Author: Simon Mugo

Bitget just upgraded its tokenized stock product, adding 36 assets, 1:1 economic mapping, and integration into margin, copy trading, and yield tools.

Vantage has appointed Paul Ghosn as its new Global Strategic Partnerships Manager. He has over a decade of experience spanning multiple industries & segments.

Montreal Exchange is seeking up to three firms to quote its dormant LGB contract, offering fee waivers, revenue sharing, and a monthly stipend before launch.

Kraken has launched a fixed-rate lending product targeting sophisticated clients across 40 US states, with a $75,000 minimum loan size and terms up to two years.

The CFTC has dropped its no-deny requirement lasting almost 30 years that defendants refrain from publicly denying allegations as a condition of settlement.

A Bitget Wallet report based on Ondo Global Markets data finds 52% of onchain equity volume occurs during U.S. hours, with weekend activity at just 0.55%.

CMC Markets filed a board change notice on Thursday, but the available disclosure does not identify which director was involved or the nature of the move.

The CFTC’s Market Oversight Division exempted CBOE Digital from its dormancy rules for designated contract markets. It was about to become dormant on June 6.

CMC Markets reported FY2026 net operating income up 15% to £392.6M and profit before tax up 20% to £101.3 million, with record Australian stockbroking income.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce spoke at Princeton, arguing that blockchain infrastructure, open-source code, and non-custodial tools shouldn’t be regulated.

Match-Prime rolled out five weekend-traded CFD instruments for institutional brokers, covering gold, silver, oil, and US equity indices with uniform leverage.

Crypto exchange Kraken adds three Hyperliquid earning options with up to 2.2% APY, available across the US, UK, EU, Australia, and other markets from day one.

Kraken affiliate, Payward Services, will let eligible Kraken customers and xStocks Alliance clients participate in US-listed IPOs at the offering price.

Clear Street, a cloud-native capital markets platform, hires a 30-year broker-dealer regulatory veteran as it scales its clearing and prime brokerage services.

Scope Markets has promoted long-time executive John Murphy to Managing Director. Murphy announced the move in a LinkedIn post today.

Exchange operator ICE reported growth across rates, commodities, and equities in May, with open interest outpacing volume and setting new highs in some products.

Grayscale’s HYPG began trading on the Nasdaq today with a 0.29% gross management fee, undercutting rival U.S. Hyperliquid products from 21Shares and Bitwise.

Swiss regulator FINMA closed proceedings against Wendelspiess Partners AG and issued individual bans, capping a case that started with intense media scrutiny.

Nasdaq-listed SOLOWIN HOLDINGS (AXG) says its Bahrain subsidiary AX Coin has been licensed under the Central Bank of Bahrain’s stablecoin regime as the first.

Crypto payments provider Paybis released a stablecoin infrastructure report at Money20/20 Europe, showing B2B activity now accounts for almost all its volume.

EU supervisors published their first annual overview of major ICT-related incidents under DORA; system failures and external events were the dominant drivers.

The UK’s FCA has written to football clubs, warning that unauthorised crypto businesses and trading platforms are using shirt sponsorships to target their fans.

Match-Trade Technologies just appointed a new head of the Match-Trader Platform in a bid to position the platform as a modern trading venue suitable for clients.

FINMA, the Swiss regulator, published a supervisory communication addressing risks tied to the use of third-party products in discretionary portfolio management.

The SEC cleared Nasdaq to list shares of the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, an actively managed product that writes call options on IBIT.

The FDIC, Federal Reserve, and OCC jointly updated interagency documents to remove reputation risk, barring supervisors from using the concept in bank oversight.

The U.S. SEC published a Draft Strategic Plan on Tuesday, signaling a shift toward principled digital asset rules, narrower enforcement, and a tech overhaul.

Wedbush just hired two directors and promoted Joe Borruso to head global equities. The hires are for its equities franchise, institutional sales, and trading.

Checkout.com just launched the capability for enterprise merchants to accept stablecoin payments while continuing to settle in USD, powered by Coinbase Payment.

WTW, a global broking group, has bought Redefind, a crypto insurance platform, integrated its founders, and launched a service for digital asset theft and loss.

OpenFX, a cross-border payments firm, is buying Embed B.V., gaining a De Nederlandsche Bank payment institution licence and UK FCA permissions, closing in Q3.

The US SEC named four new appointees to its Investor Advisory Committee, which advises on investor protection, with another search expected later this year.

UP Fintech, an online brokerage, reported 26.3% quarterly revenue growth but swung to a net loss after recognizing a RMB411m enforcement action by the CSRC.

Freedom Holding Corp, the Central Asia-focused financial group, reported 101% profit growth and rising customer numbers in its brokerage and banking businesses.

Hong Kong’s exchange signed cooperation agreements with the Astana International Financial Centre and Exchange, extending its connectivity into Central Asia.

