1. The European Central Bank officially launches Pontes, supporting tokenized assets settled in central bank money
On September 21, the European Central Bank (ECB) launched the blockchain settlement service Pontes. The service connects existing payment systems with blockchain financial markets, allowing banks and investors to use euro central bank money for blockchain transactions, rather than relying on private currencies such as stablecoins. Early participants such as Deutsche Bank, Santander Bank, and the securities settlement institution Clearstream have completed integration. The service will initially run on weekdays from 08:00 to 16:00 Central European Time. In addition, the ECB plans to allocate a very small portion of its own funds to invest in highly rated, euro-denominated tokenized debt securities issued by public institutions.
2.Strategy increased its holdings by 950 BTC last week; its current holdings have risen to 846,000 BTC.
Strategy’s latest announcement said the company increased its holdings by 950 BTC and repurchased $174 million worth of STRC preferred stock. As of September 20, it held 846,000 BTC, plus approximately $6.09 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated assets. Previously disclosed data showed Strategy’s BTC holdings were 845,050 BTC, with an average purchase cost of $75,412 per BTC, for a total purchase cost of approximately $63.727 billion. During a prior market downturn, its bitcoin holdings had at one point been in an unrealized loss of over $10 billion.
3.Bitmine added 27,562 ETH over the past week, bringing its holdings to 4.9% of Ethereum’s total supply.
Ethereum’s largest treasury firm Bitmine (BMNR) announced that it added 27,562 ETH in the past week. As of September 20, the company held 5,983,940 ETH, accounting for 4.9% of Ethereum’s total supply—about 98% of its goal of holding 5% of the total ETH supply has been reached. Of this, 5,067,309 ETH has been used for staking, valued at approximately $13.6 billion based on $2,688 per ETH. The total value of the company’s crypto assets, cash and marketable securities, and other investments is approximately $17.1 billion, including $714 million in cash and marketable securities.
4.Circle Mint launched a digital-asset collateralized lending feature, allowing users to borrow USDC against BTC collateral.
Circle announced that its institutional services platform Circle Mint has launched digital-asset collateralized lending (DABB), allowing eligible institutional customers to collateralize BTC on the Arc and Ethereum networks to borrow USDC. Users can deposit BTC, mint cirBTC supported 1:1 by native BTC, and then use it as collateral through a third-party lending market; the borrowed USDC is sent directly to the Circle Mint account. The service’s first integration is with the decentralized lending protocol Morpho, and it plans to support other protocols such as Aave in the future. Lending rates, collateral requirements, and liquidation thresholds are determined by the third-party markets.
5.GMGN co-founder Haze announced that perpetual contract trading has entered a public beta.
GMGN co-founder Haze announced that GMGN’s perpetual futures contract trading feature has officially entered public beta, and the user experience is now available. The company’s interface preview shows trading pairs such as SOL/USDC, candlestick charts, the order book, and positions, and it also provides Chinese- and English-language Telegram communities for users to report issues and feedback.
Haze said that trading depth for perpetual contracts comes from collaboration with third-party market makers, with fees of 0.045% for Takers and 0.015% for Makers. The platform also currently offers a mechanism providing an annualized 3.5% return on account funds, and related experience activities will be launched later. Regarding capital deployment, Haze said GMGN has invested funds in servers, personnel, security, and infrastructure, but did not disclose specific amounts.
6.Coinbase opens IPO stock subscription to U.S. retail investors, with the first batch supporting the Oura IPO
Coinbase announced that it will open an IPO stock subscription feature to U.S. retail investors, with the first batch supporting this week’s Oura IPO. Eligible users can apply for shares at the offering price through the Coinbase App before public trading begins; final allocations may be fully, partially, or not fulfilled. Coinbase said that if users sell the IPO shares within 30 days after they begin trading on the market, they may be suspended from participating in subsequent IPO subscriptions for 60 days. The service is provided by FINRA-registered broker Coinbase Capital Markets and is cleared and held through Apex Clearing.