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BitcoinWorld3 Weeks until the Scandinavian & Nordic Gaming Show 2026: Leading Operators Weigh In
Just 3 weeks remain until the 8th annual Scandinavian & Nordic Gaming Show (SNGS) 2026, which takes place on 22 – 23 October at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. There is plenty to discuss across the Nordic markets, with Finland preparing for a new licensing system, Sweden taking a tougher regulatory approach, and Norway increasing enforcement activity.
At SNGS 2026, regulators, operators, technology providers and investors will discuss these developments and how they are affecting businesses across the region.

Highlights on the Agenda
This year’s agenda will cover regulatory changes, market developments, responsible gambling, technology, and commercial opportunities across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

Day 1 | Thursday, 22 October
The Future of iGaming in Europe: Trends, Tensions, and Game-Changing Opportunities
Europe’s Gaming Leaders: Who Is Really on Top?
Regulation in Motion: UK Fees, Global Tax Shifts, and Platform Controls
Sweden and Denmark: Two Neighbours, Two Regulatory Paths
SNGS Eventus Awards 2026 & Networking Drinks – a prestigious evening recognising industry achievements and celebrating leading companies and professionals
Day 2 | Friday, 23 October
The 2026 Credit Ban: Resetting Acquisition and Retention
The Lottery Landscape and the Monopoly Debate
Winning Early in Finland’s New Regime
The Nordic Vision: From Channelisation Gaps to Global Leadership
Farewell Drinks – a relaxed close to two days of industry discussion, networking and knowledge-sharing

Nordic Operators Share Their Priorities for a Changing Market
As the industry prepares for SNGS 2026, top operators from across the region shared their perspectives on regulation, competition, technology and the market ahead.

Antti Koivula, Chief Compliance Officer, Hippos ATG
As Finland prepares to open its regulated market, Antti outlined what operators should be considering from a compliance perspective:
“The key priority is to move from reading the rules to operationalising them early enough across product, marketing, payments, technology and customer operations. At the same time, operators need to retain enough flexibility in their implementation, as parts of the regulatory framework and technical requirements are still to be published.
They also need to understand where the Finnish regime differs from the markets they already know, rather than assuming that an existing compliance setup can simply be copied across.”
On balancing compliance with the customer experience, he said:
“Strong compliance and a competitive player experience are not opposites. Good compliance should be built into the customer journey rather than added on top of it, while operators compete through product quality, usability, service and trust.”
Looking ahead to SNGS 2026, Antti shared what he is looking forward to discussing:
“I can’t wait to join the discussion and analyse the latest developments in Finland’s gambling reform alongside a great group of industry experts. With the opening of the licensed market fast approaching, there will certainly be no shortage of important topics to explore.”

Bo Flindt Jørgensen, CEO, Landbrugslotteriet
Reflecting on the Danish market, Bo highlighted areas where operators can seek greater differentiation:
“The ability to differentiate your brand, product offer, concepts and service offer will be crucial to shift market shares in a mature Danish market. I see little innovation and creative thinking in gaming operators’ strategies and communication, so there is definitely room for improvements.
From a tech point of view, adapting and applying AI into your operation is both the biggest opportunity, but also a challenge for operators.”
He also addressed the balance between regulation and market development:
“Regulators must find a good balance between new legislation that places restrictions on operators but also provides them with opportunities to develop the product and service offerings according to changes in consumer behaviour. Regulation must also be adapted to better fit the risk profile and playing patterns of each gaming category. A one-size-fits-all model does not create equal opportunities and thus decreases the sustainability of a future lottery and gaming market.
The main challenge for the Danish market is the decline in lottery revenues since the market was regulated. When lotteries suffer, society and the surplus to good causes suffer. That should not be the ambition of a mature market.”
Bo then touched on what makes events like SNGS important to the industry:
“SNGS always brings new insights and knowledge of the Nordic lottery and gaming industry. If we are to stay competitive and develop our respective markets in a responsible way, we need a forum like this to share thoughts and ideas that can be implemented into new legislation and new opportunities for both suppliers and operators.”

Tero Holopainen, Head of Product | Casino & Games, Coolbet
For Tero, clarity around the new framework will be important as Finland moves towards market opening:
“Key in any regulated market is predictability and clarity. Predictable costs and clear rules are crucial for operators to invest in a new market, together with enforcement against the grey market. In an ideal situation, the regulator would work together with the regulated operators to ensure a high channelisation rate.”
From a product perspective, he discussed where licensed operators in Finland have the greatest opportunity to compete with the grey market
“Greatest opportunity comes from localisation and trust the licence gives. The grey market will always exist, but having a product tailored towards Finland, with local payments and local sports offering, will give the licensed operators an edge.”
Finally, Tero shared what he is most looking forward to at SNGS 2026:
“I’m looking forward to meeting other industry professionals and hearing about the latest updates and innovations in the Nordic markets.”

SNGS Eventus Awards 2026: Nominations Still Open
The SNGS Eventus Awards 2026 will take place on the evening of 22 October 2026, honouring standout individuals and organisations from across the Nordic gaming industry.
Nominations are open until 9 October 2026, with the shortlist to be announced on 14 October 2026.
Nominate a leader: https://www.eventus-international.com/sngs-award-nominations

Attend, Sponsor or Exhibit
Delegate, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available at the 8th annual SNGS 2026, giving organisations a chance to increase their visibility, meet key industry stakeholders and connect with the Scandinavian and Nordic gaming community.
To secure a place, register here: https://www.eventus-international.com/sngs

For sponsorship or exhibition enquiries, contact:
Lou-Mari Burnett, Chief Operating Officer, Eventus International
loumari@eventus-international.com
+27 82 907 5850
This post 3 Weeks until the Scandinavian & Nordic Gaming Show 2026: Leading Operators Weigh In first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorld3 Weeks Out: What to Expect from SPARK (Software, Payments, Affiliates, Revenue Kickoff) 2026
Growth in gaming rarely comes down to product alone, and in three weeks, the inaugural SPARK (Software, Payments, Affiliates, Revenue Kickoff) 2026 will put that reality to the operators, affiliates and providers shaping Southeast Europe when it launches in Sofia, Bulgaria on 19 – 20 October.
Bulgaria’s position as a stable, EU-regulated market has made it a strategic entry point for operators expanding across Southeast Europe. SPARK 2026 is positioned at precisely that intersection, convening multi-sector leaders as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve.
What to ExpectDay One | 19 October 2026
Opening Address: Shaping the Future of Gaming in Southeast Europe: Strategy, Technology, and Growth with Kristof Szucs, Co-Founder & Principal of Kyborg.ai.
Panel Discussion: Retail Gaming in a Digital-First World, exploring how land-based operators are evolving to stay relevant and competitive.
Fireside Chat: Balancing Compliance and UX in Multi-Jurisdiction Markets, navigating regional regulations without frustrating players.
The opening day also features additional sessions on live ops, revenue growth and payments-led conversion strategies, rounding out a packed first day.
Day Two | 20 October 2026
Keynote Address: SEO to AIEO: Transitioning from Ranking Websites to Becoming the Direct Answer in AI Search with Nikolas Monti-Potsolakis, CEO & Founder of Black Lantern Marketing.
Panel Discussion: The Affiliate Power Shift: From Traffic Brokers to Strategic Partners, aligning affiliate strategies with product and revenue objectives.
Fireside Chat: Regulatory Innovation: Proactive vs Reactive Compliance, exploring how early adoption of best practices can provide a competitive advantage.
With so much ground covered across both days, SPARK 2026 promises no shortage of insight for attendees.

