Coinbase Launches Trading Desk For Institutional Investors 5193

OTC, or over-the-counter, trading occurs between two parties directly ー as opposed to over an exchange ー typically between an investment bank and its clients.

“We launched our OTC business as a complement to our exchange business because we found a lot of institutions were using OTC as an on-ramp for crypto trading,” said Christine Sandler, head of sales at Coinbase. “We felt this was a huge benefit to our clients to actually leverage both our exchange and our OTC business.”

Earlier this month, Coinbase began to permit its clients to trade any asset that trades on Coinbase Prime and order books through its web interface, Skype, Bloomberg IB, email or phone, according to documentation shared with some clients and obtained by Cheddar.

“Trades settle seamlessly and instantly, with funds available for immediate withdrawal” and “no possibility of a failed trade and no need to chase down wires and blockchain transfers,” the documentation said.

Sandler said the company plans to expand the service offering to include delayed settlement and will potentially integrate it with Coinbase Custody, its platform for hedge funds, exchanges and ICO teams that launched this past July.

In May, Business Insider reported that Coinbase would add support for OTC trades. Shortly after, Coinbase launched the Prime platform, designed to lure institutional investors with trading tools and with longer-term plans to present over-the-counter trading, algorithmic orders, and advanced market data products.

The timing of the rollout was opportunistic and a reaction to client demand, according to Sandler. Earlier this year, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ Gemini launched OTC trading. Circle has a similar product, Circle Trade, through its February acquisition of Poloniex.

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Mantle Unlocks Autonomous Economy with ERC-8004 Deployment 3750

Mantle, the high-performance distribution and liquidity layer for real-world assets, announced the official deployment of the ERC-8004 standard on mainnet. This milestone introduces a specialized trust and identity layer designed to transform AI agents from isolated scripts into sovereign economic participants capable of operating across RWAs, TradFi bridges, and DeFi.

The Trust Gap: Why AI Agents Were Problematic

Until now, on-chain AI agents have faced a “visibility crisis.” Despite their ability to execute code, agents remained invisible to the broader financial system. They lacked a way to build a reputation across different platforms, approve their historical performance, or be discovered outside of the specific ecosystem where they were created.

This gap has prevented autonomous agents from participating in high-stakes financial markets where verifiable records are non-negotiable.

ERC-8004: The Three Components of Agent Autonomy

By deploying ERC-8004, Mantle provides the foundational infrastructure for a trustless “Internet of Agents.” The standard introduces three critical on-chain registries:

  • Identity Registry: Provides a verifiable, NFT-based on-chain identity for every agent, making them discoverable and unique.
  • Reputation Registry: Establishes a portable track record. An agent’s “credit score” or performance history now follows it across platforms, ending the need to start from zero.
  • Validation Registry: Offers cryptographic proof of work completed, allowing agents to verify the accuracy of each other’s outputs through stake-secured or ZK-based mechanisms.

“At Mantle, we are building the liquid layer for the future of finance, where RWAs and DeFi converge.” said by Joshua Cheong, Head of Product at Mantle. “By bringing ERC-8004 to our ecosystem, we are providing AI agents with the ‘credentials’ they need to manage real capital. This isn’t just about automation; it’s about creating a verifiable workforce that can navigate compliance, liquidity, and settlement at scale.”

Bridging the Gap in TradFi and RWAs with ERC-8004

On Mantle, where institutional-grade assets flow seamlessly, these agents serve as the “connective tissue.” With ERC-8004, agents can now discover one another, verify credentials, and transact autonomously without being locked into a single platform. This enables three primary categories of autonomous building:

  1. Financial Strategy Agents: Executing complex yield or trading strategies with a performance history that anyone can audit.
  2. RWA Coordination Agents: Managing the heavy lifting of compliance, custody, and settlement for tokenized assets.
  3. Cross-Market Bridges: Bridging liquidity between traditional legacy systems and on-chain protocols by acting as verifiable intermediaries.

A Unified Ecosystem Is Now Powered by Mantle

ERC-8004 is designed to be backwards-compatible and works in tandem with the protocols agents already use, including the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication, and the x402 payment standard.

