News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily reports: In its latest quarterly assessment, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), known as the "central bank of central banks," issued a warning that alongside the rapid rise in leverage and the growing opacity of underlying debt structures, the financial vulnerabilities underpinning this round of exuberance are intensifying.This risk warning is not unfounded. In July of this year, the Situational Awareness fund, helmed by Leopold Aschenbrenner, staged a harrowing episode. The fund had placed heavy bets on the AI sector, but a sharp drop in the valuation of its underlying assets triggered a wave of margin calls from banks, ultimately forcing it to urgently transfer the core holdings of its public market equity portfolio to Ken Griffin's Citadel in order to barely survive the liquidity crisis.In the BIS's view, this incident is a typical microcosm of leveraged hedge funds becoming deeply entangled in core markets. Frank Smets, Head of Economic Analysis and Statistics at the BIS, pointed out that cross-market leverage is concerning, as it can easily amplify normal market fluctuations into severe systemic shocks. The near-miss of AI-themed hedge funds has once again laid this risk bare.
Citadel Securities has submitted comments to U.S. regulators, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to oversee event contracts tied to U.S. publicly traded companies. The market maker argued that trading platforms should not evade the SEC's regulatory jurisdiction by obtaining self-certification from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The battle over regulatory authority for event contracts continues to intensify. While some U.S. prediction markets are currently offering such contracts under the CFTC framework, the regulatory dividing line between the SEC and CFTC is becoming a key focus for the market as event contracts increasingly encompass financial assets like equities.
Odaily News: Robinhood has reached an agreement with Crypto.com to further expand its prediction market business. Under the agreement, Robinhood will list event contracts provided by OG.com, Crypto.com's prediction market platform, and will take a minority stake in both Crypto.com and OG.com.Following an investment from Citadel Securities in July this year, OG.com's valuation has reached approximately $5 billion. (WSJ)
EntropyIO announced the completion of a $14 million funding round, led by Ribbit Capital, along with $40 million in HYPE staking support. The first batch of markets has gone live on Hyperliquid.EntropyIO stated that it has launched the first liquid Anthropic trading market and plans to further expand into assets such as Pre-IPO startups, computing resources, public companies, and global indices to enable around-the-clock trading.Team members come from Citadel Securities, Optiver, Polymarket, and Millennium, and have developed a liquidity-weighted oracle that dynamically adjusts external oracle price weights based on executable market depth, aiming to improve price discovery and liquidity for new asset classes.
According to Reuters, the U.S. SEC is investigating AI hedge fund Situational Awareness's trading activities and high-leverage positions during the market turmoil in July, and has issued subpoenas to Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America, requiring them to provide information related to the fund's trades and financing. Situational Awareness was founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, who previously worked at FTX Future Fund, with assets under management briefly exceeding $20 billion. In July, the fund suffered a monthly loss of approximately 67% due to declines in AI and chip stocks, and was subsequently forced to sell most of its public equity portfolio to Citadel.
Odaily News: AI hedge fund Situational Awareness, while facing margin pressure from lenders, had sought to sell some of its private company holdings to raise cash and reached out to institutions including Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks. However, after Situational Awareness reached a deal with Citadel to sell most of its public stock portfolio, the fund ultimately decided not to sell its private assets.Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks, and Situational Awareness all declined to comment. (Bloomberg)
Odaily News: AI hedge fund Situational Awareness has dropped approximately 67% since July, hit by a major pullback in AI stocks. In a letter to investors, fund founder Leopold Aschenbrenner said, "This month we let everyone down." Despite the severe drawdown in July, Situational Awareness is still up about 80% year-to-date. As of end of May, the fund's returns this year had reached approximately 270%.Previously reported, massive losses led Situational to sell a large portion of its public stock holdings to Ken Griffin's Citadel to raise cash and meet lender margin requirements. Additionally, the fund had previously planned to sell approximately $3.5 billion worth of Anthropic equity to a consortium of investors led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital, but later withdrew from the deal. (WSJ)
Crypto.com Custody has announced it will provide institutional-grade custody and liquidity services for XYO and XL1. This marks the first listing on a major trading platform for XL1 following its token sale, allowing qualified institutions and high-net-worth clients to store, manage, and exchange both tokens through a regulated pathway. Related assets will be held in client-segregated MPC wallets and held by bankruptcy-remote entities. Private keys are protected by multi-party computation running within a trusted execution environment. Clients have access to cold storage, audit trails, and Crypto.com’s institutional liquidity services. Eric Anziani, President and Chief Operating Officer of Crypto.com, stated that digital asset organizations require custody solutions that offer both security and liquidity. Markus Levin, co-founder of XYO, noted that after XYO was initially listed on the Crypto.com trading platform, the relationship between the two parties has continued to expand. In July 2026, Citadel Securities invested $400 million in Crypto.com at a valuation of $20 billion. In February 2026, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) conditionally approved Crypto.com to establish Crypto.com National Trust Bank.