Speaker Perspective: Kristiyan Kyulyunkov, CEO, Websa Ltd
Ahead of the summit, Kristiyan Kyulyunkov shared his perspective on scaling media platforms, building audience trust and the debates he’s most looking forward to at SPARK 2026.On his strategic priorities as CEO, Kristiyan offered the following:
“Our top priority at Websa is to build our brands as an authoritative and expert source of information for users. Also, we aim to understand players’ needs, assist them when necessary and provide a value that can’t be found elsewhere.”
Kristiyan also weighed in on the balance between audience trust and lead quality:
“You need to earn the trust of the audience by giving them value, exclusivity and a personal approach. When users find what they are looking for on your website and you show them that there is something more related to their interest, most of them continue going back to your product.”
Looking ahead to SPARK 2026, he shared what he’s most looking forward to discussing:
“I think the trendy topics nowadays are related to the use of AI and the integration of AI into all of the spaces in our lives and businesses. I am looking forward to debates related to affiliate marketing trends, building a product and growing the product in the company of large-scale and challenging competition.”
Secure A Package Now
With three weeks to go, a limited number of exhibitor, sponsorship and delegate packages remain available. Whether the goal is showcasing a product, aligning a brand with the region’s leading gaming summit, or securing a seat at the table, now is the time to lock in a place at SPARK 2026.
19 – 20 October 2026 | Sofia, BulgariaRegister here: https://www.eventus-international.com/sparkFor sponsorship or exhibition enquiries, contact:
Lou-Mari Burnett, Chief Operating Officer, Eventus International
loumari@eventus-international.com
This post 3 Weeks Out: What to Expect from SPARK (Software, Payments, Affiliates, Revenue Kickoff) 2026 first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldFCA Opens Crypto Authorization Window Until Feb 28, 2027
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened applications on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, for crypto businesses seeking authorization under a regulatory regime set to take effect on October 25, 2027. Firms planning to continue operating in the UK should apply by the end of February 2027, according to Cointelegraph.
The FCA is accepting crypto authorization applications until February 28, 2027, ahead of a new regime that starts on October 25, 2027. Existing money laundering registrations will not automatically convert. Key facts
Applications opened on September 30, 2026, and the deadline is February 28, 2027.
The regime takes effect on October 25, 2027.
Existing registrations under money laundering regulations (MLRs) will not carry over into FCA authorization.
The FCA finalized its rules in June 2026, covering stablecoin issuance, crypto trading platforms, and market abuse.
PANews reported that the FCA stressed submitting an application does not guarantee approval, and firms failing to meet standards will not be allowed to provide regulated cryptoasset services in the UK.
What the FCA has said
Dominic Cashman, the FCA’s director of authorization, said: “The UK’s new crypto regime will give consumers greater protections and firms a clear framework to operate in.”
Emma Banymandhub, CEO of The Payments Association, welcomed the opening but cautioned that MLR-registered firms must treat the process as a fresh authorization. “MLR registration will not carry over, and firms should be realistic about the standards they will need to meet,” she said. Banymandhub added that implementation would be particularly important for smaller and growing businesses.
What the new regime changes
The framework expands the FCA’s oversight beyond anti-money laundering and financial promotion requirements. It introduces standards covering consumer protection, custody of client assets, market integrity, and financial resilience. Once the regime is live, crypto firms operating in the UK will come under full FCA regulation for the first time, according to PANews.
Why it matters
For crypto businesses already registered under the MLRs, the opening of applications signals that a separate, more demanding authorization process now lies ahead. The FCA’s decision not to convert existing registrations means firms cannot rely on their current status to continue operating legally after October 25, 2027. The shift affects not only large exchanges but also smaller and growing businesses, which Banymandhub said may face particular implementation challenges. The new standards on custody and financial resilience could reshape how crypto services are offered to UK consumers.
What to watch
The February 28, 2027, application deadline is the next key date. The FCA expects to decide applications submitted during the window before the regime takes effect. How many firms apply — and how many meet the standards — will indicate the practical impact on the UK crypto market.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the new UK crypto regime take effect?
The regime is due to take effect on October 25, 2027.
Do existing MLR registrations automatically convert to FCA authorization?
No, existing money laundering registrations will not convert into FCA authorization, according to Cointelegraph.
What standards will firms need to meet?
The framework covers consumer protection, custody of client assets, market integrity, and financial resilience, as reported by PANews.
Can firms apply after February 28, 2027?
The FCA expects to decide applications submitted during the window before the regime takes effect, but firms intending to continue operating should apply by the end of February 2027.
This post FCA Opens Crypto Authorization Window Until Feb 28, 2027 first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldAztec Relaunches zk.money for Private Ethereum Payments
Aztec Labs relaunched zk.money on September 29, 2026, reviving a self-custodial wallet that lets users send private stablecoin payments on its privacy-first Ethereum layer-2 network, according to Decrypt. The original zk.money, launched in 2021, drew more than 75,000 wallets and $100 million in volume before the team shelved it three years ago to build Aztec Network.
Aztec Labs relaunched zk.money on September 29, 2026, a self-custodial wallet for private stablecoin payments on its Ethereum layer-2, Aztec Network. Users claim readable tags such as bob.zk.money, and payments inside the wallet stay hidden, while deposits from Ethereum remain public.
Users claim a tag like bob.zk.money that resolves through the Ethereum Name Service to a deposit address. Payments made between two people inside the wallet do not broadcast balances, amounts, or recipients to the public ledger, though Aztec notes that deposits from Ethereum are still public.
Key facts
Aztec Labs relaunched zk.money on September 29, 2026, three years after discontinuing the original product in 2023.
The wallet runs on Aztec Network, which Aztec describes as a privacy-first Ethereum layer-2 that settles back to Ethereum.
The original zk.money debuted in 2021 and drew more than 75,000 wallets and $100 million in volume, per Aztec.
Early users can send USDC, USDT, or DAI, with transactions capped at $2,500 each and a shared $50,000 daily deposit ceiling.
The old product, brought back on new rails
The first zk.money arrived in 2021, the same year Aztec raised $17 million in a Paradigm-led round, and later expanded through Aztec Connect, a toolkit for wiring its privacy tech into DeFi protocols. Aztec discontinued the wallet in 2023 and moved its engineers to building Aztec Network.
CEO Joe Andrews addressed the reason for the shutdown. PANews, citing The Block, reported that Andrews said the product was not discontinued due to a lack of market demand; rather, the earlier system was difficult to scale and could not achieve global-scale adoption.
The accounts differ slightly in how they frame the gap. Decrypt frames the relaunch as a return “from the dead” three years after the plug was pulled. PANews, citing The Block, frames it as a rebuild on the company’s own network after the original could not reach global scale. Both reports agree on the core figures: 75,000-plus wallets, $100 million in volume, and a 2023 discontinuation.
In a statement carried by Decrypt, Andrews pushed back on the idea that payments should expose personal finances. “Onchain transactions between two individuals shouldn’t mean publishing your financial history to the world,” he said.
How the privacy actually works
Private functions run on the user’s own device, which generates zero-knowledge proofs. These are cryptographic receipts that confirm a transaction is valid without revealing its details. Because the wallet is self-custodial, Aztec says it cannot spend or freeze user funds, and no privileged administrator controls it.
The privacy has boundaries worth understanding before use. Deposits arriving from Ethereum stay public, and the early rollout applies transaction and deposit caps to limit exposure in the first phase. That split matters for anyone weighing whether the wallet fits their needs: it hides activity between users inside zk.money, not the movement of funds into it.
Why it matters
Privacy has climbed Ethereum’s agenda in recent months. Developers are weighing proposals for next year’s Hegotá upgrade that would let privacy pools pay their own transaction fees without intermediaries. In a post over the weekend, co-founder Vitalik Buterin said special-purpose apps could achieve “very strong privacy” through zero-knowledge proofs as part of his “cryptographic world computer” vision.
For everyday stablecoin users, the relaunch offers a route to move USDC, USDT, or DAI without publishing amounts or counterparties on a public ledger. The trade-offs are real: deposits stay visible, and the caps mean the wallet is not yet built for large transfers during its early phase.
What to watch
The immediate markers are whether Aztec lifts the $2,500 per-transaction and $50,000 daily deposit limits as usage grows, and how the Hegotá upgrade proposals for privacy-pool fee payments advance next year. Both will shape how much of Ethereum’s stablecoin activity can move through private rails.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is zk.money and who runs it?
zk.money is a self-custodial wallet operated by Aztec Labs that supports private crypto payments. It runs on Aztec Network, the company’s privacy-focused Ethereum layer-2, and was relaunched on September 29, 2026.
Why did Aztec shut down zk.money the first time?
Aztec Labs said the original system was difficult to scale and could not reach global adoption. CEO Joe Andrews said the shutdown in 2023 was not due to a lack of market demand, and the team shifted focus to building Aztec Network.
Are payments on the new zk.money fully private?
No. Payments made inside zk.money are hidden, but deposits from Ethereum remain public, according to Aztec. Transactions are also capped at $2,500 each during the early rollout.
What assets and limits apply during the rollout?
Users can send USDC, USDT, or DAI from an exchange or Ethereum wallet. Each transaction is limited to $2,500, and all users share a $50,000 daily deposit ceiling.
How does the original zk.money compare to the relaunch?
The 2021 version drew more than 75,000 wallets and $100 million in volume before being shelved in 2023. The new version runs on Aztec’s own decentralized network rather than the earlier system the company said was hard to scale.
This post Aztec Relaunches zk.money for Private Ethereum Payments first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldTwo Weeks Until Sports Betting West Africa+ Summit 2026 and Gaming Event Francophone Africa 2026 in Dakar
In just two weeks, Dakar, Senegal, is set to become the epicentre of gaming intelligence in Africa, as the 11th annual Sports Betting West Africa+ Summit 2026 and 2nd annual Gaming Event Francophone Africa take place concurrently from 14 – 16 October 2026 at the King Fahd Palace Hôtel.
Rather than focusing on market potential alone, this year’s gathering will highlight operational execution across rapidly evolving regional jurisdictions. Over three comprehensive days, key industry professionals will address the practical realities of continental growth, harmonised licensing frameworks, data-light content delivery, localised payment integration, and player retention mechanics across both English- and French-speaking African markets, setting the stage for expert-led panel discussions, keynote addresses, and commercial deal-making.
Spotlighting Industry Excellence: The SBWA+ Eventus Awards 2026
The SBWA+Eventus Awards Ceremony is set to take place during the Welcoming Evening on 14 October 2026, recognising organisations, leaders, and innovators setting benchmarks for excellence, compliance, and technological advancement across the African gaming landscape.
The official 2026 award categories feature:
SBWA+ Supplier of the Year Award 2026 pays tribute to the top B2B supplier of the year, focusing on overall commercial success, technical reliability, and innovative thinking.
SBWA+ Innovation of the Year Award 2026 acknowledges a standout concept or technological advancement that has made a measurable impact, assessed on market performance, originality, user experience, and design quality.
SBWA+ Operator of the Year Award 2026 honours the leading consumer-facing operator, evaluating commercial growth, innovative market strategy, and overall user experience quality.
SBWA+ Leader in Virtual Sports Award 2026 recognises the most innovative virtual sports gaming experience of the year, focusing on concept originality, engagement mechanics, and commercial success.
SBWA+ Leader in Online Casino Award 2026 pays tribute to the premier online casino platform for innovation, user engagement, quality lead generation, and sustained growth.
SBWA+ Leader in Responsible Gambling Award 2026 honours an organisation demonstrating exceptional commitment and execution in responsible gambling awareness, harm minimisation, and brand trust.
SBWA+ Leader in Sports Betting Award 2026 commends the primary frontrunner in sports betting technology and service delivery, focusing on originality, execution, and commercial performance.
SBWA+ Outstanding Industry Influencer Award 2026 recognises outstanding individual contributions through strategic advice, research input, industry collaborations, and sector growth.
SBWA+ Outstanding Consultant Award 2026 acknowledges exceptional achievements, market guidance, and strategic value provided by an industry consultant or advisory firm.
SBWA+ Outstanding Speaker Award 2026 recognises the top presenter at SBWA+ 2026, evaluated across the summit and announced at the conclusion of day three.
Special Spotlight Celebrating Women in Gaming Categories:
SBWA+ Innovation Queen of West Africa 2026 honours an innovative female leader transforming business practices and promoting diversity within the West African gaming sector.
SBWA+ West Africa’s Rising Star in Leadership 2026 recognises an emerging leader who has demonstrated exceptional management skills and significant operational impact.

Final Call to Submit Award Nominations
Industry executives are invited to submit nominations to honour the individuals and organisations driving progress in African gaming.
Nomination Deadline: Friday, 2 October 2026
Awards Ceremony Date: Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Submit Nominations Online: SBWA+ Eventus Awards Nomination Page
Secure Attendee Passes and Exhibition Space
With two weeks remaining, delegate passes, complimentary operator passes, and exhibition space are limited.
Licensed Operators and Affiliates: Qualified African operators and affiliates may apply for complimentary passes, subject to approval and availability.
Delegates and C-Level Executives: Standard and VIP delegate passes grant access to all conference streams, daily networking luncheons, refreshment breaks, and the official Welcoming Evening.
Sponsors and Exhibitors: Custom branding and exhibition packages remain available to position products and services directly before senior decision-makers and regional regulators.

Event Registration Links:
Register for SBWA+ Summit 2026: SBWA+ Registration
Register for GEFA 2026: GEFA Registration

Sponsorship and Exhibition Enquiries:

Lou-Mari BurnettChief Operating Officer
Eventus International
loumari@eventus-international.com
This post Two Weeks Until Sports Betting West Africa+ Summit 2026 and Gaming Event Francophone Africa 2026 in Dakar first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldStandard Chartered Sets $2 ENA Target, $40B USDe by 2028
Standard Chartered has initiated coverage of Ethena’s ENA token with a year-end 2028 price target of $2, roughly seven times the $0.28 level cited in its research, according to Cointelegraph. The bank also expects the protocol’s synthetic dollar, USDe, to grow to $40 billion in supply by the end of 2028, an eightfold increase from its current scale.
Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Ethena’s ENA token with a $2 year-end 2028 price target, about seven times its $0.28 level, and expects USDe stablecoin supply to grow to $40 billion from roughly $4.9 billion.
CryptoSlate reported that the bank’s roadmap puts ENA at $0.42 at the end of 2026 and $1.10 in 2027 before the final leg higher, and noted that USDe supply has fallen from a peak above $10 billion to about $4.9 billion. The two outlets frame the same thesis differently: Cointelegraph emphasizes the bank’s revenue-to-buyback mechanics, while CryptoSlate stresses that Ethena must first reverse a contracting business.
Key facts
Standard Chartered set a year-end 2028 ENA target of $2 versus about $0.28 cited in its report, implying roughly sevenfold upside.
USDe supply is forecast to reach $40 billion by the end of 2028, up from about $4.9 billion today — below the stablecoin’s previous peak of more than $10 billion, per CryptoSlate.
Ethena’s governance approved a fee switch in early September that directs 95% of qualifying net revenue toward ENA buybacks once USDe crosses specified supply milestones, beginning at $7.5 billion.
Ethena estimates the mechanism could generate $375 million in annual ENA buybacks at $25 billion in USDe supply, assuming a 6% gross protocol yield and a 25% net revenue take rate.
ENA traded near $0.27 on Wednesday, up about 28% over the prior week and 77% over the month, with a market capitalization of roughly $2.65 billion, according to CoinGecko data cited by Cointelegraph.
A buyback-driven valuation case
The core of Standard Chartered’s argument is less about stablecoin growth in isolation than about what that growth does for ENA holders. Under the fee-switch framework, 95% of qualifying net revenue from covered businesses is directed toward token buybacks once USDe hits set supply levels. At $25 billion in supply, Ethena models $375 million in annual purchases against a 6% gross yield and 25% net take rate.
Standard Chartered projects that at $40 billion in USDe supply, annual buybacks could equal roughly 23% of ENA’s circulating market capitalization if the token’s price stayed flat. The bank treats that rate as unsustainable, arguing that investors would capitalize the expected stream of purchases into the token’s value, pushing the price up and lowering the buyback percentage until it settles closer to the 3% to 4% range that Uniswap’s UNI has stabilized at.
What has to happen first
Ethena’s ability to reach that scale depends on yield sources beyond the crypto basis trade — holding spot crypto while shorting perpetual futures — that drove its early growth. Lower funding rates have forced the protocol to expand into DeFi lending, institutional lending, real-world assets and basis trades tied to equities and commodities. Those strategies currently generate a blended yield of about 5.2%, which Standard Chartered says gives USDe room to scale.
The bank also assumes the broader tokenized-asset market grows from roughly $350 billion today to $4 trillion by the end of 2028, expanding the collateral pool Ethena can draw on. CryptoSlate noted that the bank sees real-world assets deployed on blockchains rising from about $40 billion to $2 trillion over the same period, and cited Ethena’s white-label stablecoin and Ethena Pay businesses as additional revenue lines.
Before any of that matters, USDe has to climb back. The fee switch begins at $7.5 billion in supply, meaning the protocol currently sits below the first threshold at which the buyback engine starts. Ethena also needs its newer yield strategies to absorb tens of billions of dollars without compressing returns, and the model’s 6% yield assumption has not been guaranteed across market cycles.
Why it matters
Standard Chartered’s note is one of the first sell-side research calls to put a hard number on the value of Ethena’s buyback mechanism rather than on stablecoin growth alone. If the bank is right, ENA would outperform Standard Chartered’s own forecasts for Bitcoin at $300,000 and Ether at $18,000 by the end of 2028 — a rare case of a large institution projecting an altcoin ahead of the two largest crypto assets. That framing matters because Ethena’s own economics contain a trade-off: routing more revenue to buybacks can leave less yield for sUSDe holders, who are the source of the deposits USDe needs to grow.
What to watch
The next verifiable checkpoint is USDe supply crossing the $7.5 billion fee-switch threshold, which is roughly $2.6 billion above its current level. Beyond that, the quarterly mix of Ethena’s yield sources, its blended rate and whether it re-approaches the previous $10 billion-plus peak will determine whether the buyback math Standard Chartered models begins to take effect.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Standard Chartered’s price target for Ethena’s ENA token?
The bank set a year-end 2028 target of $2 for ENA, compared with about $0.28 cited in its report. CryptoSlate also reported intermediate forecasts of $0.42 at the end of 2026 and $1.10 in 2027.
How large does Standard Chartered expect USDe to become?
Standard Chartered forecasts USDe supply reaching $40 billion by the end of 2028. The stablecoin currently sits at about $4.9 billion, down from a peak above $10 billion, according to CryptoSlate.
What is Ethena’s fee switch and how does it fund ENA buybacks?
Ethena governance approved a fee switch in early September that directs 95% of qualifying net revenue to ENA buybacks once USDe supply crosses specified milestones, starting at $7.5 billion. Ethena estimates $375 million in annual buybacks at $25 billion in supply, assuming a 6% gross protocol yield and a 25% net revenue take rate.
Which risks could prevent ENA from reaching $2?
USDe must first reverse its contraction, cross the $7.5 billion fee-switch threshold and reclaim its previous peak, and Ethena’s newer yield strategies must scale without materially compressing returns. Capturing more revenue for buybacks can also reduce what remains available to sUSDe holders.
Why does the note compare Ethena to Uniswap?
Standard Chartered uses Uniswap as an analog, noting that UNI’s annualized buyback rate has settled around 3% to 4% as its token price increased after its own fee switch, and applies a similar equilibrium to Ethena.
Standard Chartered’s projections are forecasts, not guarantees, and stablecoin and altcoin markets remain volatile. This article is not financial advice.
This post Standard Chartered Sets $2 ENA Target, $40B USDe by 2028 first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldDogecoin gets apps as DogeOS opens public testnet
Dogecoin’s application layer, DogeOS, opened its public testnet on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, according to a press release. The testnet allows developers to trial applications—including a lending protocol, a perpetual exchange, a stablecoin, and a prediction market aggregator—before real money is used. The project, founded by the team behind the MyDoge wallet, runs as a separate layer on top of Dogecoin rather than altering the base coin, as first reported by Decrypt.
DogeOS opened its public testnet on September 30, 2026, enabling developers to build and test applications on Dogecoin using DOGE for fees. The EVM-compatible layer has no mainnet launch date yet, but it represents a step toward expanding Dogecoin’s utility beyond simple transactions. Key facts
DogeOS launched its public testnet on September 30, 2026, as a trial network for developers to test apps before real money is involved.
The layer is EVM-compatible, meaning smart contracts and tools built for Ethereum work on it, and fees are paid in DOGE.
Applications under development include Superposition Finance (lending), Derps (perpetual exchange), USDoge (stablecoin), and Snag (prediction market aggregator), among others listed in the announcement.
No mainnet launch date has been set; the team will announce a timeline after further development milestones, according to CEO Jordan Jefferson.
DogeOS raised $6.9 million in a funding round led by Polychain Capital in May 2025, as reported by crypto.news.
Building on Dogecoin without changing it
DogeOS positions itself as an “Application Layer rollup network on Dogecoin” running on a zkVM, which generates cryptographic proofs to validate transactions. It is a separate layer, not a modification to Dogecoin itself. The project’s documentation describes it as settling state to Dogecoin, though the base blockchain does not currently verify the rollup’s ZK proofs natively. According to crypto.news, DogeOS currently relies on validators, a trusted execution environment, and a permissioned sequencer, with bridge state transitions requiring valid proofs, signatures from a majority of the validator set, and a signer operating within a trusted execution environment.
The team submitted a proposal in July 2025 to bring zero-knowledge proofs to Dogecoin’s base layer, which would allow miners to verify execution proofs directly. That change has not been implemented, as Dogecoin has no formal on-chain governance and any modification requires contributor review, community discussion, security audits, and miner signaling.
Dogecoin Foundation director Timothy Stebbing expressed support for the launch, stating, “I’ve spent half a decade encouraging people to take a chance on Dogecoin and to build in its ecosystem. My hopes are that DogeOS becomes the springboard for a wave of new utility engineering, the gateway for the next 100 startups to build on Dogecoin.”
The testnet gives developers a live environment to build and test products. According to crypto.news, projects like Barkswap (liquidity engine), Split Markets (non-liquidatable options), Anoncoin and Starbase (launchpads), and Doge Escape, PlaysOut, and DogeFundMe (games and consumer products) are also in development. DogeOS cautioned that application availability depends on each team’s schedule.
Why it matters
Dogecoin has historically been limited to peer-to-peer transactions, and this testnet marks a concrete attempt to add programmable functionality. For developers, it offers a familiar environment: Ethereum-compatible tools work on DogeOS, potentially lowering the barrier to building on Dogecoin. For holders, the long-term hope is that applications like lending and prediction markets could drive demand for DOGE, though no mainnet is live yet. The launch also follows a broader trend of layer-2 solutions aiming to bring smart contracts to networks that lack them natively.
What to watch
The next milestone is the mainnet launch, which DogeOS CEO Jordan Jefferson said will be announced after further development milestones. Additionally, the proposed Dogecoin Core upgrade to enable native ZK-proof verification remains pending, and its progress could affect how trustless the DogeOS network becomes. Meanwhile, Bitwise’s Dogecoin ETF (BWOW) is set to close on October 14, 2026, a separate development that may impact U.S. investors’ access to DOGE.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is DogeOS?
DogeOS is an application layer for Dogecoin, built by the team behind the MyDoge wallet. It runs as an EVM-compatible rollup that settles to Dogecoin, allowing developers to create smart contracts and apps like lending protocols, exchanges, and games.
When did DogeOS launch its public testnet?
The public testnet opened on September 30, 2026, as reported by Decrypt and crypto.news.
What fees are used on the DogeOS testnet?
Fees on the testnet are paid in DOGE, the native coin of the Dogecoin network. Developers can also get free test DOGE from a faucet.
What applications are being built on DogeOS?
Projects include Superposition Finance (lending), Derps (perpetual exchange), USDoge (stablecoin), Snag (prediction market aggregator), and PlaysOut (mini-games), among others.
Is there a mainnet launch date for DogeOS?
No mainnet launch date has been set. CEO Jordan Jefferson said the team will announce a timeline after reaching further development milestones.
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BitcoinWorldPetrobras, Cardano Foundation build SAF and diesel trackers
Petrobras has developed two research-stage blockchain applications with the Cardano Foundation and PUC-Rio’s Ledger Labs to track environmental claims for sustainable aviation fuel and lifecycle data for its Diesel R renewable diesel, according to Crypto.news. The Cardano Foundation announced both projects on September 30, 2026, describing work produced through its ongoing research collaboration with Brazil’s state-controlled energy company.
Petrobras and the Cardano Foundation have built two research-stage blockchain applications: one tokenizes environmental benefits tied to sustainable aviation fuel (CS-SAF tokens), and the other records production, transport and use data for Diesel R renewable diesel. Neither project has a disclosed commercial launch date. Key facts
The Cardano Foundation announced the projects on Sep. 30, 2026, developed with Petrobras and PUC-Rio’s Ledger Labs.
The aviation application uses a Book-and-Claim model so an airline can receive a SAF environmental benefit even when another operator uses the physical fuel.
Certificates are checked against CORSIA and other recognized standards before becoming standardized tokens carrying environmental attributes, per the accompanying SAF case study.
The Foundation identifies CS-SAF as the digital token representing the aviation fuel’s environmental benefit, usable by airlines or individual journeys.
Both initiatives remain research projects, with no commercial launch date disclosed.
According to Cointelegraph, the collaboration began in 2023 with blockchain education for Petrobras employees and expanded in 2025 to energy-sector research with Ledger Labs. Cointelegraph also reported that the Cardano Foundation did not disclose fuel volumes covered by the applications — a detail Crypto.news’s report does not address either.
How the aviation token makes a claim traceable
Under the Book-and-Claim model, the environmental benefit of sustainable aviation fuel is separated from the physical fuel itself. The Foundation says that for each allocation, Cardano records the benefit’s origin and recipient, letting participants trace a claim back to the fuel certificate behind it. The proposed system addresses the risk of assigning the same environmental benefit to more than one buyer.
In the accompanying SAF case study, the certificate-checking process takes place before digital records enter the system. Certificates are checked against the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, known as CORSIA, and other recognized standards. Once verified, the case study says, the certificates become standardized tokens carrying information about their environmental attributes. Participants can issue, transfer, and inspect the tokens before retiring them when the associated benefit is claimed — a step the Foundation describes as preventing a token from being used again.
For passengers, the announcement describes an application that accepts departure and destination airports and calculates a corresponding SAF allocation. A traveler then receives a certificate showing the route, distance, and allocation, with a connection to the original fuel certificate. Cointelegraph noted that the CS-SAF tokens contain metadata aligned with CORSIA.