By combining these communication and payment standards with Mantle’s massive distribution layer and $4B+ treasury, the network is uniquely positioned to lead the “DeFAI” (Decentralized AI Finance) revolution.

Ethereum is the settlement layer for AI, and with ERC-8004, the future of autonomous finance is officially live on Mantle.

About Mantle

Mantle positions itself as the premier distribution layer and gateway for institutions and TradFi to connect with on-chain liquidity and access real-world assets, powering how real-world finance flows.

With over $4B+ in community-owned assets, Mantle combines credibility, liquidity and scalability with institutional-grade infrastructure to support large-scale adoption. The ecosystem is anchored by $MNT within Bybit, and built out through core ecosystem projects like mETH, fBTC, MI4 and more. This is complemented by Mantle Network’s partnerships with leading issuers and protocols such as Ethena USDe, Ondo USDY, and OP-Succinct.

For more information about Mantle, please visit: mantle.xyz

Morph Integrates USDT0, Unlocking Access to the World’s Largest Stablecoin Liquidity Pool 4188

Ethereum-based payments settlement network Morph has integrated USDT0, the omnichain Tether liquidity network powered by LayerZero. The move gives Morph, which aims to become the settlement layer for everyday money, direct access to unified USDT liquidity across 18+ blockchains.

For developers building payment apps, merchant tools or even DeFi protocols on Morph, this means they can tap into a massive, ready-made liquidity pool from day one without the headache of managing a dozen different bridged token contracts.

No more bridges. No more wrapped tokens

Traditionally, using USDT on another blockchain requires a bridge. This process locks the original tokens and mints a new, “wrapped” version on the destination chain.

These wrapped variants are not the same asset. They are separate tokens backed by assets held in complex smart contracts, leading to liquidity fragmentation — where the same currency is trapped in isolated pools — and introducing counterparty risk if a bridge fails.

USDT0 proposes a different model. Instead of locking and minting, it uses a burn-and-mint mechanism. To move USDT from Chain A to Chain B, tokens are burned on Chain A and minted directly from Tether’s canonical supply on Chain B.
As a result, USDT0’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard creates a single, consistent asset across all supported networks.

What USDT0 enables for builders on Morph

While many L2s compete for general DeFi activity, Morph is engineered for a specific vertical: payments. Its architecture — featuring sub-300ms block times and zero-fee stablecoin transfers — targets merchant settlement, remittances, crypto cards issuance, and treasury management.

For such use cases, deep and frictionless liquidity is non-negotiable. USDT, with a market cap exceeding $185 billion, represents the largest pool of stablecoin liquidity in crypto.

As the USDT0 integration is now live on Morph mainnet, developers on Morph can integrate what is effectively a universal USDT, slashing technical overhead and simplifying cross-chain user experience, which means:

  • Payment applications can process cross-border transactions with instant settlement and minimal overhead.
  • DeFi protocols can access deeper liquidity without managing multiple stablecoin variants.
  • Merchant platforms can accept stablecoin payments with seamless conversion and settlement.
  • Financial institutions can execute treasury operations with predictable behavior across chains.

The combination of USDT0’s unified liquidity and Morph’s payment-optimized infrastructure lays a powerful foundation for next-generation financial applications.

We’re excited to work alongside the USDT0 team in advancing the vision of unified, omnichain liquidity that makes stablecoins truly borderless.

Money at the speed of life.

About Morph

Morph is an Ethereum-based, payments-first settlement layer and the native onchain home of BGB, focused on building the foundation for global consumer finance onchain. Morph supports real-world financial activity across payments, savings, identity, and rewards, enabling scalable, onchain settlement for consumer and business use. Guided by the Morph Foundation, the network connects more than 120 million users through the Bitget and Bitget Wallet ecosystems.

ID-Bound Unveils “TRIO”: The World’s First Crypto Safe Against Ethereum Access Loss, Theft, and the Looming Quantum Threat 4763

As Ethereum’s market presence expands, so do the risks that keep investors awake at night. Today, ID-Bound officially announces the launch of TRIO, a Crypto Safe designed to eliminate the three greatest existential threats to digital wealth: user error, sophisticated theft, and the “Q-Day” quantum brute-force timeline.

