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Over 120 leaders across Web2 and Web3 gathered in Buenos Aires; from LiveNation, Bombo, and San Lorenzo FC to BNB Chain, Filecoin, Tezos, and ZKsync.
It was an evening of real connection and collaboration, embodying the access and energy that make being part of Introduction.com something different.
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Happy Wednesday 🎉
AI drama is not supposed to be this funny but here we are.
This week’s X Post of the Week goes to @nvidianewsroom, who delivered one of the most politely savage corporate clap-backs of the year.
Headlines suggested Google’s TPUs might challenge Nvidia’s dominance, and Nvidia replied with the most composed flex imaginable:
“We are delighted by Google’s success… NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry.”
Translation: love that for you but daddy is still in charge.
Then came the perfect response from @ns123abc with a meme that captured the entire market’s mood in one frame:
Beyond the humor, the moment reflects something bigger.
AI infrastructure has become cultural theater. Every chip announcement now feels like a main event and the memes move almost as fast as the markets.
If you think your post has what it takes, DM us on X and maybe you will be featured next.
Introduction.com Updates (Members):
👶 New Member Announcements:
The Introduction.com team is super excited to announce the newest additions to our community this week!
(We’d love to see you up here one day🤠)
Apply Today
Meet Mickey Negus (@mickeynegus), Senior Engineering Manager at Edge & Node (@edgeandnode), the core developers of The Graph (@graphprotocol) indexing protocol and inventors of the subgraph API standard.
At Edge & Node, Mickey manages infrastructure operations, security, and Rust development, and oversees technical support, field-deployed engineering, and enterprise customer success.
Previously, she spent 10 years at a U.S. government laboratory managing counterterrorism operations teams and weapon development programs.
She's also an angel investor, founder, and recognized by ABF as a 40 under 40 leader. We're thrilled to welcome her to the network!
Next up, introducing Hristiyan Hristov (@HodlDiplomat), who manages VIP Partnerships at Crypto.com Exchange (@cryptocom), where he helps high-value traders, brokers, and trading communities access deep liquidity and build secure, long-term trading relationships.
Before joining Crypto.com, Hristiyan spent four years at Nexo, where he led the Account Management Team and served as Head of Institutional Client Management, building expertise in digital asset wealth management.
He also ran independent business development efforts in Dubai's digital asset space, cultivating a network of VIP clients and strategic partners.
Welcome to Introduction.com, Hristiyan!
Following in good company, meet Jeff Tiller, Office of the Founders - Chief of Staff & Vice President at Gemini (@Gemini), one of the world's most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges.
Jeff has been with Gemini for nearly four years, serving as Chief of Staff at Gemini and also at Winklevoss Capital (@winklevosscap), the private investment vehicle of the Winklevoss twins.
Before entering crypto, Jeff worked in the Office of the Chief Design Officer on Jony Ive's Apple Design Team and served as Spokesperson and Special Assistant to the Press Secretary in the Obama White House.
Join us in welcoming him in!
Next on deck, meet Jeremy Koch (@ItsFloe), Research Analyst at Messari (@MessariCrypto), where he conducts blockchain research and strategy.
Before joining Messari over a year ago, Jeremy spent over a year as an Analyst in Asset Management Operations at Fidelity Digital Assets.
He's also a co-founder of the NEU Blockchain Organization at Northeastern University, where he served as President and Director of External Outreach, helping build the blockchain community on campus.
With five years in the crypto space, Jeremy writes a daily newsletter and is passionate about continuous learning and empowering the future of blockchain.
We're excited to welcome him!
Bringing more founder energy to the network, meet Ayoola "AJ" John (@ayoolajohn_), CEO and Co-Founder of Astronaut (@astronautchat), a premium Web3 customer engagement platform with an invite-only tool for sending personalized bulk messages on Telegram.
Before founding Astronaut, AJ spent two years as a Product Manager at Meta, where he worked on growth for Stories, Reels, and Novi (blockchain payments), and one year at Coinbase, where he shipped the first EVM wallet transaction simulation.