Paxos Securities Settlement Company has received a temporary registration as a clearing agency, a step toward regulated blockchain-based securities settlement.

The CFTC has launched a filing-system update that lets exchanges submit one certification package across multiple comparable contracts, cutting duplication.

ICE Futures Europe is removing certain long-dated Standard UK single stock option strikes with no open interest from its contract list, in a listing cleanup.

Patrick Schorno, the former PCAOB deputy chief economist, has been appointed Chief Economist by the CFTC. He will build the economic record behind rulemaking.

Crypto exchange OKX Europe has listed TRXUSD Expiry Perpetuals, extending its regulated derivatives to cover TRON’s native token across 30 EEA jurisdictions.

The CFTC revealed on Monday that it paid out more than $8m to five tipsters whose information helped resolve an enforcement action against a fraudulent scheme.

CME Group launched 24/7 crypto futures and options on Friday. The exchange saw more than 7,200 contracts worth $50 million traded over its first weekend.

Sergei Riabov, the former Head of Product at Trading 212, has left the broker after just six months in the role. He wants to focus fully on AI.

ESMA published its sixth annual data quality report, showing improvements across EMIR, SFTR, MiFIR, AIFMD, and MMFR, broadening coverage to ICT under DORA.

HKEX, Hong Kong’s exchange operator, refreshed its advisory body on Friday, continuing a pattern of periodic membership updates that dates back several years.

Australia’s securities regulator has used its post-2024 FMI reform powers to declare the Brussels-based settlement provider has a “material connection” to Australia, pulling it inside the local licensing perimeter.

Eleonex partners with cTrader to bring an industry-recognised trading platform to its global prop trading community.

AIMS FX said it launched AIMS Indonesia on Monday with a new office in central Jakarta and regulatory approval to operate in the futures and commodities market.

Versus Trade left a lasting impression at the Traders Fair Bangkok 2026 in May. Sergey Kisel, the business development director, delivered an exclusive presentation.

Cboe has gotten SEC approval to begin pre- and post-market sessions for about 20 liquid single-stock options on July 13, covering mega-cap stocks like Nvidia.

The CFTC intervened in a Rhode Island federal court case. The state joins others that the regulator has sued based on its right to regulate event contracts.

IPC Systems, a financial connectivity provider, will carry 24X National Exchange market data, targeting firms in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney.

Payments giant Fiserv will deploy Cognition’s autonomous AI software engineer across core platform modernization to shorten release cycles for its clients.

Raydium, a Solana-based decentralized exchange, says it has crossed $1trillion in trading volume and is RAY token has been listed on both Robinhood and Revolut.

iSAM Securities has just launched Radar Lite. It’s a leaner more cost-effective version of its flagship Radar risk management platform targeting small brokers.

The UK FCA used its May Regulation Round-up to press firms on cyber resilience, motor finance redress preparation, and the start of Buy Now Pay Later rules.

UK trading technology firm Gold-i has connected onchain options venue Derive.xyz to its MatrixNET platform, marking its second DeFi integration after Hyperliquid.

Broker TabTrade reported that third-party data from Datalyst shows its Edge account recorded some of the lowest average spreads in the industry on major forex pairs during May. According to the company, the Edge account averaged spreads of 0.04 pips across the major pairs when measured over the full month, excluding the daily rollover period when spreads typically widen because of thinner liquidity conditions. TabTrade said the figures place its offering level with the tightest average spreads recorded by brokers tracked on the Datalyst platform. The broker also said several major currency pairs, including GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, and USD/CHF,…

Hester Peirce, a SEC commissioner, argued that transfer agents should record securities at public blockchain addresses instead of investors’ personal data.

ESMA published a refreshed roster of data contributors to the equity consolidated tape, tracking which firms and venues must contribute, or can opt in.

ICE Futures Europe issued Circular 26/080 on Thursday, though the specific revisions to incentives or eligibility are not visible in the supplied notice.

The broker has become the latest in a series of firms to integrate AI into its trading platform.

Futu released its Q1 2026 financial results today. The broker reported a 24.7% increase in revenue to HK$5,856m. Most prints beat analysts’ expectations.

Neptune AI Tech, an FX CRM provider, announced last week that its platform has integrated with Brokeree Solutions’ social trading and PAMM systems.

ESMA, the EU markets regulator, added four questions on ESG rating provider obligations and one on MiCA white paper exemptions ahead of 2 July 2026.

cTrader releases advanced take profit across all apps, letting traders set up to five take profit levels and lock in partial profits when the market moves in their favour.

CMC Markets’ institutional arm has rolled out cash and synthetic prime brokerage services from London, with onboarding available across the UK and Middle East.

The CFTC filed a $1.2 million insider trading complaint against a Google engineer in Switzerland, who used confidential data to make bets on Polymarket.