The current crypto landscape is littered with “permanent” losses. As of mid-2025, data suggests that over $3 billion worth of Ethereum has been rendered inaccessible due to forgotten seed phrases or hardware failures. Unlike traditional finance, a lost key in crypto usually means the assets are gone forever. ID-Bound is ending this era of digital fragility.

The TRIO Solution: Solving the “Impossible Trinity” of Crypto Risk

The TRIO solution—comprised of a proprietary Identity layer, a self-custodial, “hot” Wallet, and utility Tokens—addresses the three primary vectors of asset loss:

  1. Immunity to User Error: For the first time, losing your private keys doesn’t mean losing your fortune. If a user loses access, the TRIO platform can replace the tokens via verified identity protocols. Your ETH is no longer a “use it or lose it” asset.
  2. Theft-Proof Architecture: Phishing scams and malware are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from legitimate services, as evidenced by massive platform breaches like the $1.2 billion ByBit hack. Even if a user’s hardware or software is compromised, TRIO tokens are protected by a guarantee against theft, ensuring that hackers cannot drain the “Identity-Bound” safe.
  3. Quantum-Resistant Brute-Force Protection: With Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin noting a non-trivial (20%) chance that quantum computers could break modern cryptography by 2030, the “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” threat is real. TRIO is designed to withstand brute-force attacks, ensuring assets remain intact even if the private key is compromised.

From Passive Security to Active Yield and Institutional DeFi.

ID-Bound believes that high security shouldn’t mean low utility. While traditional “cold storage” leaves assets unproductive, TRIO allows users to generate a solid yield through a unique collateralization model https://id-bound.com/investments . This setup maximizes the benefits of blockchain technology non-custodial holding and the traditional legal system’s enforceability.

Users can leverage their protected TRIO tokens as risk-free collateral in Fractional Real Estate & Real-World Asset (RWA) Acquisition . In the 2026 market landscape, “RWA Tokenization” has moved from a buzzword to the primary driver of institutional and retail crypto adoption. By combining this with ID-Bound’s unique “Unstealable” architecture, we solve the single biggest barrier to entry: the Trust Gap.

“We are moving past the ‘Seed Phrase Era,’ which was always a stopgap for secure digital ownership,” says Dr. Eli Talmor, Co-Founder of ID-Bound. “With TRIO, we’ve built a safety net that is both quantum-ready and human-error-proof. The use of risk-free TRIO token collateral will form the foundation of Institutional DeFi.”

About ID-Bound

ID-Bound is a blockchain security leader dedicated to making digital asset ownership as safe and intuitive as a traditional bank account, without sacrificing decentralization. Through the TRIO platform, ID-Bound provides the infrastructure for the next billion users to enter the Ethereum ecosystem with total confidence. Join TRIO Public Demonstrator now: https://www.id-bound.com/get-on-board

For more information, visit: www.id-bound.com/newsroom

LeveL Markets and 21X partner to offer tokenized capital markets trading 4602

LeveL Markets, which offers industry-leading connectivity to a diverse international trading ecosystem, today announced a strategic partnership with 21X, the world’s first fully regulated DLT-based trading and settlement system (TSS), to offer digital trading services by connecting traditional financial markets with next-generation, wallet-based trading rails.

The partnership brings together two leading and innovative trading companies, with LeveL Markets’ deep roots in institutional equity trading and 21X’s tokenized market infrastructure. Together, clients can extend established TradFi workflows into digital, wallet-native environments. By tightly integrating these capabilities, the two firms will remove operational and technical friction that has historically limited institutional participation in tokenized markets, enabling access without forcing firms to re-architect their existing trading stacks.

Through this collaboration, LeveL Markets institutional customers will be able to access tokenized financial instruments alongside their existing equity workflows. The partnership is intended to align emerging, wallet-based rails with the tools, protocols and operating models that institutional traders already rely on, creating a foundation for future interoperability. Over time, this approach aims to support a more unified trading environment, where traditional securities and tokenized assets can increasingly co-exist within familiar institutional frameworks.

Steve Miele, CEO at LeveL Markets, stated: “LeveL Markets has always focused on improving execution quality and reducing friction for institutional participants. This partnership with 21X extends that mission into the next generation of market infrastructure, giving our clients seamless access to tokenized instruments while preserving the experience, controls and performance they expect.”

