BitcoinKE

Global bond markets are coming under renewed pressure as rising government debt, persistent inflation, and increased borrowing by companies push yields higher and challenge investors’ appetite for long-term debt.
Government bond yields have climbed sharply across major economies, with
Japan’s 10-year yield reaching 3% for the first time since 1996, while
U.S., British, German and French borrowing costs have also moved to multi-year or multi-decade highs.
The moves reflect growing concern that governments are borrowing heavily at a time when investors are demanding higher returns to compensate for inflation and fiscal risks.
The United States is at the centre of those concerns, with federal debt exceeding $40 trillion.

MILESTONE | U.S National Debt Surpasses $40 Trillion for First Time

At the same time, a surge in corporate borrowing to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure is adding to the supply of debt competing for investor capital.

AI | Another Crypto Mining Firm Shifts Focus to AI Infrastructure with a $6 Billion Deal

Global corporate bond issuance has reached a record $4.9 trillion so far in 2026, up 14% from the same period last year, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Five major U.S. technology companies
Alphabet (Google),
Amazon,
Meta,
Microsoft, and
Oracle
have issued about $220 billion in debt this year as they finance data centres and AI-related investments, more than twice last year’s total.

AI | AI Agents Should Be Treated as ‘Untrusted’ Systems, Say Google and Meta Researchers

Higher yields translate into higher borrowing costs across the economy, affecting governments, companies, and consumers through more expensive mortgages, loans, and corporate financing.

The pressure also complicates central-bank policy.

Rising energy prices and geopolitical tensions are adding to inflation risks while higher government borrowing costs make it harder for policymakers to support economies without worsening fiscal pressures.

GEOPOLITICS | U.S Attemps to Trade Oil Futures Would Be a ‘Biblical Disaster,’ Says Oil Industry Giant

For emerging markets, the risks can be greater. Higher yields in major economies can draw capital away from developing countries, increase the cost of dollar-denominated debt and put pressure on currencies already vulnerable to external shocks.
The bond-market moves therefore represent more than a shift in investor preferences. They signal a broader reassessment of the cost of government borrowing after years of exceptionally low interest rates and abundant liquidity.
With debt levels remaining high and governments facing growing spending demands, investors may increasingly demand higher yields before financing additional borrowing — putting fiscal discipline back at the centre of global markets.

DOLLARISATION | China Reportedly Urges Domestic Banks to Limit and Reduce Exposure to U.S Treasuries



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Southeast Asia’s blockchain sector has raised $680 million in equity funding so far in 2026, more than double the $319 million raised during all of 2025, as investors increasingly concentrate capital in established crypto companies and financial services, according to Tracxn data.
The rebound, however, is being driven by fewer deals. Just 25 funding rounds have been completed in 2026, down from 46 in 2025 and far below the 206 rounds recorded in 2022.
A $400 million Series D round for Crypto.com accounts for almost 60% of the 2026 total.
Other major deals include:
Edena Capital’s $100 million Series D and
Startale’s $50 million Series A.
Together, the three rounds represent about 81% of regional funding.

FUNDING | Leading Crypto Brokerage Infrastructure Provider Raises Over $100 Million to Expand On-Chain Stocks

Crypto financial services have attracted $498 million across 19 rounds, up 48.4% year-on-year.
Tokenization platforms followed with $114 million, while
decentralized application development platforms raised $77 million.

CASE STUDY | This Latest Funding Round Signals Where DeFi’s Next Growth Story May Come From

Funding remains below the region’s
$2.2 billion peak in 2022. It fell to
$386 million in 2023 before recovering to
$804 million in 2025
according to Tracxn.
The sector’s funding pipeline also shows increasing concentration. Of 3,957 blockchain companies tracked by Tracxn,
1,323 have received equity funding, but only
167 have reached Series A or later.
Just 50 have reached Series B,
14 Series C, and
4 Series D or beyond.

INSIGHTS | What This Funding Round, Led by the World’s Largest Exchange, Signals

Singapore remains the dominant funding hub accounting for 82.5% of the region’s $6.2 billion in cumulative blockchain funding and hosting 2,285 companies tracked by Tracxn. Jakarta follows with about 3% of regional funding.
The region has recorded
43 acquisitions and
4 IPOs, while producing
6 blockchain unicorns, including Sygnum, Bitkub, Sky Mavis, and Amber Group.
The figures point to a recovery in Southeast Asia’s crypto investment market but not a return to the broad-based funding boom of 2022. Instead, capital is increasingly flowing toward financial infrastructure, tokenization, and companies that have already reached scale.


CASE STUDY | This Asian Deal Signals Upcoming Market Demand at Scale for Stablecoin Infrastructure




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Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s largest retail investment platform, has begun offering eligible clients access to Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded notes (ETNs), marking a significant shift for a firm that previously warned investors about cryptocurrency risks.
The platform has listed 9 crypto ETNs from issuers including
BlackRock’s iShares,
WisdomTree,
21Shares,
Invesco,
CoinShares and
Bitwise,
with fees ranging from zero to 0.35%.

