News linked to both this project and an event.
According to CoinDesk, U.S. President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday local time, directing the federal government to update its regulatory framework to integrate digital assets and innovative technologies into traditional financial services and payment systems. The order requires financial regulatory agencies to review existing rules within three months to identify barriers hindering collaboration between fintech firms and federal regulators, and to implement measures to encourage innovation within six months. Additionally, the executive order specifically directs the Federal Reserve to review regulations governing non-bank financial institutions’ access to payment accounts and services—a move that could directly benefit Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs) and companies operating under similar frameworks. Firms such as Kraken have previously actively sought access to Federal Reserve master accounts.
Bitget Wallet has announced the completion of its RWA trading upgrade and integrated xStocks as a new source of tokenized stocks, providing users with global tokenized stock trading capabilities. From May 19 to June 14 (Beijing time), Bitget Wallet users who complete tiered trading tasks can receive up to $264 in rewards, with a total prize pool of $100,000. Additionally, users who hold, add liquidity to, or participate in the lending market for any xStocks token will receive a 20% exclusive xPoints bonus.Through this upgrade, users can now trade over 300 types of RWA tokens across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, covering various assets such as US stocks, ETFs, oil, precious metals, and country indices. The service supports 24/7 trading, low transaction fees, and gas-free execution, with trading starting from $0 and no minimum threshold requirement. Currently, Bitget Wallet supports a dual RFQ + AMM trading mechanism, enabling instant execution and effectively reducing spread slippage. It has also integrated AI market signals to assist in trading decisions.xStocks is developed in collaboration between Kraken and Backed. Its tokenized stock products adopt a 1:1 full collateral mechanism with underlying assets. Since its launch in June 2025, the platform has processed a cumulative trading volume exceeding $30 billion. This integration will further advance Bitget Wallet's "Everyday Finance, Onchain" strategy, aiming to enable users to conduct daily trading of traditional financial assets through on-chain wallets, breaking down the geographical and entry barriers imposed by traditional financial infrastructure.
According to Odaily, Kraken announced that its Kraken Pro platform has increased the maximum leverage for Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual swaps from 50x to 100x. This applies to two USD cash-settled perpetual contracts, PF_XBTUSD and PF_ETHUSD, which continue to support 24/7 trading.Per the announcement, the 100x leverage is now available to international users in eligible regions. No account migration or additional application is required; existing Kraken Pro contract users can access it directly. The leverage mechanism adopts a tiered model: for BTC contracts, up to 100x leverage is available on the first $1 million in notional position size, with automatic reduction to lower leverage tiers for amounts exceeding that threshold. For ETH contracts, the maximum 100x leverage applies to the first $500,000 in notional position size. The platform emphasized that the leverage adjustment is not a "one-size-fits-all" switch, but rather a dynamic tiered calculation based on increasing position size.
0x Co-CEO Will Warren announced today that he is stepping down from his role as Co-CEO, effective immediately. He will remain on the board as a major shareholder and continue to support Amir Bandeali and the team. Warren noted that 0x built the first decentralized exchange protocol on Ethereum in 2016; today, its products drive billions of dollars in monthly trading volume and power on-chain swap services for companies including Coinbase, Robinhood, Phantom, and Kraken. He also observed that the co-CEO structure has somewhat slowed decision-making efficiency in recent years. Moving forward, Amir Bandeali will lead an organizational restructuring—with Warren’s continued support—to better position the company in an increasingly competitive market environment.
major US-based crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini are pushing for amendments to the Senate's crypto market structure bill, seeking to delete or relax the listing restrictions on 'digital assets susceptible to manipulation.' The original clause requires trading platforms to only list digital assets that are 'not easily manipulated.' The industry is concerned that this standard could limit the ability of small-cap tokens to be listed on exchanges, thereby impacting liquidity and market development.According to sources, the exchanges submitted revision proposals to the Senate Agriculture Committee earlier this year, suggesting the removal of the relevant restrictive language and emphasizing that the current wording could create a 'listing barrier' for small-cap crypto assets. Under the bill's design, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would gain broader regulatory authority over digital commodity markets in the future, adopting a 'self-certification' mechanism used in traditional commodity markets, which requires exchanges to confirm that a product is not easily manipulated before it can be listed.However, the crypto industry believes that digital assets have structural differences from traditional commodity derivatives, making it unreasonable to simply apply existing standards, which could stifle innovation and market access. A source noted that the current direction of revisions is seen as a 'clear push for regulatory easing.' A Coinbase policy executive stated that the industry supports stronger regulatory and anti-fraud frameworks but opposes directly transplanting standards unsuitable for spot markets, as it would affect market liquidity and consumer participation. It is understood that the bill is still in the negotiation phase between two Senate committees and is expected to undergo further adjustments before being formally submitted for a full floor vote. (Politico)
Odaily, March 11 – Kraken has partnered with MoneyGram to enable users in over 100 countries to withdraw cryptocurrencies into fiat cash. (Cointelegraph)
According to CoinDesk, Payward—the parent company of Kraken—filed a second amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against its former custody partner Etana Custody and its CEO, Dion Brandon Russell, alleging misappropriation of over $25 million in customer funds and operation of a “Ponzi scheme.” Payward claims that Etana commingled custodial assets with its own funds to cover operating expenses and make high-risk investments, while using false account statements to conceal the resulting funding shortfall. In April 2025, when Kraken attempted to withdraw approximately $25 million in reserve funds, Etana delayed the withdrawal, citing fabricated reconciliation issues, and instead relied on new deposits to fill the gap. At least $16 million of the misappropriated funds was invested in promissory notes issued by Seabury Trade Capital, which later defaulted. Subsequently, Colorado state regulators issued a cease-and-desist order against Etana, which entered liquidation proceedings in November 2025 and is now under the management of a court-appointed receiver. Kraken is seeking at least $25 million in damages, plus treble civil theft penalties.
