Home Blog Page 152

Robinhood Launches Robinhood Chain Mainnet, Adds Stock Tokens, Onchain Lending, and Agentic Crypto Trading

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Robinhood Launches Robinhood Chain Mainnet, Adds Stock Tokens, Onchain Lending, and Agentic Crypto Trading

At a London keynote, the trading platform opened its Arbitrum-based Layer 2 to the public, rolled out new stock tokens and a Morpho-powered lending product, and confirmed launches in Canada and Singapore alongside plans for crypto trading in the UK.

Robinhood put its blockchain ambitions into production on July 1, launching the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain and pairing it with a wave of trading and lending products built to run on top of it.

The announcements came during a keynote called “Robinhood Presents: The World is Flat,” streamed live from the Old Royal Naval College in London and hosted by CEO Vlad Tenev and Johann Kerbrat, SVP and General Manager of Crypto and International.

“Decentralized finance unlocks possibilities beyond what traditional finance can offer, but historically, it has required technical expertise to navigate,” Kerbrat said in the announcement. “We’re bringing the best of traditional finance and DeFi together, and in doing so, expanding financial ownership to every corner of the globe.”

Robinhood Chain Moves From Testnet to Mainnet

Robinhood Chain first went live as a public testnet in February, when the company launched the Arbitrum-based Layer 2 at Consensus Hong Kong. The network is now live in production, with Robinhood describing it as an institutional-grade, permissionless chain built for tokenized real-world assets and DeFi primitives like onchain lending and borrowing.

Uniswap is deploying a dedicated automated market maker on the chain to act as a public liquidity venue, and a firm called Pleiades is deploying its own AMM as a proprietary trading venue, according to Robinhood. The company also named Alchemy, BitGo, and Chainlink as infrastructure partners providing custody, oracle, and data services.

Stock Tokens Go Live in the Robinhood Wallet

Robinhood is rolling out a new version of its tokenized-equity product, called Stock Tokens, inside the Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries, though availability depends on jurisdiction. Under the new structure, eligible users can trade around the clock on Robinhood Chain and use the tokens as collateral or deposit them into lending pools across DeFi. Trading will route through decentralized exchanges including Uniswap, Rialto, Lighter, Arcus, and 1inch.

Per Robinhood’s disclosures, Stock Tokens are tokenized debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited that track the price of the underlying stock but do not confer any legal or beneficial ownership in the security itself — a distinction that drew scrutiny when Robinhood first launched tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX in the EU last year and OpenAI publicly said it had not endorsed or partnered on the product. The original version of the product, now called Classic Stock Tokens, remains available as a derivative contract through the Robinhood Europe app.

Stock Tokens are not available to US persons and are restricted in a number of other jurisdictions, including Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the UAE, according to Robinhood.

Onchain Lending

Robinhood is also rolling out Robinhood Earn to eligible US users, a self-custody lending product that lets people lend USDG for an estimated 7% APY. Robinhood said the lending runs on Morpho, the lending protocol that currently holds roughly $6.6 billion in total value locked across chains, according to DefiLlama.

Robinhood named Steakhouse, Ethena, Spark, and Maple as partners on the product and said losses from cyber or smart-contract exploits are covered by insurance procured through Lloyd’s of London and RELM.

Perpetuals Expand in the Wallet and in Europe

Robinhood updated its self-custody Wallet app to integrate more directly with Robinhood Chain, and eligible users in select jurisdictions can now trade perpetual futures on Lighter, a decentralized derivatives exchange, from within the Wallet.

Lighter said it has committed $11 million worth of its LIT token to Robinhood users, who can earn points toward that allocation at a 2x rate when trading through the Wallet versus 1x on Lighter’s own app. LIT was trading around $1.65 on CoinGecko at time of publication, with the token’s most recent moves tied to momentum around the CLARITY Act, US market-structure legislation, rather than the Robinhood integration.