He also led product at Faves, backed by Lightspeed with 1M downloads, and previously worked as a Product Manager at Chevron developing ML models for drilling and supply chain logistics.
Welcome to the community, AJ!
Also representing from Messari, introducing Colton Ellison Gallant (@coltonEEGG), who joined Messari's Protocol Services (@MessariCrypto) back in September.
While new to a career in crypto, Colton's fascination with the space began in 2018 when the notion of smart contracts captured his attention.
Before joining Messari, he ran his own real estate investment company for nearly four years and spent over five years at Tesla as Manager of Sales & Operations.
He also worked as Senior Account Manager at DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU).
We're thrilled to be welcoming him into Introduction.com!
Continuing the momentum, here's Tyler Wellener (@tgwxyz), Chief Strategy Officer at Tyr Capital (@TyrCapital), an alternative asset manager exclusively focused on digital assets.
Before joining Tyr Capital, Tyler spent nearly six years as Partner & Co-Founder at BlockVenture Coalition and worked as a Consultant at Deloitte, bringing traditional finance and consulting expertise to the digital asset space.
Welcome to the network, Tyler!
Adding to this week's additions, meet Maximillian "Max" Jungreis (@Maxwolfj), Head of Crypto & Digital Assets at Plug and Play Tech Center (@PlugandPlayTC), the world's largest innovation platform.
Max founded and leads Plug and Play's Crypto & Digital Assets vertical, which he launched and expanded to France with their first global office in Paris.
He's also a Partner at Predictive VC and serves as a Mentor at Madrid in Game.
An early blockchain pioneer focused on enterprise adoption in Web3, Max connects L1s and emerging crypto companies with Plug and Play's network of 550+ corporate partners.
We're excited you're here, Max!
Meet the newest member of Introduction.com, Matthew Baggetta (@matthew__ok), Head of Content at io.net (@ionet), where he builds and scales content engines that drive measurable business growth through data-driven content operations.
With over 10 years in content marketing, Matthew has worked with leading Web3 brands including Aptos Labs, LayerZero, and Kraken.
He also runs Jetta Grove Consulting, providing full-funnel social media and content marketing for Web3 clients, with a vision to leverage agentic workflows and AI automation to serve local small businesses.
Previously, Matthew served as Senior Content Manager at Kava Labs, working on the Cosmos and Ethereum interoperable Layer 1 blockchain ecosystem.
Welcome aboard!
Table of Contents
What We’re Looking at 👀
🌟 Crypto is not slowing down and neither are the companies building the next era of this industry.
This week brought acquisitions, raises, pilots, and power plays across every corner of Web3.
If you blinked, you missed something big🌟
Money Moves(Funding/M&A): 🤑
From Introduction.com Members 💳️
Coinbase x Vector
Coinbase Acquires Vector In A Greater Push Toward Fun 🎮
Whats your vector victor ✈
Tensor began as one of Solana’s breakout NFT marketplaces.
Over time they realized that NFTs energy had shifted.
Culture and liquidity had moved to memecoins, social trading, and viral asset discovery.
Vector was their answer.
A mobile first SocialFi trading app where users swap Solana tokens, track top wallets, broadcast trades, and follow real time performance feeds.
It blended TikTok style attention loops with onchain execution and became one of Solana’s fastest growing consumer trading surfaces.
Tensor eventually split the product lines.
The Tensor Foundation took full control of the NFT marketplace and the TNSR token economy. Coinbase acquired Vector and the team behind it. Tensor and TNSR remain independent.
Vector becomes Coinbase’s.
Coinbase’s Acquisition Spree The Past Twelve Months 🔥
The Vector deal lands after one of Coinbase’s most aggressive expansion years ever.
Coinbase agreed to buy Deribit for roughly $2.9B which gives it one of the largest crypto derivatives franchises in the world (Coinbase)
It acquired Echo for about $375M which plugs onchain capital formation directly into the Coinbase stack (Reuters)
It bought Liquifi to own token distribution infrastructure and absorbed Spindl to bring onchain attribution and ads into Base (Coinbase)
Vector becomes the first fully Solana native acquisition in this M and A streak which signals where user behavior is going and where Coinbase intends to follow.