“Institutions want the benefits of tokenization without re-engineering their entire trading stack,” added Max Heinzle, CEO at 21X. “By partnering with LeveL Markets, we will embed wallet-based rails directly into proven institutional workflows, making tokenized markets immediately usable for professional traders.”

The partnership provides a critical gateway for traditional financial (TradFi) institutions to engage with tokenized assets. By leveraging digital wallets, LeveL Markets’ institutional customers will be able to access the efficiencies of 21X’s blockchain-based infrastructure, including atomic settlement, the elimination of settlement failures and reduced intermediary costs without compromising the standards of today’s trading environment.

Together, 21X and LeveL Markets are delivering institutional-grade digital securities trading.

About LeveL Markets

LeveL Markets is a U.S. equities marketplace, trading solutions provider, and the broker-dealer owner and operator of the LeveL Alternative Trading Systems (ATS). With a focus on client service, efficient trade execution, and innovative trading technology, LeveL Markets offers a solutions-driven equities platform that connects institutional and sell-side communities through deep buy-side and sell-side liquidity. Founded and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, its unique ecosystem includes continuous crossing platforms, VWAP order types, and advanced low-latency trading solutions.

For more information on LeveL Markets, contact:
Web: https://https://www.levelmarkets.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level-markets-llc/
X: https://x.com/levelmarkets

About 21X

21X is a Frankfurt-based financial institution at the forefront of revolutionizing capital markets through the use of blockchain technology. On 8th September 2025, 21X opened the first ever fully regulated distributed ledger technology trading and settlement system (DLT TSS) in the EU, positioning the company as a leader in the transition from traditional to tokenized asset-based capital markets. 21X enables atomic trading without counterparty or credit risk through smart contract-based issuance, trading and settlement of tokenized stocks, bonds and funds.

For more information on 21X, contact:
Web: https://www.21x.eu/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/21x/

DigiFT Introduces First Actively Managed Tokenized Equity Fund with BNY as Investment Management Services Provider 4430

  • First actively managed tokenized equity fund extending tokenization beyond single assets to professionally managed public equity strategies
  • Tokenized on Ethereum and distributed via DigiFT, providing eligible investors a regulated on-chain way to invest
  • Advances institutional adoption of tokenization, building on BNY’s deep investment expertise and DigiFT’s track record of bringing Tier-1 asset manager strategies on-chain

DigiFT, a regulated on-chain exchange for institutional real-world assets, today announced the introduction of DigiFT U.S. Equity Income Fund (“bEQTY”), the first actively managed tokenized U.S. equity income fund on the Ethereum public blockchain.

The launch of bEQTY, which is eligible for accredited investors, represents a significant milestone in the evolution of tokenization—marking a shift from early experimentation with blockchain-based financial instruments toward enabling investors to construct more complete, portfolio-relevant strategies on-chain.

BNY serves as the investment manager for the underlying traditional U.S. equity income strategy which extends tokenization into actively managed public equities. This launch demonstrates how regulated on-chain infrastructure is advancing beyond initial applications to address more sophisticated areas of the capital markets.

Tokenization as institutional portfolio infrastructure

Public equities remain a core component of institutional portfolios. Tokenization introduces a digitally native form factor that enables programmable settlement, enhanced transparency, and more streamlined lifecycle management—without changing the underlying investment strategy or governance framework.

By representing equity income strategies on regulated on-chain infrastructure, eligible investors gain greater flexibility in how sophisticated financial instruments are held, transferred, and integrated into portfolios, supporting more agile capital management.

For Web3-native allocators, as on-chain treasuries and funds mature, there is growing interest in incorporating assets that introduce exposure to the real-economy and are less correlated with crypto-native market cycles.

The launch also illustrates how regulated on-chain marketplaces can support wider institutional participation by enabling eligible investors to access the strategy through DigiFT’s regulated framework.

Henry Zhang, Founder and Group CEO of DigiFT, said: “For years, tokenization has been about proving the technology. This launch proves its use case. By bringing an actively managed equity income strategy on-chain within a regulated market, we’re demonstrating how blockchain infrastructure is becoming part of mainstream institutional finance.”