Separately, Robinhood is expanding perpetual futures in Europe beyond crypto for the first time. Eligible EU users can now trade perpetuals on commodities, ETFs, and FX pairs — including gold, silver, QQQ, EUR/USD, WTI and Brent crude, and EWY — with up to 10x leverage, rolling out in waves. Crypto perpetuals became one of Robinhood’s fastest-growing products in Europe after the company expanded its regulated platform to 30 EU and EEA countries last year.

In the US, Robinhood is introducing maker order types for crypto traders, with fees as low as 0% based on volume for professional and advanced traders providing liquidity.

Global Footprint

Robinhood said it now serves nearly 28 million customers across 38 countries on three continents, and it paired the keynote with several regional updates.

Robinhood said it plans to launch crypto trading in the UK “soon,” a step that would add crypto to the equities, options, and futures products already offered through Robinhood UK Ltd, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

In Canada, Robinhood said its app is now officially available to Canadian residents, following the close of its acquisition of WonderFi, the parent company of crypto platforms Bitbuy and Coinsquare. Crypto services in Canada are offered through Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd., and Robinhood said Canadian customers will pay zero trading commissions through September 30.

Robinhood Singapore said it has received a capital markets services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which the company described as a significant step toward offering brokerage services in the country. MAS had granted Robinhood in-principle approval for the licence in April, according to earlier reporting, meaning Wednesday’s announcement marks the conversion of that preliminary approval into a full licence.

Agentic Trading Extends to Crypto

Robinhood is preparing to expand Agentic Trading to crypto for eligible US users. The company introduced Agentic Trading and the Agentic Credit Card in late May, letting customers connect third-party AI agents to a dedicated account through Robinhood’s Trading MCP server; that initial beta supported equities, with options and other asset classes described as coming later.

Robinhood said the crypto version will let eligible traders connect an AI model of choice to Robinhood’s data and execute strategies automatically, while giving users control over capital allocation and safety guardrails. The company said Agentic Trading for crypto will roll out at no additional cost.

Robinhood’s own disclosures caution that agentic trading carries the risk that AI agents can misinterpret instructions, act on outdated information, or behave unexpectedly, and that the company does not guarantee the accuracy of any agent-generated trade.

Robinhood shares (NASDAQ: HOOD) were trading around $108, up more than 7% on the day, according to StockAnalysis.com — a move that predates the keynote and tracks with strong preliminary June trading volumes and a string of Wall Street price-target increases in the days before the event, rather than a reaction to Wednesday’s announcements.

Robinhood (HOOD) rolls out public blockchain as it expands deeper into crypto

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Robinhood (HOOD) rolls out public blockchain as it expands deeper into crypto

Beyond the Robinhood Chain ecosystem, the company announced several additional product launches and international expansion efforts. Robinhood said it is expanding perpetual futures trading in Europe to include commodities, ETFs and foreign exchange markets alongside crypto. It also plans to launch crypto trading in the U.K. and said its services are now available in Canada following its acquisition of WonderFi.

The company also unveiled Agentic Accounts for crypto, an AI-powered trading tool that will allow eligible U.S. users to connect AI models to Robinhood’s trading infrastructure while retaining control over capital allocation and trading parameters.

“Decentralized finance unlocks possibilities beyond what traditional finance can offer, but historically, it has required technical expertise to navigate,” Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s senior vice president of crypto.

Robinhood’s product push shows how the lines between crypto and traditional finance are continuing to blur. The brokerage has steadily expanded beyond stocks and spot crypto trading into tokenized equities, derivatives and event contracts, better known as prediction markets. That strategy fits into the race for the “everything exchange” to host all kinds of trading and financial activity under one roof, increasingly on top of blockchain rails.

At the same time, the company also said last month it would lay off 10% of its workforce, some 290 employees, to streamline its organization and management structure.

Bitcoin July Relief Rally Becomes Traders’ “Base Case” As $60K Returns

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin July Relief Rally Becomes Traders’ “Base Case” As $60K Returns

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied to $60,000 at Wednesday’s Wall Street open as stocks moved higher and US dollar strength fell.