The Vector Deal By The Numbers 📊
Vector processed more than $521M in cumulative trading volume in its first seven months on chain with roughly 4M transactions across about 26,800 connected wallets (SolanaFloor)
Its 1% fee model generated more than $5M in cumulative revenue with roughly $2M of that arriving in the most recent 30 window and January revenue alone clearing about $1.3M during peak memecoin flow (SolanaFloor)
Vector is not a concept.
It is a functioning social trading engine that was already producing exchange scale numbers before Coinbase stepped in.
What We Know And What We Do Not Know 🔍
What we know
Vector’s standalone apps will wind down as the team moves inside Coinbase and integrates its routing, discovery and social trading engine directly into Coinbase’s consumer DEX experience (Coinbase)
Tensor and TNSR remain independent under the Tensor Foundation which now receives 100 percent of marketplace fees and recently burned more than 20 percent of token supply as part of its reset (Messari)
Coinbase frames the acquisition as a way to surface new Solana tokens faster and bring social style discovery into a regulated environment for tens of millions of users.
What we do not know
Coinbase has not disclosed the purchase price or revenue multiples for Vector.
Coinbase has not explained how social features like leaderboards, wallet follows or copy trading will appear inside its app or whether they will remain invisible as backend routing logic.
Regulators have not clarified how social trading mechanics will be treated inside a public company with extensive licensing.
Vector In The Social Trading Race 🏎
The biggest story is not that Coinbase bought a Solana app. It is that Vector captured Solana’s retail culture by turning high velocity memecoin trading into a social graph that users wanted to check every hour.
Vector became a reflection of where crypto’s attention economy actually lives.
Competitively the field is evolving. Friend.tech sparked the SocialFi boom.
Pump.fun industrialized memecoin creation.
Phantom gave Solana a native wallet with massive reach. Vector gave it a feed and a trading loop.
Coinbase wants that loop.
The future of crypto looks less like a Bloomberg terminal and more like a social feed with swap buttons. Coinbase sees that clearly.
Doppel 🔐
From Fake Apes To Fake CEOs; Doppel Wants To Kill Every Scam On The Internet 🧠
What’s Happening 🚀
Doppel just raised $70M in a Series C that pushes its valuation above $600M as it moves from NFT fraud detection into full scale AI powered social engineering defense (Doppel)
The Fake Economy Started With NFTs 🥷
NFTs produced some of the wildest scam waves in crypto and created the blueprint for today’s identity fraud problem.
• Fake BAYCs Everywhere
Counterfeit Bored Ape collections flooded OpenSea at the height of NFT mania which forced the platform to acknowledge that nearly 80% of early listings were spam or fakes (OpenSea)
• Viral Impersonation Drops
Fake Azuki Elementals, Pixelmon Kevin redemptions and Otherside mint scams spread across marketplaces and even ranked above real sites on Google, draining wallets in minutes (PCRisk)
• Deepfake Executive Fraud
A Hong Kong employee wired $25M after joining a video call with what appeared to be his CFO but was actually an AI generated fake (Ars)
Enter Doppel 💃
During the 2022 BAYC and Top Shot scam waves they partnered with Dapper Labs and Yuga Labs and removed 876 fraudulent threats including more than 100,000 counterfeit NFTs tied to Dapper alone (Doppel)
How it started
Detected copycat collections in seconds
Flagged fake mint sites and spoofed domains
Protected top Web3 brands during the most chaotic scam cycle NFTs ever saw
How it evolved
Expanded into phishing, impersonation and deepfake detection
Added AI agents that scan social platforms, domains, ads and messaging apps
Built automated takedowns for fake support accounts and malicious infrastructure
Launched simulation tools that train teams against modern social engineering attacks
Doppel is now a full stack AI security platform built to defend crypto companies, fintechs and global enterprises from the identity fraud wave taking over the internet.
The Raise 💰
Doppel raised $70M in a Series C that values the company at $600M+ and brings total funding to $124M (Doppel)
By the numbers
• Raised $35M just 6 months ago which tripled valuation in half a year (Doppel).