Diesel R records follow the fuel across the supply chain
Across the second project, digital checkpoints collect Diesel R information at successive stages of production, transportation and use. Connecting those records would create a fuel history companies could consult when preparing emissions accounts. The Foundation places particular attention on Scope 3, which covers indirect emissions across a company’s value chain, noting that the necessary information can sit in separate supplier, logistics and external systems.
Petrobras describes Diesel R as diesel containing a renewable portion produced by processing petroleum-based diesel alongside vegetable oils or animal fats. In the company’s explanation, the renewable material passes through refinery treatment involving hydrogen and catalysts. According to Petrobras’ product documentation, the resulting fuel can use existing engines, storage facilities and distribution infrastructure without adaptations, and the company sells Diesel R to fuel distributors that supply service stations in Brazil.
Why it matters
Fuel-related environmental claims are only as useful as they are verifiable, and both projects target the same weak point: the data trail behind a sustainability assertion. If a token cannot be reused or a batch cannot be quietly re-labelled, buyers and auditors gain a way to confirm that a claim still matches the fuel it describes.
The work also illustrates how state-linked energy producers are testing public blockchains for compliance-adjacent recordkeeping rather than for trading. For readers following Cardano, the significance is less about price and more about whether an enterprise-grade verification layer gains traction with large industrial counterparties.
Rafael Fraga, the Foundation’s Latin America business development lead, said the energy transition will depend as much on trust as it does on new fuels. In the same statement, Fraga said increasingly complex supply chains make the origin, movement and reliability of environmental data important to the companies using it.
What to watch
Neither Crypto.news nor Cointelegraph reported a commercial launch date, so the next meaningful signal is whether the Cardano Foundation or Petrobras discloses fuel volumes, a scope expansion, or a timeline for broader deployment. A concurrent reference point is Shell’s Avelia Book-and-Claim platform, which the Cointelegraph report said had contributed to more than 84 million gallons of SAF entering the global fuel network since its 2022 launch, with over 780,000 tonnes of CO₂e abatement through June 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the two Petrobras blockchain projects announced on September 30, 2026?
The Cardano Foundation said the first is a sustainable aviation fuel application built on a Book-and-Claim model that tokenizes environmental attributes as CS-SAF tokens, and the second creates digital checkpoints that track production, transportation and use of Petrobras’ Diesel R renewable diesel, with attention to Scope 3 emissions reporting.
What is the Book-and-Claim model used for sustainable aviation fuel?
Under Book-and-Claim, the environmental benefit of sustainable aviation fuel can be separated from the physical fuel and assigned to an airline, company or passenger even when another operator uses the actual fuel. Petrobras’ aviation project records the origin and recipient of each allocation so a claim can be traced back to the underlying fuel certificate.
How does the Cardano system prevent the same SAF environmental benefit from being claimed twice?
In the SAF case study, certificates are first checked against CORSIA and other recognized standards, then turned into standardized tokens carrying their environmental attributes. Participants can issue, transfer and inspect the tokens before retiring them when the benefit is claimed, and the Foundation describes that retirement step as preventing reuse.
What is Diesel R and how is it being tracked?
Petrobras describes Diesel R as diesel containing a renewable portion made by processing petroleum-based diesel alongside vegetable oils or animal fats. The Cardano Foundation’s project places digital checkpoints across production, transport and use to build a fuel history companies could consult when preparing emissions accounts.
When will Petrobras launch these Cardano applications commercially?
Neither Crypto.news nor Cointelegraph reported a commercial launch date, and the Cardano Foundation did not disclose fuel volumes covered by the applications or a timeline for broader deployment. Both initiatives remain research projects.
This post Petrobras, Cardano Foundation build SAF and diesel trackers first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldRobinhood Unveils 10x Crypto Perps, Weekend Trading, AI Agents
Robinhood used its Sept. 29 HOOD Summit to announce a slate of new products for active traders, including US crypto perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage, 24/7 weekend stock trading, and in-app AI agents that place trades, according to Decrypt. The company also introduced earnings contracts and a social trading app, packing more product news into one event than it has in years.
Robinhood plans to offer US crypto perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin and Ether, alongside weekend stock and ETF trading targeted for early 2027 and in-app AI agents that can execute trades automatically. Key facts
Robinhood’s US crypto perpetual futures will cover eight assets — BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK and HYPE — with BTC and ETH at up to 10x leverage and the other six capped at 3x, costing 0.01% per trade through the end of 2026.
Weekend trading for a selected group of US stocks and ETFs is expected in early 2027, using Bruce ATS as the venue, and remains subject to regulatory review, crypto.news reported.
The products will be offered by Robinhood Derivatives, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, through Bitstamp, the exchange Robinhood acquired in a $200 million deal completed in June 2025.
More than 150,000 customers have opened agentic trading accounts since Robinhood opened its systems to outside AI in May, with agents now using Robinhood tools nearly 30 million times per day.
The summit also included earnings contracts through Cboe, extended options hours starting in October, and up to 4x intraday margin for eligible customers beginning next month.
What Robinhood actually announced
The most consequential piece is the US perps product. Perpetual futures let traders hold a derivatives position without a fixed expiry date, provided margin requirements are met — a structure long associated with offshore crypto exchanges rather than US brokerages. Robinhood said traders will be able to take long or short positions directly in its app, with stop-loss and take-profit orders, real-time liquidation-price tracking, and alerts when positions are at risk.
CEO Vlad Tenev described the product on X as “America’s first true perps,” noting the contracts would carry no expiry and that profit and loss would settle every 15 minutes. Bitcoin and ether contracts start at the highest leverage tier of 10x, while the remaining six assets are limited to 3x. As crypto.news reported, the company positioned the lower limits on smaller coins as a deliberate choice to start safer.
The path to a US perps product was cleared earlier this year. On May 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved KalshiEX’s BTCPERP contract as a futures contract and issued a policy statement saying perpetuals tied to asset classes outside that order should generally go through case-by-case review under CFTC Regulation 40.3. The same day, CFTC staff confirmed certain Deribit perpetuals could be treated as foreign futures when offered through Coinbase Financial Markets under specified conditions. Robinhood did not tie its planned contracts to that staff action, describing only the regulatory registration of Robinhood Derivatives.
Weekend stock trading fills a gap Robinhood has carried since 2023. Its 24 Hour Market already runs from Sunday at 8 p.m. ET through Friday at 8 p.m. ET for hundreds of stocks and ETFs, but the weekend remained closed. Extending into Saturday and Sunday through Bruce ATS would close the last scheduling gap between equities and crypto. Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk framed the change around news flow, saying that breaking news does not wait for an opening bell.
Robinhood Agents moves automated trading inside the main app. Eligible users can pick a supported model, open a dedicated agentic account, and set trading instructions and limits. Manual trade approval is enabled by default during setup, and agents can only access funds in that dedicated account. A planned Loops feature will let users set standing instructions so an agent acts on its own when preset conditions are met. Robinhood’s disclosures state that customers remain responsible for their automation rules and for monitoring performance.
Why it matters
The package matters most to active traders, who now face a broader set of US-regulated instruments than Robinhood has previously offered in one app. If the perps launch as planned, US customers will be able to take leveraged crypto positions onshore rather than through offshore venues, which changes who bears the regulatory and custody risk. The weekend trading plan is narrower — a curated list of securities — but it pushes the equities market toward the same always-on schedule crypto already operates under.
It also arrives at a soft moment in crypto prices. Bitcoin traded near $83,888, down about 2.06% over 24 hours, though it was up 7.33% in September, narrowly ahead of September 2024’s 7.29% for the best September on record. Ether changed hands near $2,700, and Solana was roughly flat at $120.
What to watch
No launch date for the US perps was included in the Sept. 29 release, leaving specifics on timing and the full fee schedule unresolved. Weekend stock trading still needs regulatory review before an early-2027 target, and October brings the extended options hours while next month brings the higher intraday margin tier for eligible customers — early tests of how far Robinhood can push its always-on trading model.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much leverage will Robinhood offer on crypto perpetual futures?
Bitcoin and Ether contracts will offer up to 10x leverage, while the other six supported assets — SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK and HYPE — will be capped at 3x.
When will Robinhood’s US crypto perpetual futures launch?
The company said in its Sept. 29 release that the contracts will arrive in the coming months but did not give a specific launch date.
When will Robinhood offer weekend stock trading?
Robinhood says weekend trading for a curated list of US stocks and ETFs is expected in early 2027, subject to regulatory review, and will use Bruce ATS as the trading venue.
What are Robinhood Agents and how do they work?
Robinhood Agents let eligible users create in-app AI agents that research markets and place trades in a dedicated account. Manual trade approval is on by default, and a planned Loops feature will allow standing instructions.
This post Robinhood Unveils 10x Crypto Perps, Weekend Trading, AI Agents first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldCoW Swap Opens TWAP Orders to Every EOA Wallet, Removing the Safe-Only Barrier
The order type professional trading desks use to limit market impact is now available to any externally owned account (EOA) wallet – no Safe setup required.
LISBON, Portugal, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CoW DAO today announced that CoW Swap users can now place, edit, and cancel TWAP (time-weighted average price) orders directly from any externally owned account (EOA) wallet, closing a gap that previously restricted the feature to multisig wallet users.
Price impact is one of the least visible costs of trading – and one of the most expensive. Academic research analyzing over half a million real trades found that for swaps above $100,000, price impact and slippage together account for roughly 77% of the total cost of the trade. The effect isn’t limited to large trades. In the same study, on a thinner-liquidity pair, price impact and slippage made up more than a third of the total cost of trades between $1,000 and $100,000.
TWAP orders address this by splitting a large trade into smaller pieces that execute over set intervals, rather than filling all at once, helping to reduce the price impact a single large order can have. It’s a technique long used by professional trading desks and market makers; and is now available to all users of CoW Swap.
The feature already counts some of Ethereum’s most closely watched wallets among its users. The Ethereum Foundation has used CoW Swap’s TWAP orders on multiple occasions to convert ETH into stablecoins to fund R&D, grants, and donations without disturbing ETH’s market price – including a 5,000 ETH conversion in April 2026.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has separately used CoW Swap’s TWAP feature for his own ETH-to-stablecoin conversions, including a transaction of more than 3,100 ETH.
Traders use TWAP orders for other reasons, too. TWAP can spread execution across time, giving traders an average execution price rather than relying on the market price at a single moment. And because trades can be scheduled at regular intervals, TWAP can automate recurring strategies – such as buying a fixed amount of an asset every week or month – without requiring the trader to return and place each order manually.
“TWAP has long been a preferred tool for our biggest users,” says Anna George, CoW DAO’s co-founder. “But our ambition was to be able to build tools that anyone can use – be they a big trader or small. Rolling out TWAP to every EOA wallet means millions can now split their trades and lower their price impact, effortlessly.”
With the update, CoW Swap handles the timing and execution automatically once an order is placed – funds remain in the trader’s own wallet for the duration, and every fill still respects the price protection the trader sets, so an order won’t execute outside the range they’ve defined.
The change is live now on swap.cow.fi for all supported EVM chains.
About CoW Protocol
CoW DAO develops the most user-protective products in DeFi. Its products, including CoW Swap are class leaders in intent-based DeFi, enabling gasless, MEV-protected swaps across major chains through solver competition and batch auctions – powered by CoW Protocol. Since launch, CoW Protocol has processed over $200B in user trades, and saved more than $1.5 billion in extracted value and returned it to users. Learn more at https://cow.fi.
Media Contact Matt Hussey Content Marketing Managermatt@cow.fi
This post CoW Swap Opens TWAP Orders to Every EOA Wallet, Removing the Safe-Only Barrier first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldIllinois Publishes Draft Rules for 0.2% Crypto Tax
Illinois has published draft rules spelling out how its 0.2% digital asset transaction tax would apply to stablecoins, exchange withdrawals and some paid DeFi services when the levy takes effect on January 1, 2027, according to Ambcrypto. The tax is already law under the Digital Asset Tax Act, but the proposal offers the first detailed picture of which everyday crypto activities would carry an extra charge.
Illinois would charge 0.2% on the value of crypto in a qualifying transaction, collected by the broker involved. Stablecoins fall inside the tax while NFTs are excluded, and most DeFi activity is exempt unless a platform charges its own protocol fee. The draft rules are open for public comment until October 30.