Key points:

  • Bitcoin catches an early tailwind at the start of July’s first US trading session, rising with stocks.
  • US dollar strength cools as analysis sees an increasingly “crowded” USD long trade.
  • Bitcoin traders maintain faith that July will form a relief-bounce monthly candle.

BTC price eyes 3%+ daily gains

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking to $60,475 on Bitstamp, taking daily gains to nearly 3%.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The new monthly candle had started with a bump and a trip to new multiyear lows for the pair, and 24-hour crypto long liquidations totaled more than $200 million at the time of writing, per data from CoinGlass.

BTC/USD vs. cryptocurrency liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

“$BTC showing a lovely pump this NY session,” trader Lennaert Snyder wrote in a response on X.

Snyder expected a low-time frame reversal to kick in, with an accompanying chart showing “exhaustion” to hit before price reached $60,700.

BTC/USDT one-hour chart. Source: Lennaert Snyder/X

Fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades saw a potential breakout on the cards should price attack either end of its low-time-frame range.

“Let’s see if this turns this $58K-$61K area into a range for the time being,” he told X followers on the day. 

“I think there’s a good chance that the next attempt at the range high or low will cause a decisive break and bigger move.”

BTC/USDT perpetual contract one-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Bitcoin appeared to benefit from a drop in US dollar strength, with the US dollar index (DXY) reversing from local highs of 101.6 at the open.

US dollar index (DXY) one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Stock markets trended higher after some initial volatility, in part fueled by Meta stock, which added over 11% in the first hour.

Commenting on DXY, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter warned that a broader dollar trend change could come “soon.”

“The long US Dollar trade is crowded: Speculative long positioning in the US Dollar surged to +$34.3 billion as of June 23rd, the highest in 18 months,” it reported on X.

US dollar long position data. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X

Bitcoin July relief rally becomes “base case”

Other market participants continued to call for a BTC price relief rally through July.

Related: Bitcoin just $5K away from ‘best investment opportunity’ of bear market

“Bitcoin Monthly close below its long-term trendline,” trader Titan noted alongside the one-month BTC/USD chart. 

“My base case: a relief rally in July before the downtrend resumes.”

BTC/USD one-month chart. Source: Titan/X

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital reiterated his belief that July would offer the opposite of June’s downside before a return to bearish moves in August.

“Red June. Green July. Red August. This is what Bitcoin price history suggests,” he summarized on the day. 

“Bitcoin could possibly see some downside wicking below the new Monthly Open in early July. But history suggests price should be able expand to the upside as the month progresses.”

World Launches Onchain Prediction Market on Solana Through Phantom

info@uweb3.io
-
0
World Launches Onchain Prediction Market on Solana Through Phantom

The platform, unmasked in late June after two-plus years as an anonymous “Trade Everything” teaser account, opens trading in Phantom’s CASH stablecoin and leans on Chainlink oracles instead of human-run resolution.

World, a prediction market built on Solana, went live inside the Phantom wallet and at world.xyz on July 1, using Chainlink as its primary oracle infrastructure, according to the project’s own X post.

The platform lets users trade event contracts on crypto prices and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with sports, geopolitics and macroeconomic markets planned in the coming weeks.

World is non-custodial, funds move only when a user enters a market, and positions, settlement and redemptions occur onchain. Winning positions settle automatically in $CASH, Phantom’s stablecoin, rather than requiring users to manually claim payouts.

Anonymous Teaser

World’s identity was a mystery for roughly two and a half years before this week’s unveiling. The @world_xyz account had circulated on X since late 2023 with little more than a glowing globe graphic, cryptic posts and the tagline “Trade Everything,” fueling speculation the project could be a meme coin, a trading app or broader Solana infrastructure.

The project’s identity surfaced not through a product announcement but through a legal disclosure: a page on Phantom’s site named “World Prediction Markets” as the non-custodial protocol powering the wallet’s onchain prediction markets, providing order routing to Solana liquidity providers for positions opened on or after June 1, according to Phantom’s disclosure page and help-center documentation. The disclosure was first spotted and publicized on X in late June, per Solana Compass, ahead of this week’s public launch.

