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Protect Progress, an affiliate of the cryptocurrency-aligned Fairshake super political action committee (PAC), reported spending $362,000 on ads to support a Democrat in California’s 14th congressional district, just weeks after she won a special election against the same opponent.
According to a Sunday filing with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), Protect Progress reported spending $362,000 on media supporting incumbent Democrat Aisha Wahab in the Bay Area district against her fellow party member, Melissa Hernandez.
Wahab defeated Hernandez in an Aug. 18 special election with more than 53% of the vote, raising questions about why the cryptocurrency industry-aligned PAC is supporting her in the 2026 midterms.
Notably, both Wahab and Hernandez were ranked as “strongly supports crypto” after they went on the record with the digital asset organization Stand With Crypto to complete questionnaires ahead of the August special election. That election was used to determine who would replace Democrat Eric Swalwell for the remainder of his term, ending January 2027. Swalwell resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations.
Fairshake launched in 2023, backed largely by contributions from Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz. Since the 2024 US elections, the Super PAC has spent tens of millions of dollars on candidates the group considers “pro-crypto” in efforts to fill Congress with lawmakers more likely to support policies favorable to the digital asset industry.
Related: Ex-Trump crypto adviser profited after helping pass stablecoin bill: WSJ
In an Oct. 7 debate, Wahab signaled that she opposed Hernandez for not denouncing expenditures from corporate PACs aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), adding that the spending “really deteriorated our democracy.” Cointelegraph reached out to both the Hernandez and Wahab campaigns, and Fairshake for comment on the spending but did not receive immediate responses.
One notable change between the August special election and the November midterms will be the boundaries of California’s 14th district. The current boundaries, which include parts of San Francisco’s East Bay, will be expanded in accordance with the 2025 passage of the state’s Proposition 50, requiring new maps for the midterm elections.
The crypto PAC reported in January that it had $193 million in cash on hand ahead of the elections, and it had already used tens of millions of dollars to support Democratic and Republican candidates in primaries and special elections.
With just over two weeks until the 2026 election, Fairshake reported additional spending on media for Senate races in Ohio and Nebraska.
Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake affiliate largely supporting Republican candidates, reported spending more than $6.7 million to oppose Independent candidate Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate race. The PAC also reported $8 million on media in Ohio, supporting incumbent Republican Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown in a race where it has spent more than $46 million so far.
Brown’s race could be another bellwether for how the crypto industry potentially impacts the 2026 midterms. The Democrat lost his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 after Fairshake and other interest groups spent a combined hundreds of millions of dollars on ads opposing Brown.
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Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.
All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.
[Update 11:30 UTC, Oct. 19 – Updates with comment from Penning Financial Services in the sixth paragraph.]
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register added nine crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including BingX, bringing the total to 375 unique providers.
The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Friday register update included crypto exchange BingX’s Austrian entity, MEGE zweite. It also listed the Italian subsidiary of YouHodler, a crypto lending platform offering yield products, with authorization for custody, crypto exchanges, order execution and transfers.
Both BingX and YouHodler announced their authorizations last week. BingX EU CEO Daniel Lai said the approval would allow the company to operate under a clear regulatory framework as it prepares to launch regulated services across the European Economic Area.
Other additions included Spain’s Prakma Markets, associated with the Goin crypto app, which operates a savings and investment platform.
Germany’s additions included Openbank Deutschland, a subsidiary of Spanish banking group Banco Santander, alongside cooperative lenders VR-Bank Alb-Blau-Donau and VR Bank im südlichen Franken.
Denmark’s Penning Financial Services is no longer listed, despite appearing in register updates dating back to July 3. A spokesperson for Penning told Cointelegraph that its MiCA authorization remains unchanged and that it had received no communication from Denmark’s financial regulator about any changes. Cointelegraph has contacted ESMA and Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority for clarification but had not received a response at the time of publication.
The e-money token (EMT) register was unchanged at 50 entries representing 25 unique entities, while the asset-referenced token (ART) register remained empty. The register of non-compliant crypto-asset service providers (NCASPs) increased by five entries to 178.
Related: Qivalis wins Dutch e-money license for euro stablecoin
“The digital euro will further stimulate innovation and competition in retail payments,” according to the ECB president.