CRYPTO MARKETS | August Was the Strongest Month for Bitcoin ETFs in 2026 So Far
A crypto ETN can give investors Bitcoin price exposure through a traditional securities account without requiring them to manage wallets or hold Bitcoin themselves. But the structure can vary significantly by jurisdiction, including whether the product is actually backed by the underlying crypto.
In other words,
an ETF generally gives you ownership of a pool of assets;
an ETN gives you a debt claim on an issuer whose value is tied to an underlying asset or index.

The move follows Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority lifting its 4-year ban on retail access to qualifying crypto ETNs in October 2025.
Hargreaves Lansdown, which serves more than 2 million clients and oversees over $200 billion, is limiting access to investors who meet additional eligibility and risk-assessment requirements.
The reversal highlights how crypto is increasingly moving from specialist exchanges into mainstream wealth-management platforms even as traditional firms continue to classify the products as high risk.


INSTITUTIONAL | Why Wall Street is Lowering the Barrier to Entry for Crypto ETFs




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Pons, a token-launch app operating on Robinhood Chain, generated about $5.95 million in fees in 24 hours, surpassing the fees generated by the blockchain itself, as speculative trading surged.
Nearly 25,000 tokens were launched through Pons on Sept. 2 2026 while trading volume reached about $544 million, according to DefiLlama data.
Robinhood Chain itself collected roughly $4 million in fees over the same period – about one-fifth of its total fees since launching in July 2026.


The figures highlight an unexpected dynamic for a network launched with tokenized stocks and real-world assets as flagship products:
Memecoins are currently driving a significant share of its activity and revenue.

For Robinhood, the bigger opportunity may be transaction volume rather than the value of the tokens being traded. Every trade running through the chain generates activity that can translate into fees while also creating revenue for Arbitrum through its infrastructure arrangement.
The question now is whether the memecoin frenzy can evolve into sustained on-chain activity or whether Robinhood Chain’s early growth is being driven primarily by speculative trading.


CASE STUDY | Robinhood Could Become Arbitrum’s Biggest Revenue Engine




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OpenReserve, a blockchain financial institution backed by investors including
Andreessen Horowitz,
Jump Capital,
Coinbase Ventures, and
Wintermute Ventures
among others, has received preliminary approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national bank.

REGULATION | The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Clears National Banks to Act as Intermediaries in Crypto Transactions

The Salt Lake City, Utah company plans to build banking services around blockchain infrastructure, including
on-chain settlement,
treasury management,
digital asset services,
foreign correspondent banking,
stablecoins, and
tokenized deposits
through a full-service banking-as-a-service platform.

REGULATION | Minnesota State Signs Law Permitting Banks, Credit Unions to Offer Crypto Custody Services

According to the OCC:
“The Bank plans to form a wholly-owned stablecoin subsidiary to engage in issuance, custody, conversion, and payment of U.S. dollar-denominated reserve-backed stablecoins. An application for the subsidiary has not yet been filed.”

The proposed Bank, through its subsidiary, will offer, in a nonfiduciary capacity, custody services for digital assets (e.g., hosting wallets, custodying cryptocurrencies). The OCC has previously concluded that providing custody services, including cryptocurrency custody services, is a permissible activity for a national bank as part of or incidental to the business of banking under 12 USC 24 (Seventh).
The proposed Bank will receive digital assets as fees after it deducts its fees from the trade, staking reward, or transfer amount for customer transactions.

Staking Now Generating 60% of Revenue for Ethereum Treasury Firms, Says EverStake

In addition, the Bank will also hold an amount of digital assets on its balance sheet it expects are needed to pay transaction fees for on-chain transactions (commonly referred to as “gas fees”). The OCC has confirmed that national banks may hold, as principal, amounts of digital assets on balance sheet necessary to pay network fees for which the bank anticipates a reasonably foreseeable need.
The approval is conditional and OpenReserve must meet regulatory requirements, including securing deposit insurance, before it can begin full banking operations.
The move comes as crypto firms increasingly seek direct access to the U.S. banking system, potentially moving on-chain financial services from partnerships with traditional banks into regulated banking infrastructure.


REGULATION | U.S. Banking Lobby Weighs Lawsuit Against OCC Over Crypto Trust Charters




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The investigation began with a relatively simple trail: cryptocurrency sent to a Hamas-linked donation address.
It ultimately grew into a wider investigation spanning wallets, exchanges, blockchain bridges, financial intermediaries and the online infrastructure used to solicit donations.
Between March 2025 and August 2026, U.S. authorities seized more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency linked to Hamas fundraising campaigns and disrupted parts of the group’s digital fundraising infrastructure, according to the U.S. Justice Department and blockchain analytics firm, Chainalysis.
The case provides a detailed example of how blockchain investigations can evolve over time with information from one seizure helping investigators identify previously unknown parts of a financial network.