World’s team has not been publicly identified, and the project has no announced token. No funding round or investor backing has been disclosed. World replaces a prior arrangement in which Phantom’s in-app prediction markets ran on Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated exchange, via order-routing infrastructure that launched inside Phantom in December 2025.

Chainlink Steps In for Resolution

Chainlink supplies World with market data and resolution infrastructure through Chainlink Data Streams and the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). CRE, which Chainlink launched in November 2025, is an orchestration layer letting developers deploy workflows executed across decentralized oracle networks, extending consensus-based verification to off-chain computation and data delivery.

Other event-contract platforms have moved the same direction: Polymarket integrated Chainlink oracles in September 2025 to automate settlement of short-duration crypto price markets, and Aave adopted Chainlink Automation and CRE to automate governance operations across 18 chains. Chainlink separately struck an oracle deal with ADI Predictstreet, an official FIFA World Cup 2026 partner running its own prediction markets.

Pedro Miranda, head of consumer at the Solana Foundation, was quoted in the announcement: “Prediction markets are one of the most powerful applications you can build on a high-performance blockchain. World is designed to show what Solana makes possible: real-time markets, onchain settlement, and a user experience that meets people where they are.”

A Fast-Growing Market

World enters a sector that has expanded rapidly over the past year. Kalshi raised $1 billion in May at a $22 billion valuation and passed $100 billion in lifetime trading volume in June, with single-day volume topping $1 billion for the first time during a stretch of overlapping sports events. Polymarket took a $2 billion strategic investment from Intercontinental Exchange in October 2025 at roughly an $8-9 billion valuation and relaunched for U.S. users after acquiring the CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse QCX for $112 million, a deal that closed after the Department of Justice and the CFTC dropped a probe into the platform.

World is not the only Solana-native entrant. Jupiter unveiled a competing “Forecast” beta on June 29 offering 15-minute bitcoin price markets, per its own announcement. Other Solana-based prediction market efforts include Drift Protocol’s BET product and Hxro Network’s Parimutuel Protocol.

Regulatory scrutiny of the sector continues. The CFTC, now chaired by Michael Selig, has moved to expand event-contract access rather than restrict it, publishing a formal rulemaking notice on prediction markets in June, according to the CFTC. Kalshi has continued to face state-level legal challenges over sports-related contracts even as a federal appeals court ruled in April that federal commodities law preempts state gaming law in at least one case, per Skadden’s summary of the Third Circuit decision.

Onchain Backdrop

World’s launch comes as trading activity on Solana has picked up after a volatile year. The network’s decentralized exchange volume totaled roughly $67.3 billion over the trailing 30 days, up about 58% from the prior 30-day period, according to DefiLlama. Solana’s total value locked in DeFi stood at roughly $4.85 billion, down from about $8.68 billion a year earlier, per DefiLlama.

CASH, the stablecoin World uses for settlement, launched in September 2025 as the first stablecoin issued on Bridge’s Open Issuance platform. Its circulating supply has grown to about $121 million, according to DefiLlama — a fraction of USDC’s roughly $73.9 billion and USDT’s roughly $184.9 billion, but up from about $100 million in December, as The Defiant previously reported.

SOL traded at $76.91, up 5.6% over 24 hours and 11.5% over the past week, while LINK traded at $7.38, up 3.1% over 24 hours but down roughly 16.8% over the past month, according to CoinGecko.

Ethereum Nonprofit Launches to Expand Institutional Adoption

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Ethereum Nonprofit Launches to Expand Institutional Adoption

An Ethereum founder and some of its biggest treasury holders are behind a new independent nonprofit launched to coordinate the blockchain’s institutional outreach, underscoring the ecosystem’s push to attract more banks, asset managers and financial institutions as competition from rival blockchains intensifies.

The nonprofit, Ethereum Institutional, was introduced on Wednesday with backing from Ether (ETH) treasury companies BitMine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink, as well as blockchain co-founder Joe Lubin and other contributors. It plans to expand beyond New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore into additional financial hubs while offering education, standards development, industry research and institutional events.