Tria has launched a three-month crypto trading championship offering $120,000 in prizes and Ferrari Formula 1 hospitality experiences for its two highest-ranked eligible traders.
The Tria Grand Prix runs from October 16, 2026, through January 16, 2027. It combines perpetual futures trading across decentralized exchanges Hyperliquid and Decibel into a single competition, with nine cash-prize rounds, daily rewards and a season-long leaderboard.
The competition represents Tria’s latest effort to attract trading activity to its self-custodial financial platform, which integrates derivatives trading, digital asset management, yield products and payments.
The championship allows users to compete through qualifying perpetual futures trades executed on Hyperliquid and Decibel within Tria’s application.
It features nine rounds distributing $10,000 each, alongside daily Gacha raffles and a cumulative trading-volume leaderboard. Participants enter automatically after placing eligible fee-paying trades.
To qualify for the Ferrari grand prizes, traders must generate at least $5 million in cumulative eligible trading volume during the championship.
The minimum represents total trading activity rather than an initial capital requirement. The two highest-ranked eligible traders will receive three-day Ferrari Paddock Club hospitality packages, according to Tria’s announcement.
The experiences are scheduled for April 9–11, 2027, at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit. Tria says the packages include hospitality overlooking the Ferrari team garage and access to pit-lane activities.
Formula 1’s Paddock Club hospitality program provides premium circuit viewing, catering and organized pit-lane walks.
Beyond the Formula 1 prizes, the championship highlights Tria’s strategy of providing access to multiple decentralized trading platforms through one application.
Hyperliquid operates a blockchain-based exchange supporting perpetual futures linked to cryptocurrencies and other assets.
Decibel, which launched on Aptos mainnet in February 2026, operates an on-chain central limit order book with blockchain-based settlement and risk management.
Tria integrated Decibel in April and also provides access to Hyperliquid. The Grand Prix allows qualifying trading activity from both platforms to contribute toward a common competition, rather than requiring separate leaderboards.
The arrangement places Tria between traders and the underlying exchanges, giving users access to different markets through one self-custodial interface.
The approach also reflects the expansion of decentralized derivatives trading.
Aptos reported in February that annualized on-chain perpetual futures volume reached $12 trillion in 2025. Decibel’s launch on the network reflects growing efforts to move derivatives execution and settlement onto blockchain infrastructure.
Tria says its platform is attracting users interested in trading exposure to financial markets outside their home countries.
The company cited customers in Japan and South Korea accessing instruments linked to U.S. equities and commodities. It also pointed to users in the United Arab Emirates trading products linked to Korean stocks.
These instruments provide price exposure through derivatives rather than necessarily granting direct ownership of the underlying shares.
“Someone in Japan or Korea can trade exposure to American stocks and commodities, while someone sitting in Dubai can access markets linked to Korean equities. That is a profound change in how global financial participation works,” said Vijit Katta, co-founder and CEO of Tria.
Katta said tokenization could reduce geographic barriers that have traditionally restricted market access.
“Tokenization is breaking down the geographic barriers that have historically determined which markets people can access. We’re building for a world where capital can move across markets as easily as information moves across the internet.”
He added that the Grand Prix brings traders from different regions into one championship, with the opportunity to attend the Ferrari Paddock Club experience at Suzuka.
However, access to these instruments remains subject to jurisdictional restrictions and the risks associated with leveraged derivatives.
The Grand Prix follows earlier efforts by Tria to encourage trading through cash rewards and competitive leaderboards.
In August, the company launched a 14-day competition pitting cryptocurrency derivatives against contracts linked to traditional assets. That event offered $25,000 in USDC prizes and required at least $15,000 in qualifying trading volume.
The new championship increases the advertised prize pool and extends the competition to three months.
Tria also ran an $8,000 USDC competition in August that ranked participants by trading volume and return on investment. The format allowed traders to compete on profitability rather than transaction volume alone.
Trading platforms launches such campaigns to encourage more frequent transactions and introduce customers to additional markets.
Volume-based competitions also create potential risks for participants. Higher turnover does not necessarily indicate profitable trading, while leverage can magnify losses, fees and liquidation exposure.
Tria says it serves more than 500,000 users across over 150 countries, offering trading, yield and payments within a self-custodial environment.