The CFTC joined crypto exchange Gemini on Wednesday in a motion seeking to vacate the prospective provisions of a January 2025 consent order.

Kraken just launched Kraken Prop, a prop trading firm integrated into the broader Kraken Pro brand. The prop firm offers up to $200,000 in funding.

AFM, the Dutch regulator, issued a fresh warning on Tuesday, saying the Iran war is driving up market volatility and risks across the financial system.

ESMA, the EU markets regulator, today launched consultations on proposed mandatory trade allocations and confirmations. The aim is to eliminate oral allocations.

Liquid, a multi-asset trading platform launched Co-Invest, claiming its the first app that lets retail users trade real money inside Claude and ChatGPT.

Bitget Wallet just launched a multi-phase payments campaign on the Stellar network targeting everyday crypto spending across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

ICE ETF Hub today announced that it has been approved to enter the Netherlands and other European countries, as well as Australia. It’s now in 33 countries.

The UK FCA will take its APM outside London to Edinburgh, Scotland for the first time on 6 October, as it opens a new office and expands its Scottish workforce.

Japanese insurer Nippon Life Insurance went live on Tokyo Stock Exchange’s CONNEQTOR RFQ platform in April. The platform had record trading volumes earlier.

UK fintech hiring is expected to increase by nearly 14% in 2026, after expanding by 28% in 2025, with payments infrastructure leading the demand.

Ollie Rosewell has stepped down as CEO of Eightcap’s UK entity after seven years with the broker, according to his post on LinkedIn. Rosewell joined Eightcap in a senior marketing role before moving into commercial leadership and partnerships positions. He was later appointed CEO of the broker’s UK business, becoming an FCA-approved Senior Management Function (SMF1) holder. During his time at the company, Rosewell oversaw the growth of Eightcap’s marketing and commercial operations. He said the marketing team expanded from five employees to 23 across multiple locations, while the business generated more than 150,000 leads, 10,000 traded clients, and over…

Bitwise,a crypto asset manager, today launched the Bitwise Canton ETP on Deutsche Börse Xetra. The product tracks the Kaiko CANTO Reference Rate LDNLF.

Bitget, a crypto exchange, says that it listed Solstice Finance (SLX) for spot trading, with the SLX/USDT pair live for trading since Monday at 14:00 UTC.

Monreal Exchange (MX) has restored listing and trading of ETF options on BetaPro’s inverse leveraged bear ETFs for natural gas (HND) and crude oil (HOD).

ASIC has cancelled the AFS licence of Global Pacific Solutions Pty Ltd. The regulator cancelled the licence since the firm no longer offers financial services.

STARTRADER, a global multi-asset broker, added 39 new US-listed stocks and ETFs. The new products cover AI, energy, space, cryptos, and regional ETFs.

Hola Prime, a prop trading firm, launched the Prime Circle program that unlocks after five verified payouts. It raises the capital ceiling from $500k to $2m.

TransFi, a stablecoin payments infrastructure company, has hired Victor Lucena, a cross-border payments veteran, to lead regional expansion from São Paulo.

EmpireFX today appointed Linda Nkatha Muriuki as head of sales. Linda previously worked at Pepperstone. The broker has been on a hiring spree.

Maxim Orlov just joined OKX as General Manager for the CIS region. He has over 15 years of experience in finance and specializes in serving VIP clients.

L7 just partnered with Devexperts to elevate its white-label brokerage & prop technology capabilities. The deal allows L7 to offer a premium user experience.

ICE Futures Singapore just announced changes to its settlement duration and volume threshold. The changes affect desk operations at most investment firms.

The ASIC warned consumers against engaging with scammers who pretend to offer crypto and stock trading services. They use fake trading websites to scam users.

StoneX announced the expansion of its Birmingham, Alabama operations through a new 46,000 square foot office. The site will host at least 310 employees.

ATFX appointed Dany Mawas as CEO for Africa following a successful collaboration between L7 Prime and ATFX Connect, which drove growth across the continent.

OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) just partnered to bring perpetual oil futures contracts to OKX’s millions of retail clients.

Futu Holdings said its mainland business was being investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and could be fined about $271 million.

Moomoo, a multi-asset trading platform, says Texas residents can now access crypto trading on its platform, including direct deposits and withdrawals.

Slay Markets says it will launch prediction markets, alongside standard futures products.

Turkish crypto group secures two Financial Services Permissions from the FSRA of ADGM, giving it a regulated trading venue and custody setup in Abu Dhabi.

The Swiss regulator confirmed Simon Brönnimann’s permanent appointment on Thursday, locking in an interim arrangement that had been in place since April.

The US markets regulator and futures self-regulatory organization have formalized a framework for sharing risk intelligence, aligning examination planning, and reducing duplicative oversight.