• Total funding now $124M across 4 rounds.
• Protects 100+ companies across crypto, fintech and enterprise including Coinbase, ARK Invest and Dapper Labs (Doppel).
Lay of the land 🗺
Deepfakes, phishing sites, spoofed domains and fake support accounts now drive most fraud losses in crypto and fintech
This puts Doppel directly on the front line.
Competitively they are one of the only platforms that can track counterfeit NFTs, fake social accounts, malicious ads and deepfake campaigns in one continuous loop. Most security tools watch networks while Doppel watches identity which positions them as a category leader rather than a category participant.
The tailwinds are regulatory as much as technical. Exchanges, token issuers and fintechs are now expected to show active controls around phishing, impersonation and community protection which turns Doppel into a quiet regulatory prerequisite for companies that want to stay compliant and credible.
If Doppel executes its roadmap and expands deeper into enterprise, it becomes the AI shield for a digital world where the biggest security risk is not the code. It is the people.
Obex
Sky’s The Limit As Former MakerDAO Announces Obex A Stablecoin Incubator 🚀
Sky unveiled Obex a new incubator designed to launch real world asset backed stablecoins with a $2.5B balance sheet behind them (CoinDesk)
Where are we 🗺
Stablecoins now exceed $260B in circulating supply (CoinDesk)
Sky wants to eat 🍔
Sky leadership says demand is not the issue. The real bottleneck is the lack of a structured pipeline to underwrite and incubate next generation stablecoins at scale.
Obex is positioned as the answer; a program designed to identify founders, train them, and launch regulated RWA backed stablecoins that plug directly into Sky’s collateral and risk systems. (LayerZero)
How Obex Works ⚙️
Obex operates as a 12 week incubation program that gives teams capital, technical resources, and access to Sky’s underwriting and collateral infrastructure (LayerZero)
Sky has allocated up to $2.5B USDS to collateralize Obex incubated stablecoins which stands as one of the largest on chain credit authorizations in the market(TheBlock)
The Raise 💰
Obex raised $37M in its debut round led by Framework Ventures LayerZero and the Sky ecosystem fund(CoinDesk)
The capital will fund operations underwriting and the first cohorts building compute backed energy backed and fintech credit backed stablecoins inside the Sky ecosystem.
Our Take 👀
Sky has not launched an Obex incubated stablecoin yet which makes this announcement a preview rather than a performance report.
If the first cohort delivers even one successful RWA backed stablecoin Sky’s incubator could become the new on ramp for institutional grade yield in crypto.
Kraken
Kraken Makes Its TradFi Debutante Ball Entrance With an $800M Raise 💃🏽
Kraken just made its TradFi debutante ball entrance and Wall Street showed up with an $800M corsage as Citadel Securities anchored the round with a $200M check (Fortune)
The Numbers 🔢
Kraken is one of the largest regulated crypto exchanges in the United States with quarterly trading volume of $576.8B, $59.3B in assets on platform, and 5.2M funded accounts as of Q3 2025 (Kraken)
The latest $800M raise values Kraken at $20B, placing it just below Coinbase which operates at a multi-tens-of-billions market cap and reported $1.16T in annual trading volume (Coinbase)
The Belief And The New Identity 🏛️
Kraken’s view is simple: the next phase of crypto will be led by exchanges that can bring traditional financial products on chain in a regulated way(Kraken Blog)
Citadel’s investment cements this identity
Kraken is the regulated on chain venue that TradFi wants to dance with (Reuters)
Uses 🚧
expand regulated derivatives.
bring tokenized assets and equities on chain.
build out custody, clearing, and settlement infrastructure
enter new markets across Latin America
enter new markets across Asia Pacific.
enter new markets across EMEA.
The Round 💰
Kraken raised $800 million across two tranches, with $200 million coming from Citadel Securities and the remainder from institutional investors including Jane Street, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management, DRW Venture Capital, Tribe Capital, and HSG.