According to The Block, Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Chicago-based crypto-native exchange Bitnomial, thereby obtaining a full suite of U.S. derivatives licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), Designated Contract Market (DCM), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) licenses. Payward stated that it will first launch spot margin trading on Kraken, followed by perpetual contracts and options products, all available to eligible U.S. customers. This acquisition will also provide partners—including banks, brokers, and payment service providers—with a channel to offer U.S. derivatives to their end customers. Bitnomial will operate independently under Payward while retaining its existing licenses and regulatory framework. The transaction’s value is reported to be up to $550 million, comprising cash and stock, implying a valuation for Payward of approximately $20 billion; however, the final terms have not been disclosed.
Payward (Kraken’s parent company) has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bitnomial, marking its official entry into the U.S. crypto derivatives market with full regulatory credentials. Following the transaction, Payward now holds a comprehensive set of U.S. CFTC licenses, including Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), Designated Contract Market (DCM), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) status, enabling it to launch compliant derivatives services in the U.S. market.Payward stated that it will gradually roll out spot margin trading under the Kraken brand, followed by plans to launch perpetual contracts and options products, while expanding institutional-grade derivatives capabilities through the Bitnomial framework. It is reported that Bitnomial, as a Chicago-based native crypto derivatives trading platform, has long held the three core CFTC licenses and has been relatively aggressive in listing new assets. After the transaction, it will retain its existing licenses and regulatory framework, continuing operations within the Payward system.Additionally, this acquisition continues Payward’s recent expansion moves: the company had previously secured a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse Group and filed IPO-related documents with the U.S. SEC, signaling its accelerated push into globally compliant derivatives and capital market pathways. (The Block)
Blockworks has announced the completion of a Series A extension funding round, achieving a post-money valuation of $192 million. The round was co-led by ParaFi Capital and Reciprocal Ventures, with support from Coinbase Ventures, MoonPay Ventures, and several other institutions and industry participants. The funding also attracted investments from over 20 founders and operators of ecosystem projects including Solana, LayerZero, Arbitrum, and Kraken, though the specific amount raised has not been disclosed.The company stated that while the crypto market has grown to a trillion-dollar scale lacking traditional capital market infrastructure, it still faces issues such as fragmented data, inconsistent disclosure standards, and a lack of investor communication mechanisms. Blockworks aims to fill this gap through a "data + disclosure + investor relations" tripartite architecture. (CNBC)
PrimePiper has launched an enterprise-grade prime broker platform for AI agents, designed to address challenges including fragmented account management, inadequate risk control, inability to reconcile across venues, and insufficient compliance auditing in AI-driven automated trading. According to the company, its infrastructure supports unified connectivity to multiple trading venues—including Hyperliquid, OKX, Tiger Brokers, and Interactive Brokers (IBKR). For risk control, PrimePiper offers enterprise-grade API key management, spending limits, and circuit-breaker mechanisms to constrain AI agent trading behavior. At the execution layer, it enables automated strategy execution via SDK or the Model Context Protocol (MCP). For compliance and auditing, it provides audit-grade reporting capabilities tailored for funds and traders. PrimePiper has been selected for the latest cohort of Founders Inc’s accelerator program; its product is currently in the Alpha stage. Team members hail from Galois Capital, Kraken, DRW, and AWS.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT questioned Kraken’s due diligence process for listing $M (Memecore) spot trading on July 3, 2025, noting that approximately 7.9 million $M were withdrawn from Kraken to 18 newly created addresses; these addresses collectively now hold roughly 11.7 million $M—valued at approximately $39.8 million at current prices. He also stated that addresses suspected to belong to the Memecore team received 200 million $M during the token generation event (TGE) and transferred 5.3 million $M to Kraken’s deposit address on July 3, 2025.
According to Reuters, Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency exchange approved for a Federal Reserve master account. However, the account is restricted: it only permits Kraken’s banking operations to access the Fedwire payment system and hold limited balances—earning no interest and ineligible for emergency lending. This move has raised concerns in the U.S. financial system regarding risk and transparency, including a call from Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, for greater disclosure of account details. Regulatory experts warn that lightly regulated crypto firms gaining direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment system could pose operational and financial stability risks. The Federal Reserve stated that these restrictions are intended to mitigate liquidity shocks and credit risk; however, banks caution that they may impair banking system liquidity and exacerbate money laundering and operational vulnerabilities. Kraken says its bank reserves are fully backed and that it complies with bank-level anti-money laundering (AML) and customer identification requirements.