AI | Chainalysis Adds AI Agents to its Investigations ToolKit for Conducting Sophisticated On-Chain Analysis

From One Wallet to a Wider Network
The investigation’s first major seizure, in March 2025, involved about $200,000 in stablecoins that had been donated to Hamas.
Investigators traced the funds from a donation address to an operational wallet and then followed their movement through the network.
One of the key discoveries was a recurring “gas wallet” used to pay transaction fees for numerous addresses linked by investigators to Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.
That connection helped investigators move beyond individual wallet addresses and begin mapping a broader network of related cryptocurrency accounts.
The investigation continued as authorities followed the original funds through additional wallets and accounts. Investigators identified accounts believed to be connected to an over-the-counter cryptocurrency broker in Lebanon and another account showing patterns consistent with money-mule activity.

United States has Seized ~1$ Billion in Iranian Crypto Assets, Says Treasury Secretary

The Network Adapts
The investigation also demonstrated how cryptocurrency fundraising networks can change their tactics after being identified.
By late 2025, Hamas had begun using blockchain bridges to move assets between networks and had shifted toward single-use donation wallets, according to an FBI affidavit cited by Chainalysis.
The changes were designed to make the movement of funds harder to follow.
But investigators were still able to identify recurring infrastructure. Gas wallets, donation wallets, and consolidation wallets continued to appear, while funds also moved through cryptocurrency exchanges and over-the-counter services.
This gave investigators another way to connect seemingly unrelated transactions.

REGULATION | U.S. Sanctions 2 Crypto Exchanges for Facilitating Iran Transactions

From Financial Transactions to Online Infrastructure
The investigation eventually moved beyond tracking money.
In July and August 2026, U.S. authorities targeted websites, domains and servers allegedly used by Hamas to solicit cryptocurrency donations and communicate with supporters.
The FBI seized domains and servers associated with the al-Qassam Brigades’ main website, according to the Justice Department. Investigators were also able to intercept intended cryptocurrency donations and gather information about people attempting to contribute funds.
What started as an investigation into individual cryptocurrency transactions had therefore expanded into an effort to disrupt the infrastructure supporting the fundraising operation.

POLITICS | United States Seizes ~$500 Million in Crypto Linked to Iran

The Larger Lesson from the Case
The most significant feature of the investigation was not the size of the seizure, but how the investigation developed.
Earlier blockchain evidence became a starting point for subsequent investigations. Addresses that initially appeared isolated could be connected through transaction histories, shared funding infrastructure and the services used to move the assets.
Even when wallet addresses and techniques changed, the historical transaction record remained available.
That allowed investigators to return to earlier activity, identify new connections and build a progressively larger picture of the network.

The case illustrates a fundamental characteristic of public blockchains:
Transactions may be pseudonymous, but they are not invisible.

For investigators, the permanent record can turn a single cryptocurrency transfer into the first piece of a much larger financial map.


REALITY CHECK | TRM Labs vs Chainalysis – Who is Better at Blockchain Forensics?




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Polymarket has opened perpetual futures trading to the public offering international users leverage of up to 20 times on crypto, stocks, commodities and indices. The contracts have no expiry and allow traders to take long or short positions.

INTRODUCING | Polymarket Expands Beyond Prediction Markets with 20x Leveraged Perps Outside the U.S

The irony is hard to miss:
Polymarket is willing to offer 20x leverage to users globally, but U.S. traders are blocked from the same product. Its documentation explicitly bars order placement from the United States, reflecting the different regulatory treatment of leveraged derivatives.

The move puts Polymarket in direct competition with offshore derivatives exchanges such as Hyperliquid while U.S. users are directed to its separate U.S. platform. Meanwhile, rival Kalshi has already launched perpetual futures for U.S. traders under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight.

Leading Prediction Markets Platforms Moving into Mainstream Derivatives Trading

The regulatory paradox here lies in the fact that the product is deemed too problematic to offer American traders can be marketed at 20x leverage to eligible customers elsewhere.

That gap highlights one of the central tensions in crypto derivatives:
The same leverage can be viewed as a high-risk product abroad and a regulated financial product at home, depending largely on jurisdiction.


REGULATION | France Gambling Regulator Labels Polymarket Illegal, Orders Internet Service Providers to Block Access




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ArbitrumDAO recorded $6.19 million in income in the first half of 2026, with protocol revenue margins above 97%, according to the Arbitrum Foundation.
But the bigger signal came in July 2026.
Robinhood Chain generated $360,000 in licensing fees for Arbitrum, equivalent to about 35% of the DAO’s income that month, in the first full month after Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based Layer 2 went live.
Under Arbitrum’s Expansion Program, external chains that use its technology and settle outside Arbitrum One and Nova return 10% of net protocol revenue to the Arbitrum ecosystem.
That could make Robinhood Chain an increasingly important revenue engine for Arbitrum as activity grows.
Robinhood Chain processed $1.43 billion in decentralized exchange volume over 24 hours in the latest data compared with $193 million on Arbitrum One.

