Sep 28, 2026
Binance-owned CoinMarketCap acquired CoinGlass, a crypto derivatives data platform used by traders to monitor leverage, positioning and market risk. CoinGlass will continue operating independently with its brand, website, app, API and pricing unchanged.
Investment bank Bernstein has increased its prediction market forecast tenfold to $10 trillion in annual trading volume by 2035, up from $410 billion currently. Simultaneously, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued guidance warning that 'mentions' contracts—bets on what public figures might say—present heightened manipulation risks and can only be offered in limited circumstances.
Binance has expanded into the $9.6 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market by launching its first FX perpetual futures contract, offering round-the-clock trading of USD-Brazilian real pairs with up to 100x leverage, unlike traditional FX markets which operate on limited schedules.
DeFi Development, a Solana treasury management company, has opened a $300 million stock offering called CHAD, selling up to 30 million shares with a 13% dividend. The offering is backed by the company's Solana holdings, though actual proceeds and SOL allocation remain undetermined.
Robinhood Markets agreed to acquire minority stakes in Crypto.com and its prediction-markets spinout OG.com, valued at $5 billion, while adding OG.com's yes-or-no event contracts to its trading platform. The multi-year deal makes OG.com an infrastructure and clearing provider for Robinhood's prediction markets platform, with football event contracts already being routed to Crypto.com's CFTC-regulated exchange.
Flare's revised economic model has led to a 34% increase in staked FLR tokens since July, reaching 21.5 billion, while also driving a more than 10x increase in token burn rates. The overhaul reduces inflation and ties more network activity to token burns.
The National Sheriffs' Association shifted from opposing to neutral on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, removing a key obstacle to the crypto market structure bill. House sponsor French Hill says the Senate may now have votes to pass the legislation.
Distressed-asset firm Echo Base has organized an ad hoc committee of BitMart claimholders to pursue recovery after the crypto exchange failed to respond to a $10 million offer to fund a court-supervised bankruptcy. BitMart announced it would cease operations on July 26, 2026.
Webull is launching cryptocurrency trading services in Canada, partnering with Coinbase to provide crypto infrastructure and custody capabilities. The expansion adds Canada to Webull's existing crypto footprint in the United States and Australia.
Copper, a cryptocurrency custody firm that was previously seeking a sale at $500 million, now has two or three acquisition offers at approximately $200 million amid depressed market conditions.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig announced the agency will move forward with crypto market structure regulations using existing authority if Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act. The directive came during the first meeting of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig announced the agency will move forward with its own cryptocurrency market structure rules using existing authority if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act this year. Selig directed staff to explore regulatory options and prepare formal proposals.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig announced the agency will move forward with its own cryptocurrency market structure rules using existing authority if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act this year. Selig directed staff to explore regulatory options and prepare formal proposals.
President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass a 'fair version' of the CLARITY Act during a White House meeting with cryptocurrency and finance executives. The crypto market structure bill faces a 60-vote threshold in the Senate, with Trump positioning it as key to maintaining U.S. technological leadership over China.
Digital assets market maker Wintermute Trading Ltd. intends to invest approximately $1 billion over the next five years in high-frequency trading and AI data center infrastructure as it diversifies into traditional markets amid a crypto slump.
Researchers discovered 821 accounts that exploited Polymarket's single-price settlement mechanism to manipulate bitcoin prices in the final seconds before contract settlement, profiting $8.2 million. The prediction market has now replaced snapshot pricing with time-weighted average prices (TWAP) for short-dated crypto markets.
Coinbase has launched two major product expansions for UK users: 24/5 trading of nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks with zero commissions and fractional shares, plus over 170 crypto derivatives contracts with up to 50x leverage for professional investors.
The U.S. Senate postponed a vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act until September after Democrats withheld consent needed to bring the crypto market structure bill to the floor before the August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a motion to proceed, setting up a procedural vote when Congress returns.
Coinbase will consolidate its International Exchange institutional derivatives operations onto Deribit on September 9, 2026, following its $2.9 billion acquisition of the platform. The migration will force-settle existing positions and require clients to update APIs and close margin loans ahead of the transition.
Prediction market platform Polymarket is in talks to raise approximately $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $20 billion, more than double its $9 billion valuation from October 2025. The fundraising comes months after the company closed an earlier round with investment from hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co.
Coinbase is suspending six non-USD trading pairs including CRO/USDT and MINA/EUR effective August 6, while Binance is removing four spot trading pairs (QNT/BTC, RPL/USDC, SIGN/BNB, SKL/USDC) on August 7 and delisting six tokens (ACX, HFT, PIVX, PYR, VANRY, VIC) later in August, citing low trading liquidity and volume.
The Senate's cryptocurrency market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act, faces a tight timeline for a vote before the August recess, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicating an initial vote is expected but the bill reportedly remains seven votes short of the 60 needed for passage. The White House is reviewing the latest draft as bipartisan negotiations intensify.
