In this issue:
- Financial Institutions Launch Crypto Trading; U.S. Crypto Firm Licensed in EU
- U.S. Exchange Publishes Crypto Q3 Outlook
- Crypto Companies Announce Capital Markets Products, Integrations
- SEC Commissioner Publishes Statement on Crypto Vaults
- Crypto Enforcement Actions Announced by SEC, DOJ
- Bridge Exploits Target AFX and Verus, $31.6M in Crypto Stolen
Financial Institutions Launch Crypto Trading; U.S. Crypto Firm Licensed in EU
By Keith Murphy
According to a recent press release, a major U.S. financial services and web trading platform is rolling out spot trading in digital assets. The new option reportedly will provide eligible clients with the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin, ethereum and solana in a linked Zerohash account and view their digital assets alongside traditional investments.
In related news, a Swiss cantonal bank has integrated services from a global banking services company to enable regulated crypto trading directly within the bank’s web and mobile banking channels, according to a press release. As noted in the release, at launch the bank’s clients can buy, hold and sell bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and solana, and market orders can be placed by quantity or USD value via e-banking and mobile apps. The Swiss bank reportedly is also utilizing the company’s API to reduce operational complexity and risks.
In another recent press release, a major U.S. cryptocurrency payment processor announced that its European subsidiary has been authorized as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). According to the release, following the receipt of the MiCA license, the company will offer merchants and partners crypto payment acceptance, stablecoin-denominated payments and cross-border payment use cases across the European Union.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- [] from [] Completes Rollout of Crypto Spot Trading
- [] Secures MiCA License to Expand Cryptocurrency & Stablecoin Payments Across the EU
- [] Launches Regulated Crypto Trading with Sygnum[ ]and Avaloq
U.S. Exchange Publishes Crypto Q3 Outlook
By Keith Murphy
A major U.S. crypto exchange recently issued its quarterly crypto outlook for Q3 with related top charts to watch (Q3 Outlook). Among other opinions, the Q3 Outlook reports its outlook on crypto markets as neutral for the third quarter, and that bitcoin seems to be transitioning from a corrective phase toward accumulation. The Q3 Outlook further notes that near-term caution remains warranted, based on various factors including re-escalation of the U.S.-Iran conflict, resurging oil prices and selling from prominent digital asset treasuries.
For more information, please refer to the following link:
Crypto Companies Announce Capital Markets Products, Integrations
An OCC-chartered digital asset trust bank and subsidiary of BitGo Holdings Inc. and OTC Markets Group recently announced their “intention to pursue a strategic alliance focused on bringing digital asset trading and custody infrastructure to broker-dealers utilizing OTC Link ATS, the SEC-regulated alternative trading system.” According to a press release, the alliance is intended to support “a range of digital asset securities, while laying the groundwork … for broker-dealers to expand their offerings across all tokenized assets, commodities and the broader blockchain-based financial markets.”
In another recent press release, Securitize Corp. and a major U.S. investment bank announced “an agreement to enable public companies to conduct initial public offerings (IPOs) and follow-on offerings using blockchain-based infrastructure to tokenize securities.” According to the press release, under the agreement, the investment bank “will leverage its equity capital markets and trading capabilities” while Securitize “will provide the tokenization infrastructure used to issue, distribute, and service tokenized securities and will utilize Securitize Markets, LLC, its SEC-registered broker-dealer affiliate, to participate in the offering and settlement process.”
In another recent development, Centrifuge, a real-world asset tokenization company, announced that it has partnered with M0, a stablecoin infrastructure company, “to make JTRSY, the Janus Henderson Anemoy Treasury Fund, eligible collateral across the M0 network. According to a company blog post, “the integration will give issuers access to institutional-grade U.S. Treasury exposure through M0’s modular stablecoin infrastructure while establishing the foundation for a broader partnership between the two companies.”
And in a final notable item, FalconX, a “digital asset prime brokerage,” announced it has acquired bloXroute, a leader in blockchain trading and networking technology, to extend its platform in support of tokenized assets and onchain capital markets.” According to a press release, “[b]y combining bloXroute’s blockchain networking infrastructure with FalconX’s institutional trading platform, the company will enhance the speed and efficiency of onchain execution while accelerating the development of new trading, financing, and prime brokerage capabilities.”
