U.S. Fintechs, Banks, States Launch Stablecoin and Bitcoin Payment Initiatives
By Robert A. Musiala Jr.
A U.S. fintech company, Brex, recently announced plans to integrate stablecoins into its B2B payments platform. According to a company blog post, “customers with a Brex business account will be able to accept stablecoins with automatic conversion into USD in their Brex business accounts and send stablecoins directly from their USD balances.” The blog post also notes that “Brex customers will be able to pay their card balances with stablecoins.”
In related news, the venture capital fund of a major U.S. bank recently announced a strategic investment in BVNK, the global stablecoin infrastructure platform. According to a press release, “[t]he strategic investment comes as regulatory clarity emerges globally with frameworks like the GENIUS Act in the United States enabling banks to issue stablecoins.”
In another stablecoin development, the Bank of North Dakota recently announced that it is partnering with the issuer of the “white-label stablecoin, FIUSD” to launch “the Roughrider coin, North Dakota’s first stablecoin.” According to a press release, the Roughrider coin honors Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders and “will aim to increase bank-to-bank transactions, encourage global money movement, and drive merchant adoption.” The coin will be available to banks and credit unions in North Dakota in 2026.
And in a final notable item, a major U.S. fintech company recently announced a new “fully integrated bitcoin payments and wallet solution – built for local businesses of all sizes.” According to a press release, the solution “enables sellers to accept bitcoin payments with zero processing fees, automatically convert card sales into bitcoin, and manage their bitcoin alongside their other business finances.” The press release cites a statistic finding that between 2024 and 2026, cryptocurrency payment users in the U.S. are expected to grow by 82 percent.
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U.S. Financial Institutions Announce New Digital Asset Initiatives
By Jonathan Cardenas
A major global derivatives exchange recently announced that its cryptocurrency futures and options products will be available to trade on a 24/7 basis on its global electronic trading platform starting in early 2026. According to a press release, the exchange’s cryptocurrency futures and options reached record volumes in 2025, including a record “August average daily open interest of 335,200 contracts, up 95% year on year and representing an average $31.6B notional.” The exchange’s cryptocurrency futures and options will trade continuously, with all holiday or weekend trading from Friday evening through Sunday evening having a trade date – as well as a clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting date – of the following business day.
In other news, a major digital asset management company announced that its Ethereum Trust ETF and Ethereum Mini Trust ETF have become the first U.S.-listed spot crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) to enable staking. In addition, the company announced that its Solana Trust has also activated staking and is expected to become one of the first spot Solana ETPs with staking, pending regulatory approval. According to a press release, the company will stake “passively” through its network of institutional custodians and validator providers, and will extend staking to additional products as the digital asset ecosystem continues to evolve.
In another development, a company that operates a global network of regulated exchanges and clearinghouses announced its strategic investment in a crypto-based prediction market. According to a press release, the company will invest up to $2 billion in the prediction market in an all-cash deal, reflecting a pre-money valuation of approximately $8 billion. In parallel to its investment, the company will become a global distributor of the prediction market’s event-driven data, which will enable it to provide its customers with sentiment indicators on financial market events. The company will also partner with the prediction market on tokenization initiatives.
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U.S. Crypto Companies Announce Partnerships, Acquisitions, Integrations
By Robert A. Musiala Jr.
A New York state-regulated qualified custodian and crypto custody provider recently announced a partnership with several major crypto industry firms to offer its custody solutions “to support regulated digital asset strategies across the financial ecosystem.” Crypto products supported by the new offering include digital asset ETFs, digital asset treasuries (DATs), protocol launches and collateralized lending.
In another recent development, crypto trading firm GSR announced that it has executed a purchase agreement to acquire an SEC-registered broker-dealer. The acquisition is reportedly intended to allow GSR to expand its U.S. services and develop new regulated offerings for institutions.
In a final notable item, zerohash, a “crypto and stablecoin as-a-service platform,” recently announced that it has been selected as “the crypto trading provider for Public, the platform for long-term investing.” According to a press release, “[b]y partnering with zerohash, Public is able to roll out exciting updates to its crypto offering, including 24/7 trading with expanded order types, a broader selection of tokens, and the ability to more freely transfer crypto on-chain in and out of accounts.”
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U.S. District Court Finds Bored Ape NFTs Are Not Securities
By Amos Kim
A California federal judge has dismissed a proposed securities class action against Yuga Labs Inc., the creator of the Bored Ape nonfungible token (NFT) collection, finding that the token sales did not constitute securities transactions. The buyers first accused Yuga Labs in 2022 of using promoter defendants, such as investment services and various celebrities, to sell the alleged unregistered securities at artificially high prices. In a Tuesday order, U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin tossed the federal and state law claims but gave the buyers another opportunity to amend their complaint by Oct. 10.
The court’s decision hinged on its finding that the NFT sales failed key prongs of the Supreme Court’s Howey test for an investment contract. The judge distinguished between an investment and a product marketed for “consumptive uses,” finding that Yuga Labs promoted the NFTs for benefits like status and access to exclusive events. The court also found a lack of a “common enterprise,” distinguishing the case from prior NFT rulings, because Yuga Labs did not control a proprietary marketplace for its tokens, which were sold on a public blockchain. While Judge Olguin noted that certain statements about NFT prices and trade volumes were a “somewhat closer call,” he found it was not “objectively reasonable” for plaintiffs to expect profits based on the firm’s statements.
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