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Disclaimer: The information provided on AlexaBlockchain is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Read complete disclaimer here.
Affiliates of the Fairshake political action committee (PAC), largely funded by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, have increased their initially announced expenditures by more than 50% in what could be a key race for control of Congress in 2026.
According to Thursday filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Fairshake affiliate Defend American Jobs — a group that supports Republican candidates in primaries and elections — spent $46.6 million on media opposing former lawmaker Sherrod Brown and supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted in Ohio’s Senate race for the 2026 midterms. The spending marked a sharp increase over what Fairshake said in September it initially planned to spend opposing Brown’s return to the Senate: $30 million.
“I’ve spent my career taking on Wall Street, taking on big pharma, taking on big oil and been successful in many cases,” said Brown in an interview aired Friday on Pod Save America, addressing the attack ads funded by the crypto industry, adding:
“Jon Husted is their boy […] They know he’s their guy, they know I’m going to hold him accountable and I guess it’s a perfect storm, so they spend literally tens and tens of millions of dollars.”
With just under three weeks until the US election, early voting has already been underway for 10 days in Ohio. Notably, Fairshake’s affiliate was not the only crypto-aligned PAC to ramp up spending as Ohio voters cast their ballots. The Digital Freedom Fund, a Super PAC created by Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, reported about $3 million in ad spending this week to oppose Brown and support Husted, bringing the group’s total media purchases in the Ohio race to more than $5.9 million.
Fairshake’s expenditures have already exceeded its efforts in 2024, when the PAC spent $41 million supporting Republican Bernie Moreno and opposing Brown, who was running for reelection to the Senate at the time. The Democratic lawmaker chaired the Senate Banking Committee and was one of the more outspoken voices challenging laws and policies favored by the crypto industry while serving in Congress.
Related: Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial run lacks the crypto rhetoric of his presidential bid
The Ohio race isn’t Fairshake’s only focus with the midterm elections looming. Defend American Jobs reported spending more than $6.7 million to oppose Independent candidate Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate race. Osborn is running against Republican Pete Ricketts, who voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act while in office.
Cointelegraph reached out to Fairshake and Husted’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Fairshake has been open about its intention to “back pro-crypto candidates” in 2026 as part of a goal to fill the next session of Congress with lawmakers supportive of policies favored by the industry. The PAC reported in January that it held $193 million in cash on hand ahead of the elections.
Beyond PACs like Fairshake and Digital Freedom Fund, other groups aligned with crypto interests have already tried to influence 2026 voters. The Fellowship committee, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, reported spending more than $11 million between August 2025 and August 2026, largely on media supporting House and Senate candidates.
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The second-largest stablecoin by market cap will be overseen by French and EU authorities under its classification as a “significant e-money token.“
Swiss private banks have spent much of 2026 expanding cryptocurrency services for wealthy clients. Now, a different investment question is emerging: Can blockchain networks be valued as infrastructure businesses with sustainable revenue?
WisdomTree, the asset manager overseeing $175.8 billion, brought together around 40 private bankers, wealth managers and family offices in Lugano and Milan this week to examine that proposition.
The participants came from institutions collectively managing more than €800 billion. The discussions centered on research examining Arbitrum, an Ethereum-based blockchain network, and its emerging revenue streams from transaction fees and technology licensing.
The focus reflects a potential shift in institutional crypto investing, from gaining exposure to Bitcoin and Ether toward assessing the businesses and financial infrastructure supporting digital assets.
WisdomTree’s analysis provides a concrete example of that transition. It also raises a more difficult question: whether the income generated by blockchain networks can translate into lasting value for investors.
Arbitrum was developed to make Ethereum transactions faster and cheaper. It processes activity on its own network before recording compressed transaction data on Ethereum.
The model allows developers to build applications using Ethereum-compatible technology while reducing transaction costs.
WisdomTree’s research, Arbitrum, a Licence to Build, examines how that technology is becoming a commercial product.
ArbitrumDAO generated $6.19 million in income during the first half of 2026, with a blended gross margin exceeding 97%, according to figures also published by the Arbitrum Foundation.
The network earns income from four sources: transaction fees, Timeboost auctions that prioritize transaction processing, treasury investments and technology licensing.