The rules were published by the Illinois Department of Revenue, PANews reported on September 30, citing Cointelegraph.
Key facts
The tax equals 0.2% of the value of the crypto involved in a qualifying transaction, not a percentage of the exchange or service fee — a $1,000 taxable transaction would carry $2 in state tax, on top of any trading, withdrawal or platform fees.
Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are treated as digital assets and can be taxed, but NFTs are excluded because they can represent art, music and other items with value beyond the token itself.
DeFi transactions are exempt in principle when fees go only to liquidity providers, miners or blockchain validators, and network gas fees are not included — but a platform that collects its own protocol fee to operate or maintain its service could be treated as a broker.
Moving assets from an exchange into a self-custody wallet could be taxable when the exchange charges a withdrawal fee, and paid bridging services that shift assets between blockchains could also qualify. Direct transfers between personal wallets with no broker involved are not taxed.
The draft has not been filed with the Secretary of State or submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and public comments are due by October 30.
Who owes the 0.2% — and who collects it
Four conditions have to line up for the tax to bite: an Illinois customer, a qualifying crypto service, a fee or other payment, and a business treated as a digital asset broker. The broker — a centralized exchange or custodian, for example — collects the charge, so customers would most often see it as a line item added at the point of a buy, sell, transfer or storage service rather than as a separate filing obligation.
The draft covers buying, selling, transferring and storing crypto through businesses such as centralized exchanges and custodians. That framing leaves self-directed activity alone: a user who simply moves coins between two wallets they control, with no intermediary charging a fee, is outside the scope.
Where stablecoins, DeFi and bridging land
The stablecoin treatment is the proposal’s most consequential detail. Tokens built to hold a $1 peg are classified as digital assets, so a qualifying USDT or USDC transaction can be taxed on value even though that value is designed not to move. Illinois is not carving out a low-volatility exemption.
DeFi is treated conditionally rather than uniformly, and the deciding factor is who receives the fee. Trades routed through a decentralized exchange generally escape the tax when fees flow only to liquidity providers, miners or validators, and gas costs are excluded entirely. The exemption breaks, however, when a DeFi platform collects a protocol fee used to operate or maintain its service — at that point the platform could be classed as a broker and the related transaction could become taxable.
Cross-chain activity sits in the middle. Bridging can qualify when a paid service moves assets from one blockchain to another, and an exchange charging a fee to send assets into self-custody is explicitly referenced in the proposal.
PANews characterised the DeFi position the same way — in principle exempt, with the protocol-fee exception as the trigger — and both accounts agree on the stablecoin inclusion, the NFT exclusion and the January 1, 2027 start date. Ambcrypto notes only that the rules remain preliminary and have not yet been filed with the Secretary of State or sent to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, a step that still has to happen before they become operative.
Why it matters
Illinois would be taxing value rather than profitability, which is a different model from the capital gains approach most U.S. crypto holders are used to at the federal level. A 0.2% charge on a straightforward swap is small in isolation, but it applies repeatedly — and it lands hardest on high-frequency users and on stablecoin rails, where the whole point is to move dollar-denominated value cheaply.
The practical burden falls on brokers operating in the state, which would have to build collection and reporting into their systems before January, and on DeFi front-ends whose fee structure determines whether their users are caught. The protocol-fee test also creates an incentive that cuts both ways: a service that charges nothing may stay outside the tax, while one that monetises its interface may pull its users in.
What to watch
The comment window closes on October 30, after which the Department of Revenue can revise the language before filing it with the Secretary of State and submitting it to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. How the protocol-fee trigger is finally worded — and whether stablecoins keep their current treatment — will decide who is collecting 0.2% on January 1.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Illinois crypto tax take effect?
The Digital Asset Tax Act is already law and is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, with the draft implementing rules still in a public comment period that closes on October 30.
How much is the Illinois digital asset tax?
Customers would pay 0.2% of the value of the crypto involved in a qualifying transaction. The broker providing the service collects it, and it comes on top of any trading, withdrawal or platform fees.
Are stablecoin transfers taxable under the proposal?
Yes. The draft treats stablecoins such as USDT and USDC as digital assets, so qualifying USDT or USDC transactions could be taxed even though the tokens are designed to hold a $1 value.
Is DeFi taxed under the Illinois draft rules?
Mostly no. Trades routed through a decentralized exchange are generally exempt when fees go only to liquidity providers, miners or validators, and gas fees are excluded — but a platform that collects its own protocol fee could be treated as a broker, making the related transaction taxable.
Do NFTs fall under the Illinois crypto tax?
No. NFTs are excluded because they can represent art, music and other items with value beyond the token itself, unlike the digital assets the draft covers.
This post Illinois Publishes Draft Rules for 0.2% Crypto Tax first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldBybit Releases Latest Proof-of-Reserves Report, Adding 10 Tokens as Mainstream Asset Value Hit $19.6 Billion
DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bybit, the New Financial Platform trusted by more than 80 million users worldwide, has added new 10 tokens to its Proof-of-Reserves (PoR) coverage with the release of its 40th PoR report, which reflects asset balances as of September 23, 2026. The report shows the reported value of mainstream assets reaching $19.6 billion, up from $18.1 billion in the 39th report in August.
The tokens joining Bybit’s September PoR report are SUI, PUMP, LIT, CAP, SPX, ZEREBRO, XPL, USDTB, PENGU, and ZRO. Bybit selects tokens for its PoR disclosures based on meaningful assets under management (AUM), with the current report covering the 50 highest-AUM tokens on the platform. This approach keeps the disclosure aligned with where user assets are concentrated.
The report, released on September 23, 2026, was independently verified by HACKEN. The snapshots and audited report show that reserve ratios for all 50 in-scope tokens were at or above 100%, including key assets such as USDT, USDC, BTC and ETH, indicating that user liabilities were fully backed by on-chain holdings.
Reserve positions strengthened across major assets compared with the 38th report published in July. The USDT reserve ratio rose to 110% from 105%, with wallet holdings exceeding user assets by roughly 364 million USDT. The USDC ratio increased to 223% from 174%. ETH edged up to 103% from 102%, while BTC held steady at 104%.
Ten tokens are newly added with reserve ratios between 101% and 125%, led by XPL at 125% and LIT at 121%.
Key Metrics (as of September 23, 2026 at 03:00 UTC)
USDT Reserve Ratio: 110% (~3.96 billion USDT in wallet backing ~3.59 billion USDT in user assets)
USDC Reserve Ratio: 223% (~748.3 million USDC in wallet backing ~334.8 million USDC in user assets)
BTC Reserve Ratio: 104% (58,721 BTC in wallet backing 56,131 BTC in user assets)
ETH Reserve Ratio: 103% (570,018 ETH in wallet backing 551,868 ETH in user assets)
As institutional and retail participation in digital assets continues to grow, proof of reserves has become a baseline transparency measure across the industry. Bybit’s 40th Proof-of-Reserves report offers an independently verified view of reserve balances and user liabilities, giving added visibility into the exchange’s custody and solvency position.
Reserve balances and verification records are published on Bybit’s Proof-of-Reserves page and updated on a recurring basis.
About Bybit
Bybit is The New Financial Platform.
We believe every person should have access to every financial opportunity on earth. That’s why we’re building the first intelligent platform that connects anyone, anywhere to the world’s finance.
Trusted by more than 80 million users worldwide, Bybit brings together investing, trading, payments, and wealth-building in a single secure and intelligent ecosystem. Through the combination of AI-powered technology, deep global liquidity, robust security, and transparent operations, Bybit makes global finance more accessible, efficient, and empowering for everyone.
Built for everyone. Powered by intelligence. Open to the world.
Learn more at Bybit.com.
For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press For media inquiries, please contact: media@bybit.com For updates, please follow: Bybit’s Communities and Social Media
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SOURCE Bybit
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BitcoinWorldMEXC Leads SOL and DOGE Market-Price Liquidity in CoinGecko’s 2026 CEX Report
MUTSAMUDU, Comoros, Sept. 30, 2026/CNW/ — MEXC, a pioneer in 0-fee digital asset trading, led the exchanges studied in order book liquidity at the market price for both SOL and DOGE in CoinGecko Research’s 2026 Crypto Liquidity on CEXes Report. The report measured order book depth for the top five non-stablecoin assets, BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and DOGE, across eight exchanges over 60 days from July 6 to September 3, 2026.
MEXC Records Highest SOL Liquidity at the Market Price
CoinGecko found that SOL liquidity was more evenly distributed across exchanges in 2026 compared with the previous year. Within this more competitive landscape, MEXC recorded approximately $934,000 in SOL order book liquidity at the market price, the highest among the eight exchanges studied.
The report also noted that SOL liquidity became more distributed across exchanges despite overall liquidity declining from 2025 levels. Beyond the immediate market price, other venues gained depth, with Bitget and Coinbase overtaking MEXC past the ±$0.20 range.
MEXC Leads DOGE Liquidity at the Market Price and Further Out
For DOGE, MEXC recorded more than $443,000 in order book liquidity at the market price, the highest among the exchanges studied. Only Binance, MEXC and OKX exceeded $200,000 at this level.
Further from the market price, MEXC regained the lead past the ±$0.0006 (0.3%) range, surpassing Binance and Bitget. Its liquidity then leveled off beyond the ±1% interval at roughly $2 million on each side of the order book.
MEXC Maintains Deep DOGE Liquidity During Market Shifts
The report also examined DOGE liquidity during individual market events. On August 21, as DOGE market depth shifted alongside broader price movements, MEXC remained among the venues showing substantial depth across the order book. The report’s observations also found that MEXC traders placed larger block orders around key price levels during subsequent DOGE price movements.
“For retail traders, liquidity is fundamental to market quality. It determines execution efficiency, price stability and the ability to enter or exit positions with confidence,” said Vugar Usi Zade, CEO of MEXC. “Deep liquidity is therefore central to how MEXC lowers barriers to trading and provides more efficient access to global market opportunities.”
Taken together, the findings show MEXC maintaining strong liquidity close to the market price for both SOL and DOGE, while its DOGE depth also extends further into the order book. For traders, deeper liquidity can support more efficient execution by allowing orders to be absorbed with less impact on market prices.
Looking ahead, MEXC will continue to strengthen market depth and execution quality as part of its broader effort to provide users with a more efficient trading experience under its “Infinite Opportunities” vision.
About MEXC
Founded in 2018, MEXC is a leading global multi-asset trading platform built as your 0-fee gateway to infinite opportunities. Serving users across 170+ markets, MEXC provides simple and efficient access to crypto, stocks, tokenized assets, derivatives, and a growing range of TradFi-linked opportunities through one account and one gateway.
With 0 trading fees, deep liquidity, broad asset coverage, and a high-performance trading experience, MEXC is designed for retail users who want to discover earlier, act faster, and trade with fewer barriers. As crypto and traditional finance continue to converge, MEXC is committed to making global opportunities more accessible, helping users trade freely and MEXCmize every opportunity.
MEXC Official Website｜ X ｜Telegram｜How to Sign Up on MEXC
Risk Disclaimer:
This content does not constitute investment advice. Given the volatility of financial markets, including digital assets, tokenized assets, and traditional financial products, investors should carefully assess market conditions, underlying asset fundamentals, and potential financial risks before making any investment or trading decisions.
SOURCE MEXC
MEXC PR team: media@mexc.com
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BitcoinWorldRipple and CSD BR Put Brazilian Fund Records on XRP Ledger
CSD BR, a Brazilian financial market infrastructure operator that administers more than BRL 22 trillion (roughly $4 trillion) in registered assets, has begun mirroring holding records for BTG Pactual investment fund shares onto the public XRP Ledger, according to Crypto.news. Ripple announced the arrangement on Sept. 29, and Ripple’s official account highlighted the launch on Sept. 30, describing it as the first time a licensed central securities depository is recording securities ownership on a public blockchain.
CSD BR is mirroring BTG Pactual investment fund share records onto the public XRP Ledger as an extra record and audit layer. The depository’s own systems remain the official source for ownership, registration, deposit, and settlement, so the blockchain copy does not replace the legal register. Key facts
Ripple said on Sept. 29 that CSD BR will use the public XRP Ledger as an additional record and audit layer while its own systems stay the official source for ownership, registration, deposit, and settlement.
CSD BR currently has more than BRL 22 trillion in registered assets, and BTG Pactual investment fund shares are the first live assets in the new setup.
Fund shares deposited with CSD BR are represented on XRPL using the network’s Multi-Purpose Token standard, with access restricted to corporate and banking customers that have completed KYC and anti-money laundering checks.
CSD BR’s head of products and clients, Daniel Polano Spreafico, said the company chose record mirroring because it is “the safest and most responsible way to introduce a new technology into critical market infrastructure.”
PANews reported that the two parties will also evaluate directly issuing and trading assets on the XRPL going forward.
How the Brazilian fund-share mirroring actually works