Industry Leaders 🤠
Numerai Bets on DOW Not DAO 💡
Numerai raised $30M in a Series C at a $500M valuation as top university endowments and institutional allocators backed its AI powered hedge fund model (CryptoSlate)
What is it❓️
Numerai is not building a DAO. It is building a performance economy where models earn influence through accuracy not votes.
Numerai is a hedge fund built from a global competition of data scientists who all submit AI models to predict the stock market.
Why It Is Different 😷
Traditional hedge funds hire closed quant teams.
Numerai hires the entire world 🌐
The company gives encrypted datasets to thousands of data scientists who submit machine learning models each week.
Numerai then combines the best predictions into a single meta model that trades real equities at institutional scale (Firmex)
Its secret is the Numeraire token.
Contributors stake NMR on their predictions.
If their model is right they earn more.
If it is wrong their stake burns.
Accuracy becomes the only governance.
This is not a DAO.
It is a global AI meritocracy that rewards truth and destroys noise.
The Raise 💰
Numerai raised $30M in a Series C round that values the company at $500M and marks a 5x jump from its 2023 valuation (Fintech Global)
What investors are buying is the model.
Numerai grew assets under management from roughly $60M to more than $550M in 3 years and secured up to $500M in capacity from JPMorgan Asset Management in August 2025 (Bloomberg)
Endowments see a crypto powered incentive system that actually works.
Each correct prediction tightens the fund.
Each wrong one burns capital out of the model pool.
It is accuracy as infrastructure.
Takeaway:
Numerai did not build a DAO.
It built an AI capital engine that turns global intelligence into market signals and lets accuracy decide everything.
If the future of asset management is a competition not a committee, Numerai may already be what the category looks like.
Events 📆
Top Stories 📰
We Are So Back. Polymarket Clears CFTC 💡
What is happening ❓️
Polymarket just received formal approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to operate a fully regulated U S prediction market through intermediated access, marking its first legal return to American users since 2022.
How We Got Here 🗺
Polymarket operated openly in the U S until the CFTC hit the platform with a $1.4M penalty in 2022 and ordered a full shutdown of all U S-facing markets for offering event based swaps without registration (CFTC)
The enforcement forced Polymarket into total U S expulsion.
U S users were removed.
All domestic markets were closed.
The platform rebuilt offshore while maintaining global volume leadership.
In September 2025 Polymarket acquired QCX, a CFTC regulated exchange, and secured limited no action relief that signaled potential reentry but did not permit U S trading yet (CoinDesk)
Now in November 2025 the new CFTC order is the final step.
It formally authorizes Polymarket to return to the U S under a regulated intermediated structure.
The exile is over.
How It Will Work ⚙️
Polymarket will not operate as a direct to consumer app in the U S.
Instead U S users will access prediction markets through CFTC regulated futures commission merchants and brokerages that route orders into Polymarket’s event contracts under full surveillance and reporting requirements (Finance Magnates)
This is the same structure used by Kraken Futures, Gemini Derivatives, Coinbase Derivatives and CME.
In the U S all event contracts are treated as financial derivatives and must clear through intermediaries that manage custody, margin and compliance.
Nothing exotic. Nothing experimental.
Polymarket is plugging into the exact system that governs every regulated derivatives venue in the country.
By The Numbers And The Competition 📊
Polymarket is now clearing billions in monthly volume, regularly ranking as one of the largest prediction venues in the world by active traders and open interest (YahooFinance)
In October 2025 prediction markets hit $7.4B in combined monthly volume with Polymarket contributing roughly $3B of that activity, a scale that rivals monthly sportsbook handle across major U S markets (Finance Magnates)
For context Nevada sportsbooks processed $2.46B in handle in the first four months of fiscal 2025 which shows prediction markets are no longer niche but operating at sportsbook scale (InGame)
Kraken, Gemini and Kalshi all offer regulated event contracts, but none match Polymarket’s cultural footprint, liquidity depth or reflexive engagement loops.
The CFTC approval does not crown a new leader.
It validates the one already winning.
Milestones And What Comes Next 🔮
Polymarket now has full CFTC recognition for U S access, a regulated exchange backend through QCX, and a cultural footprint no competitor has matched.