In a social media post announcing the launch, Ethereum Institutional said the ecosystem has lacked “a credible, independent front door” for engaging financial institutions, arguing that such a role is needed to accelerate institutional adoption.

Source: Ethereum Institutional on X.com

The launch comes as Ethereum continues to dominate the markets for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), even as rival blockchains step up efforts to attract institutional users. According to Token Terminal, Ethereum hosts nearly 58% of the tokenized RWA market. Data from DeFiLlama also shows the network accounts for roughly half of the $311 billion stablecoin market.

Although competition is intensifying, Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for stablecoins. Source: DeFiLlama

To be sure, the development also comes as Ether prices remain under pressure, weighing on the balance sheets of companies with large ETH treasuries. BitMine and SharpLink are both sitting on sizable unrealized losses, with the cryptocurrency’s price recently falling to a low near $1,500. 

ETH was trading at more than $1,620 at last look on Wednesday, with a market cap of $195.4 billion, Coingecko data showed. It was trading above $4,000 as recently as Oct. 27.

Nevertheless, institutional adoption remains one of the crypto industry’s strongest trends. According to 21shares, current asset prices have yet to reflect growing demand from portfolio managers, asset managers and financial institutions.

Related: Credit unions managing $25B in assets join stablecoin infrastructure program

Ethereum Foundation overhaul reshapes institutional strategy

The institutional push comes as the Ethereum Foundation undergoes a broad organizational overhaul. The nonprofit, which supports Ethereum’s core protocol development and ecosystem growth, has spent the past year navigating leadership changes, internal debates over governance and development priorities, growing competition from rival blockchains and criticism over Ether’s market performance.

Last month, co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down, one of roughly 19 reported departures from the foundation this year. The leadership shake-up was followed by a restructuring that included laying off 20% of the foundation’s workforce.

Amid the restructuring, the ecosystem has also seen the emergence of new independent organizations aimed at advancing Ethereum’s long-term development. In June, the same backers behind Ethereum Institutional launched Ethlabs, a nonprofit research organization focused on advancing Ethereum’s scalability.

Related: Buterin fires back at Ethereum Foundation critics, recommits to neutrality

StanChart sees positives in news

Standard Charter’s Geoff Kendrick said that today’s announcement, paired with the earlier launch of Ethlabs, “have direct positive implications for both Ethereum layer 1, layer 2s and the Ethereum originated DeFi protocols.”

“Very importantly the anchor funders for both organizations are the three commercial giants in the Ethereum ecosystem,” StanChart’s global head of digital assets research said in a Wednesday note to clients. “Their expertise will drive commercialisation of the Ethereum ecosystem at the time TradFi is entering at scale.”

Kendrick recently reaffirmed his ETH price forecasts of $4,000 for the end of 2026 and $40,000 for the end of 2030.

Goliath Ventures CEO pleads guilty in $400 million crypto Ponzi case

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Goliath Ventures CEO pleads guilty in $400 million crypto Ponzi case

Christopher Alexander Delgado, the former CEO of Goliath Ventures, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges stemming from a crypto investment scheme prosecutors said stole at least $400 million from investors.

Delgado, a Florida resident, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

He faces up to 20 years in prison for each fraud count and up to 10 years on the money laundering count.

Goliath Ventures, formerly Gen-Z Venture Firm, solicited investors from at least January 2023 through January 2026 with pitches for monthly payouts it claimed came from crypto liquidity pools, prosecutors said. Delgado admitted in his plea agreement to causing at least $250 million in investor losses.

Investor money was used to pay earlier investors, fund withdrawals and cover luxury spending, according to prosecutors. Delgado bought at least 6 residential properties worth between $1.15 million and $8.5 million each, plus Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royces, Rolex watches, dozens of Louis Vuitton bags and custom Tiffany jewelry, with the funds.