The first three reflect blockchain usage and treasury management. The fourth represents an emerging business model in which companies pay to build independent networks using Arbitrum’s technology.
Under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, companies operating qualifying networks that settle directly to Ethereum pay 10% of their net protocol revenue.
Of that amount, 8% accrue to ArbitrumDAO and 2% to the developer guild.
Networks built on top of Arbitrum One or Nova can use the software without this licensing obligation, although they still generate ordinary network fees.
This is importatnt for investors.
Rather than depending entirely on transaction volumes on its main network, Arbitrum can earn licensing income from businesses deploying their own blockchain infrastructure.
Robinhood’s adoption of Arbitrum technology offers the clearest example of how the licensing model works.
The brokerage initially launched tokenized stocks on Arbitrum One in June 2025. It subsequently developed Robinhood Chain, a dedicated Ethereum Layer 2 network built using Arbitrum technology, which launched publicly on July 1, 2026.
WisdomTree’s research estimates that Robinhood Chain generated $4.37 million in licensing fees during its first ten weeks.
Approximately $3.5 million of that amount accrued to ArbitrumDAO.
That means one enterprise licensing relationship generated income equivalent to more than half of ArbitrumDAO’s entire first-half revenue.
The figures illustrate how blockchain software can produce revenue beyond conventional trading activity.
Operating a dedicated blockchain provides companies such as Robinhood a greater control over transaction fees, network performance, compliance arrangements and product development.
The arrangement creates a revenue-sharing relationship for Arbitrum without requiring the network to operate every application built using its software.
However, Robinhood’s early transaction activity benefited from subsidized fees.
The licensing business also remains dependent on securing additional enterprise customers.
Crucially, ArbitrumDAO’s income does not automatically become dividends for ARB tokenholders. Token valuations depend on governance arrangements, market demand and how investors assess the economic value of the network.
WisdomTree’s presentation comes as Switzerland’s banking industry moves further into digital assets.
In January, Bloomberg reported that UBS was preparing to offer Bitcoin and Ether trading to selected private banking clients in Switzerland.
The bank was evaluating potential partners, although the proposal had not been confirmed as a live service.
Other Swiss institutions have already established cryptocurrency businesses.
PostFinance launched crypto trading and custody in 2024. By February 2026, customers had opened more than 36,000 cryptocurrency portfolios and completed more than 565,000 trades.
The bank also expanded its offering to 22 cryptocurrencies, including Arbitrum’s ARB token.
Industry research indicates that around 20 Swiss banks now offer digital-asset services.
Some have established meaningful revenue contributions. Maerki Baumann reportedly generates more than 20% of its profits from digital-asset activities, while Arab Bank Switzerland attributes approximately 7% of its net profit to the business.
A September survey by PwC Switzerland suggests the industry’s motivation is increasingly commercial.
Among 25 surveyed financial institutions, 68% already offered cryptocurrency products. Custody and trading services were each available at 64%.
Growth, product expansion and client retention represented 87% of the main motivations behind blockchain initiatives, compared with 56% in 2025.
Innovation leadership accounted for just 5%.
The findings suggest Swiss banks increasingly view digital assets as a conventional business line requiring measurable financial returns.
Demand from institutional investors is expanding, although actual investment allocations remain uneven.
An EY-Parthenon and Coinbase survey of 351 institutional investors found that 73% planned to increase digital-asset allocations in 2026.
The survey included private banks, family offices, asset managers and hedge funds.
However, respondents increasingly favored regulated investment structures. Some 66% reported exposure through cryptocurrency ETFs or ETPs, while 81% preferred registered vehicles for spot cryptocurrency investments.
For wealth managers, these products simplify custody, compliance and portfolio reporting.
Family offices present a more restrained picture.
UBS’s 2026 Global Family Office Report found that 24% of respondents held crypto, usually representing around 1% of portfolios.
Among those invested, 44% considered digital assets part of their strategic asset allocation.
A separate JPMorgan Private Bank survey found that 89% of family offices held no cryptocurrency exposure.
The surveys cover different investor groups but point to the same conclusion: institutional interest in digital assets remains considerably greater than the capital actually allocated.