The shift is significant:
Arbitrum is increasingly monetizing the chains built on its technology, rather than relying solely on transaction fees from Arbitrum One.


CASE STUDY | Robinhood Could Become Arbitrum’s Biggest Revenue Engine



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SoFi and crypto exchange, Kraken, are deepening their ties connecting traditional banking infrastructure with digital-asset markets in a deal that highlights the growing convergence between the two sectors.
Kraken parent, Payward, will join SoFi’s Exchange Network (SEN) giving its institutional clients access to 24/7 U.S. dollar settlement. Kraken will also list SoFiUSD, SoFi’s bank-issued dollar stablecoin.

#SoFi Launches the #SoFiUSD Stablecoin@SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: $SOFI), the one-stop shop for digital financial services, has announced the launch of SoFiUSD, a fully reserved U.S. dollar #stablecoin issued by SoFi Bank, N.A. #SoFiUSD will enable SoFi to serve as a… pic.twitter.com/bdaIo7NzLf
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) December 19, 2025
In return, SoFi will tap Kraken Prime for additional crypto liquidity for trades made by its customers.

“Millions of people will buy their first cryptoasset inside the app they already use for their paycheck, and the infrastructure behind that experience should connect them to deep, liquid markets built to operate at scale,” said Payward co-CEO, David Ripley.

CASE STUDY | This Asian Deal Signals Upcoming Market Demand at Scale for Stablecoin Infrastructure

The deal reflects a broader shift:
Crypto exchanges are moving into stocks, derivatives, payments and banking, while banks and fintechs are increasingly adopting crypto trading, stablecoins and blockchain settlement.

“The financial system should not shut down when markets stay open,” said SoFi CEO, Anthony Noto.

The companies said the relationship could expand into payments, treasury management, lending, and other digital-asset services.

INTRODUCING | SoFi Becomes First U.S National Bank to Offer a Stablecoin Directly to Retail Customers on a Public Blockchain



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Ghana has established a five-agency committee to coordinate oversight of the country’s growing virtual asset sector as regulators work toward fully implementing a new crypto law by 2027.
The Virtual Assets Coordinating Committee brings together
the Bank of Ghana,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
Finance Ministry,
Cyber Security Authority, and
the Financial Intelligence Centre.
Bank of Ghana Governor, Johnson Pandit Asiama, who chairs the committee, said regulators were developing operational guidelines and running policy sandboxes ahead of full implementation of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025.
The committee will focus on
regulatory coordination,
information sharing, and
risks including money laundering, terrorist financing,
cybersecurity,
consumer protection, and
financial stability.

REGULATION | Bank of Ghana Says Crypto Still Risky Even With New Regulations

Ghana’s parliament passed the virtual asset legislation in December 2025 creating a framework under which virtual asset businesses must be licensed or registered by the relevant regulator. The law divides responsibilities between the central bank and securities regulator depending on the activity.

REGULATION | Ghana Passes the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill Officially Legalizing Cryptocurrencies

The SEC began a 12-month regulatory sandbox in 2026 with participants testing services ranging from exchanges and brokerage to asset tokenization and trading platforms. The regulator said the sandbox would help shape activity-specific licensing rules.

REGULATION | Ghana Expands Crypto Regulatory Sandbox to 20 Firms

The move puts Ghana closer to a formal licensing regime for crypto businesses but the key milestone remains the publication of the operational rules and the transition from sandbox testing to full licensing.


PRESS RELEASE | Bank of Ghana Warns Against Public Advertising of Cryptocurrencies and Stablecoin Products





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Thailand is tightening oversight of crypto transfers, bringing self-custodial wallets further into the country’s financial compliance regime.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said its new ‘Travel Rule for Digital Assets’ will take effect on Feb. 27, 2027. The rules require licensed digital-asset operators to collect and transmit information about the sender and recipient of crypto transfers and conduct due diligence on counterparties.
A key change is the treatment of self-custodial wallets where users control their own private keys rather than relying on an exchange or other custodian. Thai crypto operators will have to verify ownership or control of such wallets when customers send or receive digital assets.
For transfers of 30,000 Thai baht or more, additional ownership or control checks apply.

REGULATION | Thailand Proposes Adding ‘Funding Source Providers’ for Crypto Firms

Operators will also have to retain transaction information for at least five years and make it available for regulatory examination. The requirements are designed to give authorities greater visibility into crypto flows and reduce the use of regulated platforms for financial crime.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission Secretary-General, Pornanong Budsaratragoon, said the rules aim to ‘reduce the risk of digital asset operators being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.’
The move puts Thailand alongside a growing number of jurisdictions implementing the global Travel Rule framework which is intended to make crypto transfers more traceable by requiring identifying information to move with transactions.

REGULATION | UK Crypto Wallet Identification Rules Raise Compliance and Enforcement Risks for Users

For users, the significance is bigger than another exchange compliance check:
Transactions between regulated platforms and privately controlled wallets will increasingly require users to prove that they control the wallet receiving or sending the funds.