It is the only platform consistently turning elections, sports moments, and viral cultural events into deep liquid markets with billions in monthly flow.
The UFC partnership marked Polymarket’s push into mainstream entertainment.
The CFTC order signals something bigger. Prediction markets are being treated as financial infrastructure and Polymarket is the first crypto native platform allowed back inside that perimeter.
If Polymarket executes this next phase with intermediated access and compliant U S routing, the upside is enormous.
Traders get legal clarity. Institutions get a regulated venue. The market gets a clear front runner.
We expect Polymarket to print major wins from here.
The real growth is just beginning.
Buy Now Pay Later Settle Sooner With KlarnaUSD 💳
What is happening ❓️
Klarna is launching KlarnaUSD, a fully backed dollar stablecoin issued on Tempo, the new payments blockchain built by Stripe and Paradigm.
The rollout begins in testing and expands publicly in 2026 as Klarna shifts cross border settlement onto cheaper, faster rails (Reuters)
Why It Is Different 💡
Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski spent years dismissing crypto as impractical. Then he posted one of the most surprising executive messages of the year:
“Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto. More to come.”
Months later he praised stablecoins as “fast, low cost, secure and built for scale” as Klarna began internal tests of KlarnaUSD across its global payments stack (CoinDesk)
The economics explain the pivot.
Faster settlement increases the velocity of money. Higher velocity improves BNPL liquidity cycles and boosts margin efficiency.
Stablecoins are not a branding play for Klarna. They are a cash flow upgrade.
At Klarna’s scale, 114M consumers, 500K merchants and more than $112B in annual GMV, adopting a stablecoin is not a test. It is a mainstream signal that consumer fintech is moving onto Web3 rails and treating stablecoins as default infrastructure.
How KlarnaUSD Works ⚙️
KlarnaUSD is issued through Bridge, the Stripe platform that handles minting, redemption, compliance and reserve management for stablecoins (The Block)
Tempo handles the settlement layer where transactions finalize in seconds with near zero fees.
Bridge handles the regulated issuance and transparency framework.
Klarna embeds the stablecoin directly into BNPL flows and merchant tools without changing consumer UX.
For customers nothing changes at checkout. For Klarna everything changes behind the scenes. Payments move cheaper and faster which cuts cross border costs, reduces float risk and increases capital efficiency for every BNPL cycle.
Stablecoins quietly replace the slowest part of Klarna’s business without any user friction.
What We Know, What We Do Not, And Why It Matters 🔍
What we know
KlarnaUSD begins phased rollout in 2026
Klarna chose Tempo for high speed settlement and Stripe for compliance and issuance
Faster settlement is expected to improve BNPL liquidity cycles and reduce capital lockup
KlarnaUSD gives stablecoins one of the largest consumer distribution channels in fintech
Klarna’s CEO now publicly endorses stablecoins as scalable global money rails
What we do not know
How quickly merchants will adopt on chain settlement
How Klarna will publish reserve transparency and audits under U S and EU rules
Whether KlarnaUSD expands into remittances, working capital or merchant treasury use cases
How regulators will treat a non U S stablecoin for a company with U S scale
Takeaway
Stablecoins are not creeping into fintech. They are being pulled in by the economics.
When one of the largest consumer payment companies in the world launches its own dollar on chain, it is not a crypto experiment. It is the beginning of a new settlement standard.
Klarna does not want you to buy now pay later.
Klarna wants you to buy now and settle faster.
And KlarnaUSD is the rail that gets them there.
Another Bank Another Bank Token
What is happening ❓️
U S Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, has begun testing its own deposit backed stablecoin on the Stellar network, issuing programmable dollars for internal settlement and treasury flows (CoinDesk)
The tokens are fully backed one to one by deposits held at the bank and are being used for controlled tests involving internal transfers, institutional clients and select counterparties (Stellar)
The pilot was announced during U S Bank’s Money 20 20 podcast and framed as a step toward bank grade programmable money rather than a consumer product launch
How It Works ⚙️
U S Bank uses Stellar’s tokenization tools to mint deposit tokens that behave like stablecoins but remain tied to client funds held at the bank.
