Southeast Asian Central Banks Align on Cross-Border Digital Money using Ripple
The central banks of Malaysia and Thailand have joined Singapore’s BLOOM initiative to
establish common regulatory and technical frameworks for cross-border digital money,
regulated stablecoins, and tokenized deposits.
The expanded public-private coalition brings together traditional payment networks
Visa and Mastercard, crypto-native firm Ripple, and the World Bank Group.
Rather than deploying a live cross-border service, the group is establishing
interoperability standards and programmable controls to prevent institutions from
having to negotiate separate bilateral arrangements across jurisdictions.
Kraken Parent Bridges CFTC Clearance with Hyperliquid Order Books
Kraken parent Payward has proposed deploying regulated perpetual futures for U.S.
clients on Hyperliquid using the protocol’s testnet HIP-3* permissioning framework.
Under the plan, Payward subsidiaries Bitnomial (Designated Contract
Market/Derivatives Clearing Organization) and NinjaTrader Clearing (Futures
Commission Merchant) will control market deployment, clearing, and customer
onboarding via on-chain allowlists. While formal regulatory approval remains pending,
Hyperliquid confirmed: “Payward will use Hyperliquid as the infrastructure layer to
deploy perpetual futures markets for US clients.”
ICE Takes Stake in Trade.xyz for Perpetual Markets
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent operator of the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE), announced on October 29, 2026, an agreement to acquire a strategic minority
equity stake in Trade.xyz to develop an onshore, 24-hour retail perpetual derivatives
venue built on Hyperliquid blockchain rails. The initiative targets global retail volume via
distribution through an existing joint venture with digital asset exchange OKX, while
insulating ICE’s core franchise where institutional participation exceeds 99% of total
activity. Addressing the dual-market architecture subject to regulatory approval by the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Chair and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of ICE, stated: “We see these perp markets as additive to our
futures markets, not a replacement for them”.
Circle Petitions SEC to Eliminate Stablecoin Broker-Dealer Haircut
On October 20, 2026, Circle Internet Financial, LLC submitted comments on the
Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, urging
alignment with the federal GENIUS Act framework for payment stablecoins. Under the
SEC’s proposal—which includes an exemption allowing eligible issuers to raise up to
$75 million in a 12-month period—Circle requested reducing the current 2% broker-
dealer haircut to zero for qualifying payment stablecoins. Addressing valuation and
customer-reserve standards, Circle stated: “The letter further asks the Commission to
clarify that qualifying payment stablecoins constitute “cash” for purposes of proposed
Rule 302(b), receive appropriate dollar-based valuation treatment, and qualify for
appropriate accounting and customer-reserve treatment.”
Bitwise 10-Year Outlook: When 95% of Supply Is Out and Institutions Step In
Bitwise Asset Management has published its 2027 Bitcoin Long-Term Capital Market
Assumptions, modeling a base-case 34.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for
Bitcoin through 2036.
Based on peer projections from firms including BlackRock and Vanguard, Bitwise’s
modeled return compares to 10.8% for private equity and 6.7% for U.S. equities.
The report’s supply-demand framework notes that 95.7% of Bitcoin’s 21 million
maximum supply is already in circulation. Under Bitwise’s baseline assumptions, a 1%
to 5% institutional portfolio allocation would generate an estimated $1.5 trillion to $7.4
trillion in cumulative demand over the decade, compared to approximately $14 billion
annually in new mining issuance.
Addressing the asset’s structural transition, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt
Hougan stated: “This early stage was the difficult part — now is when we watch it
mature and flourish.”