1,700 UK Investors Sue Binance Over Derivatives Offerings

info@uweb3.io
-
0
1,700 UK Investors Sue Binance Over Derivatives Offerings

Almost 1,700 UK investors are reportedly suing Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao for 150 million British pounds ($200 million), alleging the crypto exchange offered and sold crypto derivatives without regulatory approval.

The law firm representing the investors, KP Law, said Binance’s leverage tokens, futures contracts and options offerings breached the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and that these products continued to be offered after the Financial Conduct Authority banned such products from being offered to retail customers in January 2021.

“There appeared to be no effective barrier preventing UK customers from accessing them,” the law firm said.

Binance told Cointelegraph it would “defend against these claims through the appropriate legal process” and it “remains committed to its obligations to users and to operating in accordance with applicable law.”

Source: Cointelegraph

The lawsuit adds to a growing list of legal and regulatory challenges for the crypto exchange, including recently failing to secure a Markets in Crypto-Assets-compliant license from a European Union member state before the July 1 deadline. 

Binance has also been facing allegations that it facilitated $850 million in transactions tied to a sanctioned Iranian financier that flowed to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The crypto exchange strongly denied the allegations.

Binance UK customers lost “tens of thousands of pounds”

One of the affected customers, Tomas Sutas, was a financial controller who allegedly invested more than $132,400 into Binance’s derivatives products before the value of his investments was wiped out, the Financial Times reported.

Reuters also reported that multiple UK users lost “tens of thousands of pounds” through the products.

Related: Australia’s crypto travel rule is coming into effect: Here’s what’s changing 

KP Law said it is still identifying the full scope of affected customers.

“While the precise number of UK customers affected is not publicly known, Binance is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, meaning that a substantial number of users could potentially have been exposed to these issues.”

Binance’s operations in the UK became heavily restricted in June 2021 when the FCA informed Binance Markets Limited that it couldn’t operate in the region without written consent.

Reuters noted that the lawsuit was filed in the London High Court. 

The Binance-affiliated Nest Exchange and “persons unknown” were also named as defendants.

Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves 

Jefferies wouldn’t buy the dip as Open USD heats up stablecoin race

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Jefferies wouldn’t buy the dip as Open USD heats up stablecoin race

“Large groups of large companies coordinate poorly, have misaligned incentives, slow things down and rarely create the space for real durable innovation,” he wrote.

Test for the consortium model

That skepticism is shared by Lorenzo Valente, director of digital asset research at ARK Invest, who noted that crypto has seen several consortium-backed stablecoin initiatives over the years, including Meta’s Diem project and Paxos-led Global Dollar Network.

“Every year we get our consortium-style initiative around a stablecoin,” Valente wrote in an X post. “While the set of players here is obviously potent, I remain highly skeptical any of these initiatives can hit scale.”

He said Open Standard’s biggest challenge may be coordinating more than 140 participants with competing interests.

“A consortium of hundreds of rivals has no precedent for working,” he said. “The pace of decision-making across competitors is going to be glacial.”

Valente likened the model to decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, whose governance structures often struggled to make timely decisions.

“‘Owned by everyone’ almost always means accountable to no one,” he said. “I’d bet on the two operators who can ship unilaterally over a committee that has to ask hundreds of rivals for permission.”

He also questioned whether large banks, payment networks and technology companies would remain committed if the project encounters regulatory pressure. Circle and Tether, he noted, have spent years building global regulatory infrastructure and licensing, while a consortium could find it harder to stay aligned if conditions become more challenging.

MiCA Transition Ends After Wave of Last-Minute Crypto Licenses

info@uweb3.io
-
0
MiCA Transition Ends After Wave of Last-Minute Crypto Licenses

A slew of last-minute licenses were issued to cryptocurrency companies in Europe as Wednesday marked the end of the transitional period under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

Four companies were authorized in Italy this week, including asset management platform Hodlie, crypto exchange Young Platform, trading platform CryptoSmart and crypto service provider Hercle, bringing Italy’s total to eight authorized crypto asset service providers (CASPs), according to a Tuesday announcement from the Bank of Italy. The central bank said the country’s financial regulator, Consob, approved the licenses in coordination with it.