The project does not move the legal ownership register entirely onto the XRP Ledger. CSD BR continues to control the assets, and its internal systems remain legally responsible for recording who owns each security and for handling deposits and settlements. The blockchain copy lets authorized participants compare the mirrored ownership information with CSD BR’s official records close to real time.
The setup uses Ripple’s custody technology alongside native XRP Ledger functions. CSD BR keeps control over which institutions can participate and how the tokenized records are managed, and the system can freeze individual assets or reverse a transaction when a regulatory or judicial order requires it.
Spreafico said the decision to start with mirrored records was deliberate, because existing investor and issuer processes can remain unchanged. Luis Furtado, the BTG Pactual partner responsible for market infrastructure, said participating lets the bank test blockchain technology within regulated fund infrastructure while preserving current processes and the official record of the assets. The partnership did not identify individual funds, their value, or how many transactions are expected during the initial phase.
What the BRL 22 trillion figure does and does not mean
The scale of the headline number is easy to misread. The BRL 22 trillion figure refers to the total assets registered across CSD BR’s existing infrastructure, while the initial blockchain phase begins with selected BTG Pactual investment fund shares. Ripple has not said that Brazil’s registered assets are being tokenized on the XRP Ledger, and PANews made the same point explicitly, noting that the figure does not represent the scale of assets placed on-chain in this phase.
Brazil’s central bank separately lists the CSD BR system among the country’s authorized financial-market infrastructures, with permissions covering securities settlement, centralized depository services and asset registration, and authorized infrastructures are subject to oversight designed to protect the country’s payment and financial systems.
Why it matters
Most institutional blockchain pilots run inside closed environments. This one operates within CSD BR’s existing market infrastructure, which is why the project goes beyond a proof of concept — investors and issuers continue using the same processes during the first phase while approved institutions gain a second, independently checkable record. That matters for auditors, custodians, and regulators who need to reconcile blockchain data against an official register rather than trust it on its own.
The distinction between a blockchain record and a blockchain asset cuts both ways. Recent XRP Ledger growth in tokenized real-world assets has often been represented onchain while underlying assets stayed governed by separate legal and custody arrangements, and the CSD BR deployment follows that pattern rather than breaking from it. Use of XRP Ledger infrastructure also does not necessarily mean institutions must buy or hold large amounts of XRP; institutions can use ledger functions and tokenized assets while XRP’s direct role may remain limited to network fees, account reserves or specific liquidity routes.
What to watch
Once CSD BR validates the record-mirroring phase, Ripple and CSD BR plan to consider native issuance, trading among approved institutions, more asset classes and stronger confidentiality features. Two Brazilian fixed-income products are already under consideration — Real Estate Receivables Certificates (CRIs) and Agribusiness Receivables Certificates (CRAs) — though no date has been set for bringing either asset class onto XRPL. Ripple said the technical model could eventually expand beyond Brazilian assets and participants, but no international rollout has been announced.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Brazil’s fund assets actually being tokenized on the XRP Ledger?
No. The first phase mirrors ownership records for selected BTG Pactual investment fund shares onto the XRP Ledger as an additional audit layer, while CSD BR’s own systems remain the official record of ownership, registration, deposit, and settlement.
Does the project require new regulatory approval in Brazil?
According to Ripple, the partnership was built under Brazil’s existing regulatory framework and does not require new approvals for the first phase.
What does the BRL 22 trillion figure actually refer to?
The figure covers the total assets registered across CSD BR’s existing infrastructure, not the value of assets placed on the XRP Ledger in this initial phase, which begins with selected BTG Pactual fund shares.
What might come after the record-mirroring phase?
Ripple and CSD BR plan to explore issuing assets directly through blockchain infrastructure, with Real Estate Receivables Certificates (CRIs) and Agribusiness Receivables Certificates (CRAs) under consideration. No date has been set.
Does using the XRP Ledger mean institutions must hold XRP?
Not necessarily. Institutions can use ledger functions and tokenized assets while XRP’s direct role may remain limited to network fees, account reserves, or specific liquidity routes, subject to regulatory requirements.
This post Ripple and CSD BR Put Brazilian Fund Records on XRP Ledger first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldArthur Hayes Predicts Ethereum at $10,000 by End of 2026
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the defunct BitMEX exchange, said at the KBW2026 with Upbit event that Ethereum will reach $10,000 by the end of the year, according to PANews. The prediction came as Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a net outflow of approximately $2.81 million over the past 24 hours, CNBC reported PANews cited CoinDesk.
Arthur Hayes predicted Ethereum will reach $10,000 by the end of 2026 during Korea Blockchain Week. The call followed a week of positive Spot ETH ETF inflows totaling over $850 million, which then turned negative with $2.81 million leaving the market in 24 hours. Ethereum traded above $2,500 but faced resistance at $2,800. Key facts
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, predicted ETH will reach $10,000 by the end of the year at the KBW2026 with Upbit event, per PANews.
Spot Ethereum ETFs attracted over $850 million in positive net inflows from September 18 before turning negative with $2.81 million in outflows over 24 hours, according to Ambcrypto.
Ethereum traded above $2,500 for two weeks but faced resistance at $2,800 while consolidating in a symmetrical triangle pattern, Ambcrypto reported.
PANews, citing CoinDesk, corroborated Hayes’s $10,000 ETH target, though PANews did not mention the ETF flow data or technical pattern details.
ETF inflows reverse as ETH consolidates
Spot Ethereum ETFs had drawn more than $850 million in net inflows between September 18 and the end of last week, Ambcrypto reported. That streak ended, with roughly $2.81 million exiting the products in the most recent 24-hour window. The shift was small relative to the weekly total but coincided with Ethereum’s price cooling off above $2,500.
On the charts, ETH was trading inside a symmetrical triangle with price near the apex, according to Ambcrypto. The consolidation originated from a retest of a sideways range between $2,300 and $2,550. The momentum indicator sat flat at 1.62, just above neutral, suggesting low volatility that often precedes larger moves.
Ambcrypto noted that a break and hold below the lower resistance would trigger a move to $2,550 or lower if bears outweigh bulls. Clearing the upper resistance, by contrast, increases the chance of trading toward $10,000.
Hayes explains why he favors Ethereum
Speaking at the KBW2026 with Upbit event, Hayes said he was not worried about putting large amounts of money into Ethereum because of some exploit. He called Ethereum the most secure layer 1, citing its market cap among altcoins, according to Ambcrypto.
When asked why Ethereum had underperformed, Hayes pointed to blockchains that had captured prevailing narratives. He noted that Solana captured the memecoin narrative, making Ethereum a victim of its own success despite pioneering decentralized computer networks. PANews, citing CoinDesk, reported the same $10,000 target but did not include Hayes’s comments on Ethereum’s security or its competition with Solana.
Why it matters
Hayes’s target is one of the most aggressive year-end calls from a prominent industry figure. It conflicts with the cautious technical picture Ambcrypto described: Ethereum is still trading above $2,500 but faces $2,800 as a hurdle, and ETF flows have just turned negative. If the $10,000 prediction proves wrong, traders who acted on it could face losses. If it proves right, it would represent a near-fourfold increase from current levels.
The ETF flow reversal suggests institutional demand may be cooling even as retail-facing voices like Hayes turn more bullish. Readers should weigh the prediction against the ETF data and the triangle pattern rather than treating either as definitive.
What to watch
Whether Ethereum can clear the upper resistance of its symmetrical triangle and sustain above $2,800 will signal if buyers are in control. Daily Spot ETH ETF flow data from SoSoValue, which Ambcrypto cited, will show if institutional capital returns. Any breakout above the triangle apex may bring the $10,000 target closer to the conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Arthur Hayes’s Ethereum price target for 2026?
Hayes said he expects ETH to reach $10,000 by the end of the year, speaking at the KBW2026 with Upbit event. The prediction was reported by PANews and Ambcrypto.
Why did Spot Ethereum ETF inflows turn negative?
After attracting over $850 million in positive net inflows since September 18, the products saw approximately $2.81 million leave the market in the past 24 hours. Ambcrypto linked weakening inflows to ETH’s price consolidation.
What does the symmetrical triangle pattern mean for Ethereum?
Ambcrypto noted that a break above the upper resistance could increase the chance of trading toward $10,000, while a break below the lower support could trigger a move to $2,550 or lower.
Why does Hayes consider Ethereum the most secure layer 1?
Hayes cited Ethereum’s market cap among altcoins as the basis for calling it the most secure layer 1. He was speaking at the KBW2026 with Upbit event.
This post Arthur Hayes Predicts Ethereum at $10,000 by End of 2026 first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldBinance Pay opens crypto spending at PayPay merchants in Japan
Binance Pay began allowing eligible overseas users to pay with crypto at PayPay-supported merchants across Japan on Sept. 30, 2026, connecting roughly 48 million eligible Binance Pay users from more than 100 countries and regions to the QR network visitors already find in restaurants, shops and hotels. The service runs through HIVEX, a payment interoperability framework, according to Crypto.news, while merchants keep receiving settlement in Japanese yen.
Binance Pay opened crypto-funded payments at PayPay-supported merchants in Japan on Sept. 30, 2026, for eligible overseas visitors using the HIVEX network. Merchants are settled in yen, and Japanese residents are excluded from the rollout. Key facts
Binance announced the service on Sept. 30, giving approximately 48 million eligible Binance Pay users from more than 100 countries and regions access to PayPay-supported merchants while visiting Japan.
Payments run through HIVEX, which links Binance Pay to PayPay’s existing QR infrastructure; participating merchants receive settlement in Japanese yen rather than cryptocurrency.
Japanese residents are not eligible, and overseas users must come from a jurisdiction where Binance Pay is supported and complete the exchange’s identity verification process.
PayPay and Binance already had ties: SoftBank group company PayPay acquired a 40% stake in Binance Japan in October 2025 under a capital and business alliance.
Cointelegraph reported that eligible overseas users can spend Tether’s USDT at the vast majority of PayPay-supported merchants, and that Binance says it is the first crypto payment service to access those merchants through HIVEX.
How the PayPay payments actually work
Crypto.news reported that users can pay directly from their Binance accounts by scanning a merchant’s PayPay QR code through Binance Pay, or, where supported, display a payment code in the Binance app for staff to scan. PayPay’s merchant guidance says HIVEX transactions follow a process similar to ordinary PayPay payments, with merchants confirming completion through PayPay for Business.
Because the crypto side of the transaction stays with Binance Pay and the connected infrastructure, individual shops do not need to hold or process digital assets. PayPay says eligible merchants do not need to submit a separate application to begin receiving HIVEX payments, though businesses can disable the service through their PayPay for Business settings.
Both reports describe the same terms, but they emphasize different details. Crypto.news frames the launch around Binance Pay’s full eligible user base of about 48 million people across more than 100 countries and regions. Cointelegraph, citing Binance, specifically names Tether’s USDT as the asset overseas users can spend and reports that Binance describes itself as the first crypto payment service to reach PayPay-supported merchants through HIVEX. Cointelegraph also notes that PayPay lists nine other overseas payment services supported through HIVEX, mainly from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Thomas Gregory, Binance’s vice president of payments and fiat, described Japan as one of the leading destinations for connected cashless payments and said the PayPay integration reflects a shared vision of making payments more seamless, borderless and accessible for travelers, according to Crypto.news.
Japan’s digital-asset payment experiments keep widening
Binance Pay joins a PayPay network that had already been expanding its reach to overseas wallets. Earlier in September, Crypto.news reported that PayPay added UnionPay QR payments through HIVEX for visitors using the UnionPay App. After that addition, PayPay said its merchant network could receive payments from 36 overseas cashless services covering 17 countries and regions, which it estimated represented approximately 80% of international visitors to Japan.
The rollout also follows a deepening relationship between the two companies in Japan. Crypto.news reported that their first services focused on moving money between PayPay and Binance Japan rather than spending crypto at merchants, letting Binance Japan users buy crypto with PayPay Money and PayPay Points and transfer crypto-sale proceeds back into PayPay. The companies expanded that link in April 2026 by allowing yen deposits into Binance Japan through PayPay Money, and Binance Japan raised PayPay Money instant deposit limits in August, lifting the 24-hour ceiling from ¥300,000 to ¥1 million and the 30-day limit from ¥1 million to ¥2 million.
The Sept. 30 service targets a different group. Binance said the PayPay QR feature through HIVEX is limited to eligible international visitors rather than residents using Binance Japan.
Why it matters
Japan’s visitor economy makes it an unusually consequential test bed for crypto payments: the country gives overseas wallets a large, dense base of shops, taxis and transport operators that already accept QR payments, without asking those businesses to change how they get paid. That removes the two biggest practical frictions for merchants, holding volatile assets and buying new hardware, and leaves the crypto exposure with Binance rather than the shopkeeper.
It also puts Binance Pay in direct proximity to household-name local payment brands rather than a crypto-native checkout. Binance Research said in April that Binance Pay had reached more than 21 million merchants globally and had connected with domestic payment networks including Brazil’s Pix, so the Japanese arrangement extends a pattern rather than standing alone.
