The Commodity Futures Trading Commission cleared a path for 24/7, no‑expiry crypto “perps” to list on U.S. venues, approving Kalshi’s BTCPERP contract and granting Coinbase Financial Markets a staff no‑action position to connect clients with global digital‑commodity derivatives. While enabling a product long dominated by offshore exchanges, the CFTC also warned that nonstop trading isn’t suitable for every asset class, signaling tighter expectations around margin, surveillance, and clearing controls. The move could shift liquidity onshore and widen institutional access to core crypto hedging tools.
Source: FinanceFeeds
Paxos becomes first blockchain‑native firm registered as an SEC clearing agency
Paxos Securities Settlement Company won full SEC registration to operate as a clearing agency and central securities depository, capping a seven‑year effort that began with a 2019 no‑action letter and live pilot settlement of U.S. equities. The approval puts blockchain-based post‑trade infrastructure inside the same regulatory framework as legacy clearinghouses and follows Paxos moving past prior BUSD scrutiny, opening a regulated path to same‑day settlement and lower back‑office costs for broker‑dealers and asset managers.
Source: FinanceFeeds
Cash App taps Apex for clearing, intensifying the fintech infrastructure race
Apex Fintech Solutions won Cash App Investing’s clearing mandate, displacing DriveWealth and positioning Apex’s AscendOS platform behind one of America’s largest consumer finance ecosystems (59M monthly active users). The migration underscores how clearing choices now shape product roadmaps—enabling real‑time processing, fractional investing, 24x5 access, and multi‑asset expansion—at scale across millions of retail accounts.
Source: FinanceFeeds
U.S. doubles estimate of seized Iranian crypto to ~$1B, tightening sanctions net
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. authorities have seized about $1 billion in Iran-linked digital assets—nearly double the prior public estimate—as part of a broader effort to disrupt sanctions evasion. The crackdown highlights growing enforcement risk across wallets, exchanges, and service providers; it also dovetails with policy to route forfeited assets into the government’s digital reserve rather than selling them, potentially affecting on‑chain supply dynamics.
Source: FinanceFeeds
Oil sinks to a six‑week low on hopes of a U.S.–Iran framework deal
Crude prices fell to their lowest level in six weeks as traders bet that a U.S.–Iran understanding could ease geopolitical risk and temper the war premium embedded in energy markets. The pullback relieves near‑term inflation pressure and could reshape rate‑cut odds, but leaves energy producers facing a more volatile price deck after months of conflict‑driven swings.
Source: Seeking Alpha
SpaceX wins $4B Space Force award for satellite deployment
The Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4 billion contract to deploy satellites, adding fresh visibility to the company’s defense backlog and deepening its position in national security space. The award reinforces a widening moat around SpaceX’s launch and satellite services as the Pentagon leans further into commercial providers for resilient space architectures.
Source: Seeking Alpha
OKX and Korea Investment Securities put $106M into Coinone to build STOs and stablecoins
OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities will each invest KRW 80B (~$53M) for 19.6% stakes in Coinone, targeting security token offerings, a won‑stablecoin stack, and institutional crypto services in South Korea. The tie‑up pairs a regulated broker‑dealer with a licensed exchange ahead of new tokenization rules, signaling that traditional finance aims to enter digital assets through equity partnerships and compliant infrastructure rather than greenfield builds.
Source: FinanceFeeds
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