The French financial markets regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), also added three new companies on Tuesday, including crypto investment platform Mereau Finance, blockchain infrastructure provider Iceblock and crypto service provider Aplo, bringing the total number of licensed CASPs to 31.

In Malta, digital asset prime broker FalconX announced Monday that it had received a MiCA license, while Venga announced on Wednesday that it had received CASP authorization from Spain.

The licenses were issued during the final stretch of MiCA’s 18-month transitional period, which ended on Wednesday. By Friday, the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) interim register showed 244 authorized CASPs across the European Union and European Economic Area.

France’s whitelist includes newly licensed CASPs. Source: AMF

Related: Polish president vetoes crypto bill for third time ahead of MiCA deadline

Largest MiCA-authorized exchanges emerge as transition ends

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, remains unlicensed under MiCA. The exchange applied for authorization in Greece but later withdrew its application, saying it will seek authorization in another member state.

Greece is among the EU member states that have yet to issue a MiCA license.

On June 23, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said crypto service providers that remain unauthorized by the deadline must take “immediate” steps to wind down their EU activities. 

With Binance remaining unlicensed under MiCA, the largest MiCA-authorized exchanges by spot orderbook liquidity include OKX, Coinbase, Bybit, Crypto.com, Gate and Bitstamp, according to DefiLlama data.

MiCA-regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe. Source: DefiLlama

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

New York Life Partners with Centrifuge on Tokenized Corporate Bonds

info@uweb3.io
-
0
New York Life Partners with Centrifuge on Tokenized Corporate Bonds

New York Life Investment Management is tokenizing a high-yield corporate bond strategy for the first time, partnering with Centrifuge on the NYLIM Anemoy fund settled in USDC.

New York Life Investment Management, a $807 billion asset manager, is putting a high-yield corporate bond strategy onchain for the first time. The firm partnered with tokenization platform Centrifuge to launch the NYLIM Anemoy U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Segregated Portfolio, ticker HYB.

The partnership, announced Tuesday, marks NYLIM’s first tokenized product and one of the first high-yield corporate bond strategies available onchain. Subscriptions and redemptions settle in Circle’s USDC, and the underlying portfolio, investment process and risk management stay under NYLIM’s control. Centrifuge, whose protocol carries $1.64 billion in TVL per DefiLlama, provides the tokenization rails.

Junk Bonds Go Onchain

“Tokenization represents a compelling evolution in how investment solutions can be accessed, managed and distributed across both public and private markets,” said Thomas Sy, head of multi-asset solutions at NYLIM, in the companies’ joint release.

HYB is structured as a BVI segregated portfolio, the same wrapper Centrifuge uses across its fund lineup, giving tokenholders direct shareholder recourse to the underlying assets. The offering documents state the product is not being offered or sold to U.S. persons. Centrifuge CEO Bhaji Illuminati told The Block the fund is aimed at stablecoin issuers, DeFi users and DAO treasuries seeking yield beyond Treasury-backed products, with a liquidity arrangement through Grove, part of the Sky ecosystem, meant to support near-instant redemptions.

High-yield corporate bonds, commonly called junk bonds, carry higher credit risk in exchange for higher yields than investment-grade debt. Tokenized real-world assets to date have leaned on Treasuries and private credit; HYB extends that onto sub-investment-grade corporate debt.

Wall Street’s Widening List

NYLIM joins Apollo Global Management and Janus Henderson on Centrifuge’s roster of traditional asset managers, whose Anemoy-branded funds already span Treasury bills and a AAA-rated CLO portfolio exceeding $700 million in assets. Coinbase separately named Centrifuge its preferred tokenization infrastructure partner and took a stake in the firm.

The deal follows asset managers extending tokenized fixed income beyond government debt, including Baillie Gifford’s UK-regulated tokenized bond fund built on Solana and Ethereum with BNY. Centrifuge co-founder Anil Sood said the NYLIM deal “is about moving funds onto infrastructure that is more transparent, more efficient, and more composable.”

1...151152153...1,337Page 152 of 1,337