For travelers, the change is narrow but concrete: an eligible Binance account becomes a payment method at merchants where the PayPay flow already works. The limits are just as concrete, since the feature excludes Japanese residents entirely.
What to watch
PayPay and Binance have both pointed to eligible merchants being switched on by default, so the next signal will be whether Japanese businesses use their PayPay for Business settings to opt out of HIVEX payments. Japan’s wider retail experiments will also matter: Crypto.news reported that convenience store operator Lawson tested stablecoin payments using JPYC, USDC and USDT at two Tokyo locations in August and said it would assess transaction speed, system stability and store operations before deciding on wider deployment, while JCB partnered with Circle in July to test USDC for internal treasury transfers and merchant payments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Japanese residents use Binance Pay at PayPay merchants?
No. Binance said the PayPay QR feature through HIVEX is limited to eligible international visitors, with Japanese residents excluded from the Sept. 30 rollout.
Do merchants receive the cryptocurrency a customer spends?
No. PayPay-supported merchants continue to receive settlement in Japanese yen, so individual businesses do not have to hold or process digital assets themselves.
Do merchants need to sign up or apply for the feature?
PayPay said eligible merchants do not need to submit a separate application to receive HIVEX payments, though they can disable the service through their PayPay for Business settings.
Which tokens can be used, and who is eligible?
Cointelegraph reported the service lets eligible overseas users spend Tether’s USDT. Binance said users must come from a jurisdiction where Binance Pay is supported and complete its identity verification process.
How does Binance Pay connect to the PayPay network?
HIVEX provides the link between Binance Pay and PayPay’s existing QR infrastructure, so businesses do not need to integrate each overseas wallet connected to the network separately.
This post Binance Pay opens crypto spending at PayPay merchants in Japan first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldHSBC names Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin
HSBC named its forthcoming Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HSBC RedCoin on September 30, 2026, according to Crypto.news, keeping the expected launch inside the second half of this year. The bank said the token has not yet been issued and will initially be reachable only through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App.
HSBC named its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin on September 30, 2026, with an initial rollout planned for person-to-person transfers and merchant payments, keeping the launch within the second half of the year. HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial received Hong Kong’s first stablecoin issuer licenses from the HKMA on April 10, 2026. No token has been issued yet, and no exact launch date, blockchain network or contract address has been disclosed.
The naming follows the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s April 10 decision to grant HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial the city’s first stablecoin issuer licenses under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect on August 1, 2025. HSBC announced the name alongside survey results and a warning that it has no connection to fraudulent stablecoins using its name.
Key facts
HSBC will start RedCoin with person-to-person transfers and person-to-merchant payments, in HKD, before adding corporate and institutional uses.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority licensed HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial on April 10, 2026, the first approvals under the Stablecoins Ordinance.
A survey of 1,060 Hong Kong customers aged 18 to 64, run online from June 18 to June 28, found 74% could name at least one stablecoin use case.
Digital asset trading and tokenized investments led the use cases at 57%, ahead of P2P transfers at 53% and cross-border remittances and merchant payments at 52% each.
Anchorpoint, a venture of Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong, HKT and Animoca Brands, began a phased rollout of its HKDAP stablecoin in August, starting with institutional distributors and professional investors.
HSBC has not published an exact launch date, the blockchain network it will use, or a public token contract address. Maggie Ng, HSBC’s chief executive officer for Hong Kong and head of Retail Banking and Wealth in Hong Kong, said: “Launching our coin is just the beginning.” The bank tied the RedCoin name to its brand heritage and said the rollout would prioritize security, trust and simple access.
Kicking the tires: everyday payments before institutional rails
The first phase is consumer-facing. HSBC expects to move into corporate and institutional applications after the opening stage, but it has not given separate dates for those later steps, and it has not said when access could expand beyond PayMe and its Hong Kong banking app. That is a narrower starting point than the city’s other licensed issuer. According to PANews, HSBC said the early focus is on direct use cases close to everyday life, with commercial banking and corporate uses to follow as Hong Kong’s digital asset and currency development progresses.
PANews also reported that Standard Chartered was among the two financial institutions in the first license batch, a simpler description of a group that Crypto.news identifies as Anchorpoint Financial, a venture established by Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong, HKT and Animoca Brands.
What customers say, and what they get wrong
The bank’s survey, released with the naming announcement, looked at stablecoin awareness rather than demand. Nearly three in four respondents recognized a use case, but understanding was uneven. HSBC found 60% correctly described a stablecoin as a fiat-backed digital asset, while the same source reports that 26% believed stablecoins are issued by governments and 10% thought they carry interest, a feature both reports note is not part of Hong Kong’s current framework.
When asked what gives them confidence, respondents pointed to rules over features: 62% chose regulatory clarity, 55% education, 53% fraud protection, 51% easy conversion to cash and 39% transparency over reserves. HSBC said it will publish an educational series through its apps, website and social channels, focused on scam prevention and redemption mechanics.
That last point has a precedent. PANews reported the April licensing; Crypto.news reported that in the same month, the HKMA warned that tokens carrying the tickers “HKDAP” and “HSBC” were not issued by, or connected with, Anchorpoint or HSBC. Both issuers confirmed at the time that no regulated stablecoins were in circulation. HSBC repeated the warning in its September 30 release, saying no HSBC stablecoin has been issued and urging customers to watch for investment scams involving tokens falsely presented as HSBC products.
Why it matters
The HKMA has said it would keep a high threshold for applicants and grant only a limited number of licenses in the first stage of the regime. HSBC’s entry means Hong Kong’s largest bank and one of the city’s three note-issuing banks is moving from license to brand, a sign that the regulator’s framework is producing consumer-facing products rather than keeping stablecoins inside pilot programs. For residents, the practical change is where a regulated HKD token would sit first: inside apps they already use, rather than on a public exchange. For HSBC, the test is whether a deposit-heavy retail franchise can add a payments token without confusing customers who, by its own survey, still mix up who issues and backs stablecoins.
Hong Kong’s ordinance puts licensed issuers under HKMA supervision for reserves, redemption, risk controls, governance and anti-money laundering. Reserve assets must be high quality and highly liquid and kept separate from an issuer’s other holdings, with pools structured to meet valid redemption requests at par value, and independent attestation and audits required.
What to watch
The remaining months of 2026 hold HSBC’s stated second-half launch window, so the next concrete markers are an exact launch date, the blockchain network, a public contract address and the start of its educational series. Also worth watching: whether institutional access via PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App expands on its own timetable, and how tightly HSBC and the HKMA police tokens trading under the HSBC name before RedCoin is issued.
Neither report gives any figure on the business case, no reserve totals, no customer deposit targets, no fee structure. The absence is notable, and it keeps the RedCoin story a plan on paper for now, despite the branding.
This article covers a corporate announcement and is not financial advice. Stablecoin and digital asset markets are volatile and uncertain, and readers should do their own research before making any investment decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is HSBC RedCoin?
It is the name HSBC gave on September 30, 2026 to its planned Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin, expected to launch in the second half of the year. HSBC said the coin has not yet been issued.
Where will customers be able to use RedCoin first?
HSBC said initial access will be limited to PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App, starting with person-to-person transfers and person-to-merchant payments before any corporate or institutional uses.
When did HSBC get its Hong Kong stablecoin license?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial on April 10, 2026, under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect on August 1, 2025.
Has any HSBC stablecoin been issued in Hong Kong?
No. HSBC said on September 30 that no HSBC stablecoin has been issued and warned customers about fraudulent tokens presented as HSBC products.
What did HSBC’s survey of Hong Kong customers find?
The survey of 1,060 customers aged 18 to 64, conducted from June 18 to June 28, found 74% could identify at least one stablecoin use case, led by digital asset trading and tokenized investments at 57%.
This post HSBC names Hong Kong dollar stablecoin RedCoin first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldApple Patches iOS Flaw Tied to Crypto Attacks
Apple released iOS 26.7.1 and iPadOS 26.7.1 on September 28, 2026, patching a CoreGraphics vulnerability that the company said may have been exploited in an “extremely sophisticated attack” against specific targeted individuals, according to a report by Cryptopotato.
Apple has fixed CVE-2026-86950, an out-of-bounds write flaw in CoreGraphics that could allow arbitrary code execution on iPhones and iPads. The patch, released on September 28, addresses a vulnerability that may have been used in highly targeted attacks. SlowMist warns crypto users to update immediately and avoid suspicious links, files, and app installation prompts. Key facts
Apple released iOS 26.7.1 and iPadOS 26.7.1 on September 28, 2026, fixing CVE-2026-86950, an out-of-bounds write in the CoreGraphics framework.
The vulnerability could be triggered by processing a specially crafted file and may allow attackers to run arbitrary code on affected devices.
Apple said the flaw may have been exploited in an “extremely sophisticated attack” against specific targeted individuals on iOS versions before iOS 27.
Affected devices include iPhone 11 and later models, along with several recent iPad models.
SlowMist warned that the vulnerability is relevant to iOS attack activity it has been tracking and urged crypto users to pay particular attention.
SlowMist ties patch to ongoing iOS exploitation
Blockchain security firm SlowMist said the update is “highly relevant” to the iOS attack activity it has previously investigated. “For crypto users, this is especially concerning given the iOS exploitation activity we have observed targeting sensitive wallet data,” the firm said, as reported by both U.Today and Cryptopotato.
U.Today reported that the vulnerability was reported by Meta Product Security and was fixed with improved bounds checking. Apple has not said that CVE-2026-86950 was specifically used to steal cryptocurrency, and SlowMist has not publicly established that the newly disclosed flaw was the exact exploit used in previously investigated wallet thefts. That distinction matters: the connection between the patch and crypto losses remains circumstantial, even as the security firm urges caution.
FomoPeek malware raised alarms a week earlier
The warning comes a week after SlowMist reported on FomoPeek, a malicious iOS app that contained a kernel exploitation framework with eight attack methods. According to a joint investigation by SlowMist and OKX’s security teams, the framework could select an exploit based on the device model and iOS version. Affected versions included iOS 12.0–18.7 and iOS 26.0–26.1.
If successful, the exploit could escape the iOS sandbox and access Keychain data and files from other apps, potentially exposing private keys, seed phrases, and login credentials. SlowMist said some users who lost digital assets had installed FomoPeek versions 1.1 and 1.2. Hidden server connections capable of receiving remote commands were also found, with the attack functionality reportedly running automatically at regular intervals.
Why it matters
For crypto holders, the iPhone is often the primary device for managing wallets, authenticating exchanges, and storing recovery phrases. A flaw that enables sandbox escape or unauthorized data access can translate directly into stolen funds, especially when users install apps from outside the App Store or open files from unknown sources. The timing of the patch — just days after the FomoPeek disclosure — underscores how quickly iOS vulnerabilities can be weaponized against crypto users.
The episode also highlights the limits of platform security. Apple’s App Store review has been challenged before: earlier this year, three people sued Apple for allegedly promoting a fake version of the Sparrow Wallet crypto app that drained $1.8 million from victims’ wallets between May and August 2025. While that case is separate from CVE-2026-86950, it reinforces that users cannot rely solely on platform gatekeeping to protect digital assets.
What to watch
Apple has not disclosed further details about the “extremely sophisticated attack,” and it is unclear whether the flaw was used in any confirmed crypto theft. SlowMist’s ongoing tracking of iOS exploitation activity will be the key indicator of whether this vulnerability becomes a broader threat to wallet security. Users should install iOS 26.7.1 or iPadOS 26.7.1 immediately and monitor official channels for any additional guidance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-86950?
It is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Apple’s CoreGraphics framework that could let attackers run malicious code on affected iPhones and iPads by processing a specially crafted file.
Which devices are affected by the iOS flaw?
The vulnerability impacts iPhone 11 and later models, as well as several recent iPad models, according to Apple.
Why are crypto users specifically warned?
SlowMist says the flaw is relevant to recent iOS attack activity targeting sensitive wallet data, and urges crypto users to update their devices and avoid suspicious apps, links, and files.
What is the FomoPeek app?
FomoPeek is a malicious iOS app that SlowMist and OKX found contained a kernel exploitation framework with eight attack methods, capable of accessing private keys and other sensitive data.
This post Apple Patches iOS Flaw Tied to Crypto Attacks first appeared on BitcoinWorld.