This helps explain why blockchain business fundamentals may become increasingly relevant to investment committees.
Rather than treating every cryptocurrency as a potential price-appreciation opportunity, investors can examine the networks’ revenue sources, business customers, operating economics and competitive positions.
That approach, however, requires distinguishing a profitable blockchain ecosystem from an investment capable of delivering returns to tokenholders.
Several structural developments are supporting this shift.
Regulated investment products have reduced operational barriers to cryptocurrency exposure. Institutional custody services and greater regulatory clarity are making digital assets easier to incorporate into traditional financial platforms.
Meanwhile, stablecoins and tokenized securities are creating commercial applications that extend beyond cryptocurrency trading.
WisdomTree is participating directly in this market.
The asset manager reported that its tokenized assets under management were approaching $1.3 billion at the end of September, an increase of 65% year-to-date.
It has also introduced WisdomTree Onchain, combining tokenized funds, infrastructure and investment platforms.
Other traditional asset managers are pursuing similar opportunities.
Franklin Templeton’s blockchain-integrated BENJI platform supports tokenized money-market funds and related financial infrastructure. The firm reported $1.98 billion in assets across its BENJI suite in April 2026.
Yet institutional adoption is far from uniform.
PwC found that only 12% of surveyed Swiss financial institutions currently offered tokenized assets. Meanwhile, 58% cited low client interest as a barrier to blockchain adoption, and 46% identified regulatory or compliance requirements.
WisdomTree’s Arbitrum analysis introduces a different framework for assessing digital-asset networks.
Instead of relying primarily on market capitalization, token prices and trading volumes, the research examines revenue diversification, licensing arrangements, operating margins and enterprise adoption.
Robinhood’s contribution provides early evidence that blockchain software can generate commercial licensing income.
But the investment case remains incomplete.
High protocol margins do not necessarily imply high returns for tokenholders. Revenue concentration, transaction incentives, competition and token governance remain significant considerations.
For Swiss private banks and family offices, the next phase of crypto investing may involve evaluating blockchain infrastructure with the same financial discipline applied to conventional technology businesses.
WisdomTree’s presentation illustrates that emerging approach. Whether institutions ultimately allocate meaningful capital to such opportunities will depend on the durability of network revenue and the financial rights investors actually receive.
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Disclaimer: The information provided on AlexaBlockchain is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Read complete disclaimer here.
A US federal judge has rejected a joint request by crypto exchange Gemini and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to overturn a $5 million settlement, despite the regulator’s conclusion that it would not have pursued the case under current enforcement standards.
On Thursday, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that changes in CFTC enforcement priorities and allegations of misconduct by its enforcement division did not justify overturning the January 2025 settlement.
On May 27, the CFTC and Gemini jointly asked the court to overturn the settlement after an internal agency review found alleged misconduct by the regulator’s enforcement division, including reliance on a questionable whistleblower, improper regulatory pressure and efforts to prevent the disclosure of evidence.
The ruling leaves intact a permanent injunction barring Gemini from making false or misleading statements to the CFTC. The settlement also prohibits Gemini from publicly denying its findings, although the regulator said in June that it would no longer enforce such restrictions.
Gemini has already paid the $5 million penalty, which the CFTC previously told Cointelegraph would not be refunded even if the settlement were overturned.
The case centered on how Gemini operated its Bitcoin auction. According to the January 2025 consent order, the exchange failed to disclose that some customers traded using borrowed funds, that self-trading had occurred despite safeguards and that certain traders received special fee arrangements.
Gemini also submitted trading volume data without disclosing that some of the activity involved these practices.
Related: Better Markets says CFTC is ‘wrong agency’ to regulate retail crypto
Hellerstein said Gemini was already aware of problems with the CFTC’s case when it agreed to settle, less than three weeks before trial. Although the exchange later obtained additional internal CFTC documents, the judge ruled that the new information was not enough to overturn a settlement Gemini had voluntarily accepted.
The judge also rejected the argument that President Donald Trump’s digital asset executive order and the regulator’s new enforcement approach warranted relief, saying they reflected changes in policy rather than a significant change in law.
Former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad previously called the regulator’s move to reverse a settled case “extraordinarily unusual,” telling Cointelegraph that the public “deserves a better explanation.”
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