Switzerland's SRO (Self-Regulatory Organization) system, which allows crypto firms to join private supervisory bodies for anti-money laundering compliance, is being highlighted as a model for enabling faster market entry while maintaining regulatory oversight.
The FTX Recovery Trust has begun its fifth round of creditor repayments, distributing approximately $900 million to eligible creditors on July 31, 2026. This brings total distributions since the cryptocurrency exchange's 2022 bankruptcy to nearly $10 billion.
Major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, XRP, MemeToro and HYPE are attracting investor capital in July 2026 while smaller tokens face liquidity challenges amid increased regulatory enforcement actions and payment-access restrictions.
Institutional investors represented a record 72% of spot trading volume on Wintermute's OTC desk during the first half of 2026, signaling Wall Street's growing presence in cryptocurrency markets and contributing to reduced market volatility.
Traders using perpetual futures contracts—the dominant price discovery mechanism for bitcoin and ether—applied the same tools to value SpaceX as a private company, producing a more accurate valuation for what became the biggest IPO in history than traditional Wall Street estimates, though the stock subsequently diverged from their pricing.
Traders using perpetual futures contracts—the dominant price discovery mechanism for bitcoin and ether—applied the same tools to value SpaceX as a private company, producing a more accurate valuation for what became the biggest IPO in history than traditional Wall Street estimates, though the stock subsequently diverged from their pricing.
The Bank of Russia has published draft regulations to establish organized cryptocurrency markets by extending existing securities market rules to digital assets, a move that follows fresh Western sanctions against the country.
Voluntary Chapter 11 filed July 26, 2026 (Case No. 5:26-bk-00512, Northern District of West Virginia) by decentralized cloud storage provider Storj Labs to restructure legacy liabilities; parent company Inveniam supports the process while management proposes an equity conversion framework for STORJ token holders.
Institutional crypto and FX trading platform LMAX Group is exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale, IPO, or SPAC merger, with Morgan Stanley and KBW serving as advisors. The London-based firm, which reported $8.2 trillion in trading volume, could seek a valuation of up to $5 billion, with Nasdaq reportedly the preferred listing venue.
BitMEX, the pioneering cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that introduced 100x leverage perpetual swaps, announced it will permanently shut down on September 23, 2026, following a strategic review by parent company HDR Global Trading Limited. The platform has already halted new account registrations.
S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index, an 18-constituent benchmark that screens digital assets based on protocol revenue, market size, and liquidity. The index notably excludes Bitcoin, which does not generate protocol revenue, and includes Ethereum, BNB, Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid as major holdings.
Polygon Labs announced another round of staff cuts as it transitions from a blockchain foundation to a payments-focused company, coinciding with its $250 million acquisition of crypto exchange Coinme and wallet platform Sequence. CEO Marc Boiron said the restructuring reflects the shift toward commercial priorities and profitability targets for 2027.
President Donald Trump held a meeting with senators on Thursday, July 16, 2026, to address the ethics provision in the Clarity Act that would limit officials' personal involvement in cryptocurrency business—the last major obstacle to passing sweeping crypto market structure legislation. The provision has drawn scrutiny given Trump's reported $1.4 billion in crypto holdings.
CEO Stephen Gregory outlined plans to recapture 20% of the U.S. crypto exchange market through 0% maker fees, 0.02% taker fees, and expansion into derivatives and prediction markets, following a two-year regulatory disruption that included an SEC civil lawsuit and loss of banking relationships.
Polymarket's affiliated entity filed with the National Futures Association on July 3 to offer margin trading in the US, though activation still requires CFTC approval. The move would allow users to open positions with a fraction of capital required upfront.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is developing an 'innovation exemption' policy that would permit crypto companies to offer blockchain-based versions of publicly traded stocks without full traditional broker licensing requirements. The move could enable 24/7 trading of tokenized equities and represents a potential major shift in U.S. equity markets.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are urging the Senate to pass the Clarity Act crypto market structure bill, while 160 former law enforcement and national security officials signed a letter supporting the legislation. The bill faces a tight congressional calendar as the Senate resumes floor negotiations.
Paxos Securities Settlement Company received SEC registration as a clearing agency under Section 17A, marking the first blockchain-native firm to achieve this status after seven years of engagement with regulators beginning with a 2019 no-action letter.
Bitcoin Depot Inc., once the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in the US, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shut down its entire kiosk network. The company's stock had lost over 40% in the week before the Monday announcement.
The Senate Banking Committee has publicly released the full text of the Clarity Act, a digital asset market structure bill that will establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The committee is scheduled to vote on the legislation on Thursday.
Stablecoin issuer Tether posted over $1 billion in Q1 profit and reached a record $8.23 billion reserve buffer, while announcing that its first full audit has begun. The company holds approximately $141 billion in U.S. Treasuries.
More than 100 cryptocurrency companies and industry organizations sent a letter to the US Senate Banking Committee urging action on the CLARITY Act market structure bill. The legislation faces mounting delays over stablecoin yield provisions, with limited floor time remaining in 2026.