BitcoinWorldCboe Extends S&P 500 Options License to 2051, Eyes Tokenized Contracts
Cboe Global Markets and S&P Dow Jones Indices renewed their exclusive licensing agreement through 2051 on September 29, 2026, keeping Cboe’s rights to offer options on the S&P 500 Index and naming tokenized options contracts as an area the two firms may explore together, Decrypt reported. Cboe shares rose more than 6% after the announcement, with premarket gains of 6.6%.
Cboe and S&P Dow Jones Indices extended their exclusive S&P 500 options license through 2051 and said they may explore tokenized options contracts. No tokenized product has been announced, filed, or scheduled, and any tokenized contract would be a separate product from the SPX options that trade today. Key facts
The renewed agreement preserves Cboe’s exclusive rights to offer S&P 500 Index, or SPX, options through 2051, replacing a prior horizon that ran through 2033 with exclusive index options rights through 2032.
SPX options volume reached a record 970.6 million contracts in 2025, up 25% from 2024, with average daily volume of 3.9 million contracts — a fourth consecutive annual record, per crypto.news.
Royalty terms stay the same during 2026, with revised terms taking effect in 2027; Cboe said it expects only a minimal effect on net revenue growth.
The tokenization discussion is exploratory: the companies named no filing, trading venue, settlement design, or timetable for a tokenized contract.
The partnership dates to 1983, when Cboe launched the first S&P 500 index options.
What Cboe and S&P actually agreed to
The extension locks in a commercial arrangement tied to one of Cboe’s most active products. Beyond the license itself, the two firms said they may collaborate on new products “beyond traditional index derivatives,” specifically naming tokenized options contracts, according to Decrypt. Any tokenized contract would be distinct from the SPX options available today.
Cboe Chief Executive Craig Donohue said the agreement provides “certainty and continuity” for the company’s SPX and VIX franchises, per crypto.news. He also pointed to the opportunity to develop products using emerging technology, though the announcement set out no commercial plan for tokenized options.
Tokenizing options is more involved than tokenizing stocks. Contracts carry expiration dates, strike prices, and settlement mechanics that a tokenized version would need to handle — questions the companies did not address.
A tokenization race with different starting lines
The announcement lands amid a wave of institutional tokenization. The New York Stock Exchange recently tapped Blockchain.com to reach crypto investors with tokenized stocks and ETFs, while BlackRock has leaned deeper into the space through a tie-up with Ondo Finance, Decrypt noted. A consortium including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and the DTCC has separately explored tokenized stocks.
PANews reported the same disclosure as a short newsflash, describing the possibility of joint work on tokenized options contracts without any product terms — consistent with crypto.news’s characterization that no regulatory filing accompanied the announcement.
The regulatory backdrop differs by asset type. The SEC granted five years of conditional relief for qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through permissioned systems, with conditions involving shareholder rights, trading limits, public smart contracts, and coordinated trading halts. That relief applies to eligible tokenized stocks, not to tokenized options. Separately, on September 1 the SEC proposed updating rules for transfer agents, covering digital records and cybersecurity — a proposal that has not become a final rule.
Other exchange groups are building tokenized securities systems at different stages. NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange agreed in August to invest in tZERO and license its blockchain patents, with the planned platform still requiring regulatory approvals before it can offer round-the-clock trading and blockchain settlement. That project concerns tokenized securities; Cboe’s newly identified interest concerns options contracts.
Why it matters
For traders, the renewal provides continuity for a benchmark product heavily used to take positions on the U.S. stock market or manage risk. For Cboe shareholders, it extends a commercial arrangement tied to a flagship franchise. The tokenization language matters more as a signal: it places one of derivatives trading’s largest venues in a corner of crypto that has drawn institutional interest, while leaving execution details entirely open.
What to watch
The concrete next steps are the revised royalty terms that take effect in 2027, any movement on the SEC’s September 1 transfer-agent proposal, and whether Cboe or S&P Dow Jones Indices follow the exploratory language with a filing or product description. Cboe’s June launch of binary options tied to the Mini-S&P 500 Index through Cboe Predicts shows the company has been willing to bring index-linked contracts to market; no comparable regulatory or product announcement accompanies the tokenized options discussion.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Cboe’s exclusive S&P 500 options license now run through?
Through 2051, under an extension announced September 29, 2026. The previous arrangement ran through 2033, with exclusive S&P 500 Index options rights through 2032, according to Cboe’s 2025 annual filing cited by crypto.news.
Is Cboe actually launching tokenized options?
No. Cboe and S&P Dow Jones Indices only named tokenized options as a possible area for joint work and announced no filing, trading venue, settlement design, or timetable.
How many SPX options contracts traded in 2025?
A record 970.6 million contracts, up 25% from 2024, with average daily volume of 3.9 million contracts — a fourth consecutive annual record, according to crypto.news.
Does the SEC’s tokenized-securities relief cover tokenized options?
No. The five years of conditional relief granted for qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks applies to eligible tokenized stocks, not to the tokenized options Cboe and S&P Dow Jones Indices said they may explore.
When do the revised royalty terms take effect?
Royalty terms remain the same during 2026, with revised terms starting in 2027. Cboe said it expects the reset to have only a minimal effect on its net revenue growth.
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BitcoinWorldProject Eleven Acquires Riva Labs to Expand Post-Quantum Research and Engineering
Riva Labs joins Project Eleven as the company brings more specialized post-quantum talent and technology under one roof.
NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Project Eleven, the company building post-quantum security infrastructure for digital assets, today announced its acquisition of Riva Labs, expanding its expertise in post-quantum signatures, wallets, MPC, and account abstraction. The acquisition also brings technology and intellectual property developed through Riva’s work across Ethereum and other public blockchains, adding to Project Eleven’s capabilities in post-quantum cryptography and blockchain infrastructure.
Riva Labs has built a reputation for translating post-quantum cryptographic research into practical blockchain systems. Its work spans hash-based post-quantum signatures, post-quantum MPC, account abstraction, wallet infrastructure, and hardware signing, including recent demonstrations of post-quantum signing on consumer hardware.
The addition of Riva expands Project Eleven’s research and engineering bench as the digital asset industry prepares for the complexity of post-quantum migration. Rather than treating signatures, wallets, key management and protocol infrastructure as separate problems, Project Eleven is bringing together expertise across each layer required to make that transition practical.
That work is becoming more urgent as AI accelerates cryptographic research and cryptanalysis, allowing new techniques to be developed, tested, and challenged at greater speed. Riva has made AI a core part of its research and engineering process, bringing that capability into Project Eleven’s work across post-quantum cryptography and crypto agility.
“Riva Labs is exactly the kind of talent we want at Project Eleven: deeply technical and focused on turning cryptographic research into systems that can actually be deployed,” said Alex Pruden, CEO and Co-Founder of Project Eleven. “Bringing Riva into Project Eleven strengthens an already exceptional research and engineering team, adds valuable technology, and accelerates our ability to lead the transition to post-quantum security across digital assets.”
“Project Eleven and Riva Labs came at this problem from different directions and reached many of the same conclusions about what the industry needs,” said Matteo Vena, Co-Founder of Riva Labs. “Upgrading the public networks the future will run on, without compromising the properties that make them valuable in the first place, is a monumental challenge. Our focus is on giving the industry the tools to accelerate that transition, and joining Project Eleven lets us do it at a much larger scale.”
The Riva team and technology will become part of Project Eleven’s broader research and product efforts across post-quantum cryptography, digital asset custody, and blockchain security. The acquisition deepens Project Eleven’s technical capabilities as it builds the infrastructure required for a secure post-quantum transition.
Alex Pruden, Conor Deegan, and Matteo Vena are available for interview.
About Project ElevenProject Eleven builds resilient infrastructure and tooling for the post-quantum era. The company develops scalable solutions that strengthen security across a rapidly evolving quantum threat landscape. With deep expertise in cryptography, blockchain, and financial systems, Project Eleven bridges advanced post-quantum research with real-world implementations that prepare the digital asset ecosystem for the future. For more information, visit www.projecteleven.com.
About Riva LabsRiva Labs is a cryptography and protocol engineering team working on post-quantum infrastructure for digital assets, with a particular focus on hash-based signatures. Our work spans software wallets, hardware signers and MPC infrastructure on Ethereum and other public blockchains, and is grounded in our own research. We also contribute to the underlying protocols and to open source software, with the goal of making every layer of the stack more secure against both current and future adversaries.
Media ContactsAubrey Strobel / Elena Nisonoff, Halcyon Communicationsprojecteleven@halcyonpr.xyz
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