The rules follow two rounds of public consultation earlier this year and give Thai digital-asset businesses nearly six months to build the systems needed for compliance.

REGULATION | Bank of Thailand Preparing Regulatory Crackdown on Transactions Involving USDT




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Singapore’s financial regulator has proposed tougher rules for stablecoin issuers requiring them to hold reserves equal to at least 100% of tokens in circulation and barring issuers from paying interest or other returns to holders.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the proposed framework would require reserves to be segregated from issuers’ own funds and held with licensed financial institutions.
Stablecoins would also have to be redeemable at par value.
The approach reinforces Singapore’s view of regulated stablecoins primarily as payment instruments rather than investment products, limiting the ability of issuers to compete through yield.

REGULATION | France Pushes for Tighter MiCA Limits on Non-Euro Stablecoin Payments

Ms Ho Hern Shin, MAS Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision), said,
“MAS’ proposed legislative amendments will give effect to a stablecoin framework that promotes responsible financial innovation. The framework will provide clear regulatory guardrails for stablecoins that meet high standards of value stability and governance.
This is important as asset tokenisation gains traction. Trusted and well-regulated stablecoins can serve as a credible settlement asset in tokenised financial markets, while mitigating risks to users and the broader financial system.”

#Ripple is exploring whether its stablecoin $RLUSD can replace the manual payment processes that have slowed cross-border trade for decades within Singapore’s central bank sandbox, a safe, controlled workspace where companies test new financial technology. pic.twitter.com/warnLiLKif
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) September 3, 2026
The proposals would apply to stablecoins pegged to the Singapore dollar or G10 currencies and are intended to bring Singapore’s framework closer to emerging regulatory standards in the United States and European Union. MAS is also proposing a pathway for recognising foreign stablecoins operating under comparable regulatory regimes.

REGULATION | Why U.S Banks Want the Ban on Stablecoin Yields Extended to 3rd Party Entities

Singapore is effectively drawing a regulatory line between stablecoins used as money and yield-bearing crypto products. The 100% reserve requirement could strengthen confidence in regulated stablecoins while the yield ban may make the market less attractive for issuers competing on returns.
This comes as banks and financial institutions globally accelerate work on their own stablecoins increasing the pressure on regulators to define what qualifies as a payments instrument versus an investment product.


EXPERT OPINION | Stablecoins Will Maintain Dominance Over Tokenized Funds Due to Regulation, Says America’s Largest Bank




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U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $3.52 billion in net inflows in August 2026, up sharply from just $172 million in July 2026, as BTC gained about 25% – its best monthly performance since November 2024.
The inflows came across 16 of 21 trading sessions including a 9-day streak.
ETF assets also jumped 31% to $99.6 billion while monthly trading volume rose nearly 49% to $58.6 billion.
In terms of outflows:
June had the biggest outflow at $4.51 billion, followed by
May at $2.43 billion, and
January at $1.61 billion.

MILESTONE | June Records the Largest Monthly Outflows for Bitcoin ETFs in 2026

The August rally showed strong institutional demand. September will test whether that demand can sustain Bitcoin’s momentum.

REPORT | Institutions Accounted for Over 70% of Crypto Trading Volumes in H1 2026, Says Latest Research




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Core DAO is preparing an emergency hard fork after a small group of validators were able to accrue CORE rewards above the level intended by the protocol — exposing a different class of blockchain vulnerability: validators exploiting the network’s own issuance mechanism.
Core says the issue has been contained and that malicious validators can no longer claim excess rewards. The upgrade will be forward-only, meaning previously confirmed transactions will not be reversed.
The immediate concern is supply.
Core has not disclosed how much additional CORE was issued, how long the exploit lasted, or whether any of the excess tokens entered circulation. Exchanges including Coinbase, Bithumb, and CoinOne restricted CORE transfers amid the incident.
That makes this more than a routine software bug.
Validators sit at the heart of proof-of-stake networks, where they help determine blocks and receive protocol rewards. Core’s own documentation says validator rewards include newly minted CORE, with 90% of the reward allocation going to validators and their delegators.

Two Addresses Control Over 45% of Ethereum Validator Nodes Post Merge

The precedent is the bigger story.
This is not the first time validator infrastructure has been exploited to create unintended economic outcomes. Shardeum previously disclosed a validator-software flaw that improperly credited about 500,000 SHM after an attacker manipulated certificate-validation logic.

Core therefore highlights a broader security risk for blockchain networks:
a vulnerability does not need to compromise user wallets or reverse transactions to threaten network economics. If validators can influence issuance, rewards, or consensus accounting, they can potentially alter the monetary policy encoded in the protocol itself.

CASE STUDY | Bitcoin Payment Infrastructure Hit by Exploit Targeting Lightning Nodes

The eventual Core post-mortem will be important. Until the project discloses the root cause and the amount of excess CORE created, the full scale of the vulnerability, and how easily similar reward mechanisms could be exploited elsewhere, remains unclear.