According to PR Newswire, Crypto.com announced it has received a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities. This financing round values the company at $20 billion and marks the first institutional capital injection in Crypto.com's ten-year history. Jim Esposito, President of Citadel Securities, stated that Crypto.com has laid a solid foundation for the continued institutionalization of the digital asset market. Kris Marszalek, Co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, stated that this financing will accelerate the company's expansion into all asset classes such as tokenized securities and derivatives, promote the integration of cryptocurrency with traditional financial markets, and build a more efficient 24/7 financial ecosystem.
Odaily News: Crypto trading platform Crypto.com has secured a $400 million investment from Citadel Securities, bringing its company valuation to $20 billion. This deal marks Crypto.com's first institutional funding round since its establishment in 2016. Crypto.com stated that it will use the funds to expand its business in tokenized securities, derivatives, and other asset classes.
According to CoinDesk, Digital Asset, the blockchain developer behind Canton Network, has announced a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from global institutions including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The round exceeded its original target of $300 million, valuing the company at $2 billion. Canton Network is designed specifically for large financial institutions and enables the issuance and trading of tokenized real-world assets—such as bonds, loans, and funds—on a shared ledger, while maintaining privacy and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. In addition to financial support, a16z crypto will provide specialized assistance in development, policy, and research.
According to Odaily, Digital Asset, the developer of the Canton network, has announced the completion of a $355 million equity funding round, led by a16z crypto. Participating investors include subsidiaries of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, S&P Global, SBI Group, SoFi, Tradeweb, and others. The project's primary business is developing the Canton blockchain network designed for institutions. The funds will be used to accelerate partnerships with institutional players, pursue mergers and acquisitions, and participate in related projects. (The Block)
Binance's US stock business adopts a dual-core structure of "introducing broker + clearing broker," with Nest Trading responsible for order referral, and US fintech company Alpaca Securities handling the entire process of trade execution, clearing, settlement, and asset custody.Nest Trading, formerly known as BCI Limited, obtained a broker-dealer license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) FSRA at the end of 2025 and officially began operations on January 5, 2026. Together with Nest Exchange and Nest Clearing and Custody, it forms Binance's compliance "troika" in ADGM. Registered on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, Nest Trading handles key Binance services such as OTC, Convert, and Earn.Alpaca is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC, commanding a 94% market share of tokenized US stocks and ETFs, facilitating 1:1 on-chain asset conversion for platforms like Ondo Finance. In January 2026, Alpaca completed a $150 million Series D funding round at a valuation of $1.15 billion, achieving unicorn status with investments from Citadel Securities, Kraken, MUFG, and others. As of early 2026, Alpaca serves over 300 institutions, covering 9 million brokerage accounts. By the end of 2025, it held total assets of $1.386 billion and net capital exceeding $100 million.Public information indicates that Binance and its core team had no prior connection with Alpaca. This collaboration establishes a cross-border US stock trading loop characterized by "ADGM licensed connectivity + US compliant clearing."
Moment, an AI fintech company founded by former Citadel Securities quantitative traders and researchers, has announced the completion of a $78 million funding round, led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors including a16z and Avra. Moment has established partnerships with institutions such as Edward Jones, LPL Financial Holdings, and Hightower Advisors, primarily providing AI automation infrastructure for fixed income and equity trading. The new capital will be used to accelerate the deployment and product expansion of AI in Wall Street trading systems. (Bloomberg)
According to The Block, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, noted that three enterprise-grade blockchains—Arc (by Circle), Canton Network, and Tempo (by Stripe)—have collectively raised over $1 billion in funding recently. All three funding rounds occurred after the signing of the GENIUS Act in July 2025. Hougan believes this legislation broke a prior regulatory stalemate that had discouraged institutional capital from entering the space. Hougan identified three key signals: First, all three blockchains prioritize native privacy-preserving transactions as a core design feature, addressing institutions’ need for transaction confidentiality. Second, the implementation of the GENIUS Act has significantly reduced regulatory uncertainty; the next critical variable is the pending Clarity Act, from which stablecoins and tokenization infrastructure stand to benefit. Third, these blockchains are backed by top-tier institutions—including Goldman Sachs, Citadel, BlackRock, Stripe, and Visa—marking a stark contrast to Ethereum and Solana, which emerged from grassroots origins. Hougan stated that his firm’s capital remains primarily allocated to native crypto projects, and he believes these emerging enterprise chains will raise the overall competitive bar and attract additional capital inflows.
According to The Block, Jim Esposito, President of Citadel Securities, stated on Thursday at the Semafor World Economic Forum in Washington, D.C., that the firm is “fully capable” of providing liquidity to prediction markets—but explicitly expressed no interest in sports-event contracts. Instead, he emphasized the value of prediction markets for hedging geopolitical risks, citing the U.S. midterm elections this November as “one of the greatest risks facing investors’ portfolios.” Esposito noted that as platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket continue to grow rapidly, the prediction market is poised for sustained expansion—naturally drawing Citadel Securities into the space. Notably, Zhao Peng, CEO of Citadel Securities, participated last year in Kalshi’s $185 million funding round.