These tokens can move between internal ledgers, settle institutional payments and support treasury flows with near instant settlement and protocol level safeguards including KYC verification, asset freezing and reversals
PwC manages compliance modeling and risk processes while Stellar provides the public chain infrastructure.
The pilot is strictly operational and does not touch consumer accounts.
How It Compares 📊
U S Bank joins a growing group of institutions turning deposits into on chain money.
JPMorgan operates JPM Coin on its private Onyx ledger for internal settlement and recently launched JPMD, a permissioned institutional deposit token that lives on Base, a public chain with restricted access controls
Citi is piloting tokenized deposits for trade finance and treasury operations.
European banks are testing MiCA aligned tokenized cash frameworks.
Wells Fargo operates closed loop settlement tokens on private ledgers.
What makes the U S Bank pilot notable is its choice of Stellar, a public chain with compliance ready features that allow regulated institutions to issue and move tokenized cash transparently.
It sits between JPM Coin’s fully private environment and JPMD’s permissioned presence on a public chain which makes it one of the clearest examples of a U S bank testing public blockchain rails directly.
Why U S Bank Is Doing This 🎯
The bank wants faster settlement, lower operating friction and programmable money that can automate treasury workflows without losing traditional safeguards.
Executives describe the pilot as discovery work aimed at understanding how banks can move high value transfers at crypto speed while preserving reversibility, KYC and regulatory visibility (Stellar)
This is less about retail wallets and more about proving whether tokenized deposits can reduce costs, accelerate liquidity cycles and position the bank for a future where blockchain rails become standard for institutional settlement.
🧭 Regulation Roundup
States, central banks, and watchdogs are not on the sidelines.
From Texas buying Bitcoin ETFs to India weighing a stablecoin framework, policy is shifting from abstract debate to concrete balance sheets, reserves, and rulebooks.
🇺🇸 Texas Takes First Step Toward State Bitcoin Reserve
Texas bought 5 million dollars of a Bitcoin ETF as a placeholder for a future Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, edging toward the first state level crypto stockpile in America (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 CFTC Builds CEO Innovation Council For Crypto Era
The U S Commodity Futures Trading Commission is seeking nominations for a new CEO Innovation Council that will help steer its digital asset and market structure agenda (CoinDesk).
🇰🇷 Upbit Fights Back Against Twenty Five Million Dollar Fine
Korean exchange Upbit is weighing an appeal of a twenty five million dollar penalty from South Korea’s regulator over alleged reporting and compliance failures (CoinDesk).
🇯🇵 Japan To Force Liability Reserves On Exchanges
Japan’s Financial Services Agency will require crypto exchanges to hold liability reserves to better protect customer assets and strengthen market security (CoinDesk, Cointelegraph).
🇦🇺 KuCoin Registers With AUSTRAC And Adds Fiat On Ramps
KuCoin has registered with Australian watchdog AUSTRAC and is rolling out new fiat on ramps, formalizing its return to the Australian market under local compliance rules (CoinDesk).
🇬🇧 UK Crime Network Used Crypto To Move Drug Cash To Russia
The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency uncovered a multi billion dollar criminal network that used crypto to funnel drug money from Britain to Russia, underscoring ongoing enforcement pressure on illicit flows (CoinDesk).
🇯🇵 Japanese Bitcoin Treasury Firms Keep Beating Peers
Tax rules in Japan that favor long term holdings are helping listed Japanese firms with Bitcoin treasuries outperform U S peers that face heavier tax friction on crypto gains (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 Bitcoin America Bill Would Let Citizens Pay Federal Taxes In BTC
A new U S House bill would allow federal taxes to be paid in Bitcoin and direct a portion into a national reserve, effectively knitting BTC into both the tax system and fiscal policy toolkit (CoinDesk, Decrypt).