The key unanswered question for the industry is therefore not just “Can validators steal funds?” but “Can a validator exploit protocol accounting to mint or claim assets the network never intended to issue?”


CASE STUDY | Cronos Blockchain Halts After an Exploit on its Largest Lending Protocol




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The key point is that USDC velocity shows how heavily the network is being used, but circulation determines the size of the asset base Circle can earn interest on. Circle’s own filings make that distinction clear: reserve income is calculated from the amount of USDC in circulation and the reserve return rate, not from how many times those dollars move.

USDC is moving trillions. But circulation – not velocity – is what is driving Circle’s revenue.


Circle processed $14.8 trillion in USDC onchain transaction volume in the second quarter, up 151% year-on-year. Coin Metrics estimates adjusted USDC transfer volume reached $32 trillion in 2026, with each dollar turning over 741 times on an annualized basis.

STABLECOINS | USDC Circulation Rises ~20%, On-Chain Transation Volume Up 151% YoY

Those figures show how deeply USDC is embedded in crypto markets. But they do not translate directly into Circle revenue.
Circle generated $701.3 million in revenue and reserve income in Q2 2026, with $667.7 million, or 95.2%, coming from reserve income. Transaction revenue was just $5.3 million.
The more important number was USDC circulation.
USDC in circulation reached $73.3 billion at the end of Q2 2026, up 19% year-on-year, while average daily circulation rose 25.2%. Circle said that increase in average circulation added about $147.4 million to year-on-year reserve income.

STABLECOINS | Circulation of Stablecoins Doubled in the Past 18 Months, Says McKinsey

Falling interest rates took roughly $113.9 million away from that gain as the average reserve yield fell 66 basis points.
The result: reserve income still increased $33.5 million, or 5.3%.
That is the important distinction.
A USDC dollar can move hundreds of times without generating hundreds of revenue events for Circle. But every additional dollar that remains in circulation expands the reserves backing USDC and, at a given yield, creates another dollar of interest-earning assets.

In other words:
Velocity proves USDC has utility. Circulation monetizes that utility – at least for Circle today.

That also explains the strategic importance of Circle’s push beyond reserve income. Its upcoming Arc blockchain and other infrastructure products are attempts to turn the enormous activity around USDC into direct, recurring fees.
Until that happens, the economics of Circle remain much closer to a float business than a transaction-fee business.
And that makes the size of USDC’s circulating supply, and the interest-rate environment, more important to current revenue than the headline trillions of dollars moving across the network.
The figures above are drawn from Circle’s Q2 filing/results and the CryptoSlate/Coin Metrics analysis.


STABLECOINS | USDC Dominates ~70% of Adjusted Transaction Volume in H1 2026




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Euro-backed stablecoins are gaining ground in Europe, with their combined market capitalization reaching a record $776 million in August 2026 as the European Union’s crypto rules accelerate demand for regulated digital euros.
The market grew 6% in August 2026 and 68.2% from a year earlier even as dollar-backed stablecoins continued to dominate the global market. Euro stablecoins still represent less than 1% of the roughly $311 billion global stablecoin market highlighting both their rapid growth and the size of the gap they still have to close.
Circle’s EURC has emerged as the leading Euro stablecoin.
Its circulation surpassed €400 million ($463 million) in August 2026 for the first time, more than doubling over the past year. Circle has attributed the growth to rising use across exchanges, payments, and institutional workflows with the token operating under the EU’s MiCA framework.

STABLECOINS | Spain Leads European Retail Market for This Euro Stablecoin in Q1 2026

The expansion is also attracting major financial and fintech players.
Revolut launched EURR, a euro-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe-owned Bridge, initially rolling it out to customers in Denmark, Poland and Portugal. Revolut has more than 80 million retail customers and over 16 million crypto users, giving the token a potentially significant distribution channel.

INTRODUCING | UK Leading Fintech, Revolut, Launches EURR, a Euro-Backed Stablecoin

Trading activity is growing alongside supply. Centralized-exchange trading volume for Euro-denominated stablecoins reached $745 million by Aug. 26, up 12.3% from the comparable period in July 2026.
The broader shift is significant because Europe’s stablecoin market has historically been overwhelmingly dependent on dollar-denominated tokens such as USDT and USDC. MiCA is now creating a regulatory environment in which Euro-denominated alternatives can compete more directly.

STABLECOINS | Europe Should Develop More Euro-Backed Stablecoins to Counter Dollar-Pegged Assets, Says French Finance Minister

That competition is likely to intensify.
A separate consortium of major banks preparing a stablecoin initiative has said it plans to prioritize Euro and other G7 currency-denominated stablecoins after initially focusing on the U.S. dollar.

REALITY CHECK | Wall Street Banks Unite to Build Stablecoin Rival

Another group of 37 financial institutions is preparing a Euro-pegged stablecoin in Europe.

INSTITUTIONAL | Meet Europe’s Largest Stablecoin Project by the Number of Backers

For now, the numbers remain small compared with the dollar market.