Doni Shamsuddin, Head of Asia Pacific, BNY Investments, said: “We are thrilled to work with DigiFT in bridging traditional finance and emerging on-chain solutions for institutional investors. Leveraging BNY’s deep investment capabilities, we enable a professionally managed portfolio on blockchain — anchored in established trust, scale, and governance.”

From experimentation to portfolio-relevant strategies

Tokenization has gained early traction in short-duration and cash-like instruments, demonstrating the operational benefits of blockchain within regulated frameworks.

As tokenization matures, extending its capabilities into actively managed public equities represents a natural next phase—moving beyond single assets toward actively managed strategies within regulated market infrastructure.

About DigiFT

DigiFT is a next-generation exchange for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The platform offers end-to-end digital asset services—including tokenization, issuance, distribution, trading, and instant liquidity provision—purpose-built for institutional RWAs. Trusted by global financial institutions, DigiFT is the on-chain tokenization and distribution partner for leading asset managers such as Invesco, UBS Asset Management, and Wellington Management. For more information, visit https://digift.io

About BNY

BNY is a global financial services platforms company at the heart of the world’s capital markets. For more than 240 years BNY has partnered alongside clients, using its expertise and platforms to help them operate more efficiently and accelerate growth. Today BNY serves over 90% of Fortune 100 companies and nearly all the top 100 banks globally. BNY supports governments in funding local projects and works with over 90% of the top 100 pension plans to safeguard investments for millions of individuals. As of December 31, 2025, BNY oversees $59.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $2.2 trillion in assets under management.

BNY is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Headquartered in New York City, BNY has been named among Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies and Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. Additional information is available on www.bny.com.

How TruTrade Is Helping Redefine Capital Access in Professional Trading 3991

Traders Shift Focus From Strategy Alone to Scalable Capital Infrastructure

As global financial markets grow increasingly competitive, professional and independent traders alike are recognizing a critical shift: success is no longer defined by strategy alone, but by access to scalable capital and disciplined infrastructure. Addressing this evolution, QuickFund AI, a service offered through TruTrade, enables qualified traders to operate with funded capital while maintaining full control over their trading decisions.

For years, retail traders focused almost exclusively on indicators, setups, and technical strategies, often while operating under severe capital constraints. These limitations frequently forced traders into over-leveraging, emotional decision-making, and inconsistent execution. Industry leaders increasingly point to capital structure—not strategy quality—as one of the primary barriers preventing traders from scaling responsibly.

“Capital determines how effectively a strategy can be deployed,” said Danny Rebello, CEO and Co-Founder of TruTrade. “Without adequate capital, traders are forced to compromise risk management, timing, and diversification. That’s where most breakdowns occur.”

QuickFund AI was developed to address this structural imbalance. Rather than requiring traders to risk significant personal funds, the service provides access to funded accounts designed to support disciplined, rules-based execution. This approach mirrors institutional trading environments, where exposure is distributed across multiple accounts and systems rather than concentrated into a single position.

Importantly, TruTrade does not trade on behalf of users, manage client funds, provide investment advice, or guarantee results. All trading decisions remain entirely under the trader’s control. QuickFund AI functions strictly as a capital-access and operational framework for qualified traders using TruTrade-compatible software.

“Funding is not a shortcut,” said Brian Nutt, COO and Co-Founder of TruTrade. “Capital amplifies whatever habits a trader already has. Discipline, structure, and risk control are still the deciding factors.”

The rapid adoption of funded trading models reflects a broader maturation of the retail trading ecosystem. Traders are shifting away from speculation-driven approaches and toward professional standards built on accountability, consistency, and infrastructure.

As market volatility persists and competition intensifies, capital efficiency—not hype—is emerging as the true competitive edge.

For more information, visit https://trutrade.io.

About TruTrade

TruTrade is a trading software company providing data-driven tools, analytics, and AI-supported automation designed to assist self-directed traders. TruTrade does not manage funds, execute trades, or provide investment advice.

About QuickFund AI

QuickFund AI is a funding facilitation service for qualified traders using TruTrade-compatible software, providing access to funded trading accounts while maintaining strict compliance boundaries.