🇯🇵 Japan Approves One Hundred Thirty Five Billion Dollar Stimulus As BTC Responds
Japan passed a one hundred thirty five billion dollar stimulus package, with markets noting that Bitcoin’s recent dip continued to act as a magnet for buyers during macro easing moves (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 Trump CFTC Pick Mike Selig Clears Key Hurdle
Mike Selig, Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the CFTC, advanced past an initial Senate hurdle on the way to a full confirmation vote (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 Samourai Wallet Co Founder Sentenced To Four Years
Samourai Wallet co founder Bill Hill received a four year prison sentence for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business tied to the privacy focused wallet service (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 Selig Tells Senators Crypto Is Critical Mission At CFTC
At his hearing, Mike Selig told lawmakers that overseeing crypto markets will be a critical mission for the CFTC and called for clear rules of the road for digital assets (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 New Hampshire Awaits Buyer For First Bitcoin Bond
New Hampshire has authorized a one hundred million dollar Bitcoin bond and is now waiting for a buyer to get the first state backed BTC bond effort off the ground (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 FDIC Nominee Travis Hill Advances Toward Wider Vote
The Senate Banking Committee advanced FDIC Vice Chair Travis Hill toward a full Senate vote, a move that could shape how bank capital and crypto exposures are supervised (CoinDesk).
🌍 Basel Chair Calls For Rethink Of Bank Crypto Capital Rules
The head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said global capital rules for banks holding crypto need to be reworked, signaling that the ultra strict initial framework may evolve as markets mature (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 Senator Warren Keeps Heat On Trump Crypto Ties
Senator Elizabeth Warren is pressing ethics questions about Donald Trump’s crypto connections as negotiations continue over a broad market structure bill for digital assets (CoinDesk).
🇺🇸 OCC Clarifies How Banks Can Pay And Handle Gas Fees
The U S Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued guidance explaining how banks can pay network gas fees and handle them within existing risk and accounting rules, lowering a key operational barrier to on chain activity (CoinDesk).
🇿🇦 South Africa Central Bank Flags Crypto And Stablecoin Risks
The South African Reserve Bank warned that crypto assets and stablecoins could pose financial stability risks if left unchecked and called for a coordinated regulatory response (Cointelegraph).
🇦🇪 UAE Expands New Financial Law To Cover DeFi
The United Arab Emirates updated its financial law to explicitly bring decentralized finance activities into regulatory scope, extending oversight beyond centralized exchanges and custodians (Cointelegraph).
🇰🇷 South Korea Stablecoin Framework Stalls Bank Issuance
South Korea’s efforts to craft a stablecoin framework have stalled, leaving local banks unable to move forward with planned stablecoin issuance despite growing interest (Cointelegraph).
🇺🇸 SEC Issues No Action Letter For Fuse DePIN Project
The U S Securities and Exchange Commission granted a no action letter to the Fuse decentralized physical infrastructure project, signaling that its token design does not trigger immediate enforcement in the current form (Cointelegraph).
🇮🇳 India Weighs Stablecoin Framework That May Diverge From Central Bank
The Indian government is considering a stablecoin framework that could diverge from the Reserve Bank of India’s more skeptical stance, opening the door to regulated rupee or dollar linked tokens (Cointelegraph).
🇺🇸 SEC Eases Off Some Enforcement Actions Under Atkins
Reports suggest that under Paul Atkins the SEC has pulled back or adjusted certain crypto enforcement actions as the agency works to align cases with the emerging legislative framework (Cointelegraph).
The takeaway
Regulation is now shaping everything from who can hold Bitcoin on a government balance sheet to how banks pay gas fees and how exchanges ring fence liabilities.
The United States is testing Bitcoin tax payments, state reserves, bank level guidance, and new leadership at the CFTC and FDIC, while Japan, India, South Africa, the UAE, and South Korea redraw the lines on exchanges, stablecoins, and tokenisation.
The next phase will decide whether these overlapping rules create a coherent global playbook for digital assets or a patchwork that institutions must navigate one jurisdiction at a time.
Wrap Up ✌
✨It is clear that crypto is entering a new phase where every player is scaling up, leveling up, or getting pulled into the spotlight.
From exchanges to AI security to stablecoins to banks, the momentum is real and the stakes are rising.
If this is how the year ends, the next one will be unreal✨