But the direction is changing:
MiCA is turning the Euro stablecoin from a niche crypto product into a potential piece of Europe’s digital payments and settlement infrastructure.

The question is no longer whether Euro stablecoins can grow. It is whether they can capture a meaningful share of the European payments, trading, and tokenization markets that have historically relied on dollar-based digital assets.

REGULATION | France Pushes for Tighter MiCA Limits on Non-Euro Stablecoin Payments




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Standard Bank has joined a group of 21 major financial institutions preparing to launch a global stablecoin making the South African lender the only African bank in an initiative that brings together some of the world’s biggest banks and asset managers.
The consortium plans to establish a new company to issue a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027. It also plans to expand into other G7 currencies with the Euro identified as a priority.

REALITY CHECK | Wall Street Banks Unite to Build Stablecoin Rival

The group comprises of:
North America: Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group, Wells Fargo, WisdomTree
Europe: Banco Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., UBS
East Asia: MUFG Bank
Middle East: Sirius International Holding
Africa: Standard Bank
The planned stablecoin is intended for wholesale, institutional, and retail use, including cross-border payments and digital-asset settlement. The venture is expected to operate within the requirements of the U.S. GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA framework, where applicable.
For Standard Bank, the move extends a digital-assets strategy that has increasingly positioned Africa’s largest bank by assets at the intersection of traditional banking and on-chain financial infrastructure.
Standard Bank has made stablecoins, tokenised deposits, digital-asset custody, and investment solutions a formal part of its strategic priorities. The bank says it is building regulated on- and off-ramps that allow customers to access digital-asset networks while keeping transactions anchored to the banking system.
That strategy has already moved beyond experimentation.
In 2025, Standard Bank supported the launch of ZARU, a rand-denominated stablecoin developed by Luno, Sanlam Specialised Asset Management, EasyEquities, and Lesaka. Standard Bank serves as the stablecoin’s banker with the reserves held within the South African financial system.

INTRODUCING | Leading South African Exchange, Luno, Introduces ZARU, an Institutional, Rand-Backed Stablecoin

The bank is also leveraging its existing blockchain infrastructure for payments. Its Aroko on-chain cross-border settlement rail has processed more than R1 trillion in flows, according to the bank. Standard Bank says it is positioning the infrastructure to support settlement involving stablecoins and other digital assets.
The scale of Standard Bank’s existing payments business gives the initiative added significance in Africa.
The bank processed more than R164 trillion ($9.1 trillion) in payments in 2025 across 20 million clients and correspondent-banking relationships, equivalent to more than R300 million flowing through its infrastructure every minute.
It processed 2.3 billion individual payments while
cross-border payment flows rose 12%.
Standard Bank holds about 31% of the South African payments market and
17% across its broader African footprint,
according to the bank.
Standard Bank is also expanding its role in alternative international payment rails.
In 2025, it became the first African bank to connect directly to China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS. By July 2026, it had processed more than CNY8 billion ($1.2 billion) through the system with CIPS access expanded to Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, and Tanzania.

MILESTONE | Standard Bank Processes Over $1 Billion in Yuan Payments Across Africa in One Year

In June 2026, China’s central bank authorised Standard Bank and China’s ICBC to jointly operate the Renminbi Clearing Bank of Africa providing RMB clearing capabilities across 19 African countries. Standard Bank became the first African-based bank to receive the authorisation.
The moves fit a broader strategy of connecting African customers to global financial networks rather than relying solely on traditional correspondent banking.
Standard Bank’s participation in the global stablecoin consortium therefore represents more than an African seat at a major international banking initiative. It gives the continent’s largest bank by assets a role in helping shape a potential new global settlement rail at a time when banks are increasingly moving from researching stablecoins to building regulated infrastructure around them.
The bank reported R49.2 billion ($2.97 billion) in 2025 headline earnings, up 11% from the previous year, underscoring the scale of the institution entering the digital-money race.

BANKING | South Africa’s Largest Bank, Standard Bank, Reveals Over 120% Increase in Number of Offshore Accounts Since 2021

With Standard Bank already operating across more than 20 African markets and processing trillions of rand through its payments infrastructure, its involvement could give the consortium an important distribution and settlement foothold in a region where cross-border payments remain fragmented and expensive.
For Africa, the significance is therefore less about Standard Bank issuing another stablecoin and more about an African banking giant having a seat at the table as the world’s largest financial institutions attempt to determine what bank-issued digital money will look like across borders.


STABLECOINS | Standard Chartered Becomes First Bank to Distribute a Regulated Hong Kong Stablecoin




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A consortium of 21 major financial institutions plans to establish a company in H2 2026 to issue a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin marking one of the biggest collective moves by traditional finance into the digital-asset market.
The group plans to launch the dollar stablecoin in the first half of 2027 initially targeting payments and digital-asset settlement. A euro-denominated token is expected to be the next priority, followed by stablecoins linked to other G7 currencies.