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- BitGo and OTC Markets Group to Pursue Alliance Focused on Advancing Digital Asset Access for Over 150 Registered Broker-Dealers
- Securitize and [] Collaborate to Enable Onchain IPOs and Follow-On Offerings for Public Companies
- M0 Partners with Centrifuge to Expand Institutional Collateral for Stablecoin Issuers
- FalconX Acquires bloXroute to Accelerate the Future of Onchain Capital Markets
SEC Commissioner Publishes Statement on Crypto Vaults
On July 22, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester M. Peirce published a statement addressing crypto vaults and lending strategies. According to the statement, crypto vaults “have attracted recent attention as a tool for allowing holders of crypto assets to generate a yield on those assets.” The statement notes that crypto vaults “facilitate asset deployment by using smart contracts to allocate user assets to various yield-generating activities, including staking and lending.” According to the statement, crypto vaults are not uniform but rather “fall along a spectrum from programmatic allocations determined solely by immutable smart contracts, to allocations at the sole discretion of another person or group of persons.”
The statement cautions that “[p]arties involved in managing these vaults, for example, by selecting the yield-generating activities, re-allocating assets among yield-generating assets, or selecting the parties that will make those decisions, may want to analyze whether their activities implicate the federal securities laws.”
The statement also references crypto lending strategies that “allow participants to deposit their assets into onchain systems that lend them for a fee to borrowers who can put those assets to use.” The statement cautions that “[p]arties involved in managing these strategies, for example, by setting interest rates, deciding which assets to accommodate, setting loan-to-value limits, and establishing liquidation thresholds, may want to analyze whether their activities implicate the federal securities laws.”
For more information, please refer to the following link:
Crypto Enforcement Actions Announced by SEC, DOJ
By Amos Kim
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced partially settled charges against a Florida resident, Zan Shaikh, and his company, Bright Vision Distribution LLC, doing business as Mining Automatic, alleging they misappropriated and misused investor funds after raising approximately $22 million from more than 380 investors. According to the SEC complaint, between approximately June 2023 and May 2025, Shaikh and Mining Automatic promised investors guaranteed monthly returns from an alleged crypto asset mining operation that was insufficient to generate the promised returns. The SEC complaint alleges that the defendants used only about 13 percent of investors’ funds on expenses relating to crypto asset mining, using the remaining funds largely for marketing to solicit new investors and to pay for Shaikh’s personal and unrelated business expenses.
In another recent announcement, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that multiple investigations by its Cyber Fraud Task Force resulted in the seizure of more than $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to international fraud schemes targeting residents of the U.S. and Canada. According to the press release, agents identified multiple laundering networks and confirmed thousands of victims worldwide who were misled into believing they were making legitimate cryptocurrency investments. The release notes that the seizure is part of more than $800 million recovered through the Scam Center Strike Force, which was launched in 2025 to aggressively target international fraud networks. On July 21, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed five civil forfeiture complaints seeking forfeiture of the recovered cryptocurrency assets.
In a third enforcement action, the DOJ announced that a federal grand jury indicted a Sioux Falls man on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the press release, Benjamin Paul Wiener was indicted on 29 counts after allegedly devising a fraud scheme to obtain money and cryptocurrency from victims who invested with his companies. The indictment alleges that Wiener made materially false statements to induce his victims to invest and then laundered the fraud proceeds through various financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to conceal the funds and pay for personal expenses.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Zan Shaikh and Bright Vision Distribution LLC, d/b/a Mining Automatic
- Investigations into Cryptocurrency Scams Result in Seizure of More Than $25 Million
- Sioux Falls Crypto Investor Indicted for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, Bank Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft
Bridge Exploits Target AFX and Verus, $31.6M in Crypto Stolen
By Amos Kim
According to a recent report, hackers stole more than $31.6 million across two unrelated crypto bridge exploits spaced just hours apart. The report notes that AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, lost $24.15 million in a hack targeting one of its cross-chain bridges. Following the breach, the attacker reportedly bridged 24.15 million USDC to Ethereum, where it was swapped for 12,467 ETH. According to a blockchain security firm executive, the incident appears to be an operational security failure involving five compromised hot validator keys rather than a smart contract vulnerability. The report further explains that a separate exploit targeted the Verus Ethereum Bridge just hours later, resulting in approximately $7.5 million in stolen cryptocurrency.
For more information, please refer to the following link:
