding infrastructure for institutional trading, custody and tokenized assets.

In April, MoonPay acquired security firm Sodot to supply key-management technology for a newly created institutional business. The transaction was completed as an all-stock deal valued at roughly $100 million, according to Bloomberg at the time.

MoonPay said Sodot’s technology would support services for financial institutions, asset managers, trading firms and exchanges. The unit covers areas including trading, payments, tokenized securities, wallet infrastructure and stablecoin issuance, with former acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Caroline Pham leading the business.

Sodot specializes in self-hosted multiparty computation technology, which splits control of cryptocurrency private keys across separate components. MoonPay incorporated the technology into its institutional infrastructure as it added services beyond retail crypto purchases.

The company also acquired Solana trading infrastructure provider DFlow in May, adding technology that later became part of MoonPay Trade. The institutional execution platform gives clients access to trading and routing infrastructure across more than 200 blockchains through a single API, according to details released by the company in June.

Another institutional integration followed in June when Franklin Templeton added its BENJI fund to MoonPay Trade. The arrangement lets institutional users exchange stablecoins including USDC and USDT for Franklin Templeton’s tokenized U.S. government money market fund.

Franklin Templeton said the connection could be used for treasury management, portfolio rebalancing, collateral and liquidity operations. MoonPay said the deal extended its institutional services into tokenized financial products alongside crypto, fiat and stablecoin infrastructure.

MoonPay also bought cross-chain infrastructure startup Glide in July, continuing the acquisition program that has supplied technology for trading, security and blockchain connectivity.

AI payments have become another part of MoonPay’s expansion

MoonPay moved into AI-assisted crypto transactions during the same period, introducing products designed to let users authorize financial actions through conversational assistants.

Earlier this month, the company launched its PayBox vault, a noncustodial payment product that connects with ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. Users can instruct an assistant to prepare crypto purchases, swaps, cross-chain transfers, decentralized finance deposits and certain online purchases while retaining control over transaction permissions.

PayBox offers an “Always Ask” mode that requires passkey approval for each transaction and an “Autonomous” setting that lets an assistant act within spending limits and rules configured by the user. Altering the permission model also requires passkey authorization.

The product uses technology obtained through the Sodot acquisition, with wallet keys divided using multiparty computation and stored across secure hardware environments. MoonPay said neither the company nor a connected AI assistant can independently obtain the complete private key or authorize a transaction.

PayBox currently supports Solana and several Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible networks, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Hyperliquid, Tempo and Robinhood Chain. Its first integrations also cover selected travel bookings, restaurant reservations, and purchases from online retailers.

Sending ether ETH$1,903.33 will no longer always carry the same network fee, breaking one of Ethereum’s oldest rules of thumb.

Developers from the Ethereum Foundation, the nonprofit that supports and maintains Ethereum, told wallet makers, blockchain trackers, and fee calculators in a blog post to update any software built on the assumption that a basic ETH transfer costs 21,000 gas units. Gas is how Ethereum measures the work a transaction asks the network to do, and users pay for that work in ETH.

Today, that 21,000 applies whether the receiving account has been used before or not. Under Ethereum’s next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, sending to an existing account still costs 21,000, while sending to an address that has never appeared in Ethereum’s records costs more because the network has to create and permanently store a new account.

The proposal puts that extra charge at 183,600 units of a new category called state gas.

South Korean crypto exchanges Upbit and Bithumb have seen revenues plummet in the first half of the year amid a wider downturn for crypto companies in the country. Meanwhile, South Korea has also banned prediction market Polymarket after concluding that its operations constitute illegal gambling.  

The Block reports that Bithumb recorded an operating profit of 14.9 billion won ($11 million), down 83% from last year’s profit of 90.1 billion won ($64 million).

Its operating revenue this year is 168.8 billion won ($120 million), down almost 49% from last year’s 329.2 billion won ($233 million).

It also suffered a net loss this year of 108.7 billion won ($77 million).

Crypto firms hit by poor global market

Upbit parent company Dunamu reported a similar drop in operating revenue. It made 408.1 billion won ($289 million) in the first half of this year, a drop of 49% from last year’s 801.9 billion won ($568 million).

Its operating profits were 111.5 billion won ($79 million), an almost 80% drop from 549.1 billion won ($389 million) last year. 

Dunamu said, “The recent decline in performance is attributed to a contraction in liquidity across the global digital asset market, which has led to a weakening of investor sentiment.”

South Korea finds Polymarket is a gambling firm

Meanwhile, crypto-based Polymarket has been banned after South Korea’s Media and Communications Commission concluded the platform’s operations constitute illegal gambling. 

The regulator claimed Polymarket crossed an information threshold that is classed as gambling under the Criminal Act and National Sports Promotion Act.

It found that Polymarket’s use of yes-or-no contracts encourages speculative behavior where winnings are reliant on events out of users’ control.