INTRODUCING | UK Leading Fintech, Revolut, Launches EURR, a Euro-Backed Stablecoin

The initiative has expanded significantly from 10 financial institutions when it was first announced in October 2025. The participants now include some of the world’s largest banks and asset managers effectively turning stablecoins from a crypto-native product into infrastructure that Wall Street itself wants to control.
The group now comprises of 21 leading financial institutions headquartered across major geographies, namely:
North America: Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group, Wells Fargo, WisdomTree
Europe: Banco Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., UBS
East Asia: MUFG Bank
Middle East: Sirius International Holding
Africa: Standard Bank
The initiative intends to be GENIUS Act and MiCA-compliant, as applicable.
This puts the consortium in direct competition with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC which currently dominate the stablecoin market. Tether alone has more than $180 billion of stablecoins in circulation while bank-issued alternatives have so far struggled to gain significant traction.

REPORT | USDT Stablecoin Dominates the Crypto Lending Market with Over 73% Market Share

The bigger shift is strategic:
Banks are no longer debating whether stablecoins belong in the financial system. They are positioning themselves to capture the payments, settlement, and cross-border transaction flows that stablecoins could eventually move away from traditional banking rails.

The challenge will be distribution. A bank-backed token may have regulatory and institutional advantages, but it still has to convince customers to use it over established networks such as USDT and USDC.

[Q&A] $USDT is Extremely Popular in Emerging Markets like Africa – A Chat with Chief Technology Officer, Tether
BitKE got an exclusive chat with Paolo Ardoino, the Chief Technology Officer at @Tether_to, the leading stablecoin in the worldhttps://t.co/w53pHUXVic pic.twitter.com/9x221zsyB4
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) March 3, 2023
Wall Street is no longer watching the stablecoin market from the sidelines. It is building its own competitor.


OPINION | Why We Will See 1,000 Stablecoins (and Why Most Will Fail)




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Arbitrum’s ARB surged more than 30% after Robinhood Chain generated more than $2 million in 24-hour revenue, highlighting a business model that could be far more important than the token’s latest price move.
Robinhood Chain is an Arbitrum-powered Layer 2, and under its agreement, 10% of net protocol revenue flows back to the Arbitrum ecosystem.
8% goes to the ArbitrumDAO treasury, and
2% to the Developer Guild.
That means Robinhood’s growth is becoming Arbitrum’s revenue opportunity.
Robinhood Chain generated more than $2 million in transaction revenue in 24 hours making it a ‘fantastic business,’ according to the Co-Founder of OffChain Labs, the company behind Arbitrum Layer 2.


At the latest pace, even a 10% share would represent a meaningful recurring revenue stream for Arbitrum and the upside comes from scale.
Robinhood brings 28 million users and $307 billion in assets under management to an Arbitrum-based chain. The network was built to host tokenized stocks and other real-world assets, but its early growth has been driven heavily by memecoin trading and token launches.


That distinction matters.
If Robinhood eventually moves a meaningful share of its brokerage, crypto and tokenized-asset activity onchain, Arbitrum would collect revenue from the infrastructure underneath the activity rather than having to win those users itself.
For ARB, that could be the bigger story:
Robinhood isn’t just another chain using Arbitrum technology. It could become Arbitrum’s largest commercial customer – and potentially its biggest recurring revenue engine.

The question is no longer whether Arbitrum can attract chains.
It is whether those chains can generate enough economic activity to turn Arbitrum’s technology into a durable business.


CASE STUDY | This Protocol Activity Provides Strong Indication of Where the Market Sees the Opportunity




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The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group is partnering with Payward, the parent of crypto exchange, Kraken, to bring some of the U.K.’s biggest listed companies on-chain adding another major traditional market to its rapidly expanding xStocks platform.
LSE plans to list xStocks on its new 24-hour venue, the LSE 24, in 2027 subject to regulatory approval.
The tokens will represent U.K.-listed shares and allow round-the-clock trading while maintaining the market safeguards and governance standards of traditional equities.

Julia Hoggett, the CEO of the London Stock Exchange, said that tokenization ‘must develop in a way that preserves the trust, rights and role of regulated markets.’

CASE STUDY | The SpaceX IPO On-Chain Allocations Failure Exposes the Biggest Underlying Risk Plaguing Tokenization

In a statement, Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said:
“For years, the assumption was that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course, and one of them would have to lose. That was never the real story.”

The deal extends xStocks’ push beyond U.S. equities. Payward said in July 2026 it was expanding the platform to stocks from the U.K., Hong Kong, South Korea, and other markets, as exchanges and crypto firms compete to put global equities on blockchains.

INTRODUCING | Leading South African Crypto Exchange, VALR, Pioneers xStocks in South Africa

The scale of that expansion is becoming significant.
xStocks says it has surpassed $40 billion in cumulative transaction volume, including nearly $20 billion traded on-chain, with nearly 200,000 holders in just over a year. It has also expanded to more than 100 partners and seven blockchain ecosystems, with more than 500 tokenized equities in its pipeline.


STATISTICS | Tokenized Stock Transfer Volume Jump by Over 400% in August 2026




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