United Arab Emirates to Offer Digital Payments on Pundi X 2566

Citizens and residents of Dubai will be able to make digital payments for school fees, bills and retail purchases with a stable, digital currency after a partnership between blockchain payment provider Pundi X, Ebooc Fintech & Loyalty Labs LLC (Pundi X’s exclusive partner in Middle East & priority partner in Africa) and emcredit – Dubai’s Credit Bureau.

Consumers in Dubai, UAE will be able to use digital currency to make retail payments in-store, pay for government utilities, telecommunication, and school fees in government shopfronts via emcash – Dubai’s digital currency launched by emcredit, a state-backed subsidiary of the Dubai Department of Economic Development.

The bespoke, Pundi X POS (“point of sale”) device created for ebooc fintech & loyalty labs for the exclusive use of emcredit with their branding will be dedicated to running a stable, digital equivalent of the UAE dirham (AED). Ebooc – the first Emirati fintech company is the exclusive partner of Pundi-X and providing blockchain-based NexGen technology and loyalty solutions for the financial services sector.

Today’s announcement confirms Dubai’s status as a global blockchain innovation centre and the first global capital to afford citizens the option to make essential payments on a digital currency.

XPOS devices are expected be rolled out at shopfronts the region following today’s deal with provisions for an increase in coming years.

An emcredit spokesperson said: “We are committed to continuously improving the services we offer to our customers in accordance with the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

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TradFi-DeFi Convergence Accelerates as Real-World Asset Tokenization Gains Institutional Momentum 1365

I-ON Digital, Instruxi and RAAC partnership illustrates emerging infrastructure linking gold-backed assets, stablecoins, and on-chain liquidity markets

The convergence of traditional finance (“TradFi”) and decentralized finance (“DeFi”) is moving from concept to implementation, as real-world asset (RWA) tokenization begins to establish a new foundation for global capital markets.

For small-cap investors and institutional observers alike, this shift represents a critical inflection point: the emergence of infrastructure capable of connecting regulated, asset-backed financial systems with blockchain-based liquidity and settlement networks.

From Fragmentation to Integration

Historically, TradFi and DeFi have operated in parallel:

  • TradFi offers regulatory structure, institutional trust, and deep capital markets
  • DeFi delivers programmability, continuous liquidity, and capital efficiency

Bridging these systems has remained a central challenge until the recent rise of tokenized RWAs, which allow tangible assets to be represented, financed, and deployed on-chain.

Market participants increasingly view RWA tokenization as one of the most significant growth vectors in digital finance, with long-term projections ranging into the hundreds of billions, and potentially trillions, of dollars.

Infrastructure in Practice: I-ON Digital and RAAC.io

A growing number of platforms are now moving beyond theory, building integrated systems that connect asset origination, stablecoin issuance, and decentralized liquidity.

I-ON Digital Corp., in partnership with Instruxi (https://www.instruxi.io/) RAAC (https://raac.io), provides a case study in how this convergence is being operationalized.

At the core of this model:

  • Digitized Gold-Backed Assets (IONau): Real-world gold exposure is structured into a blockchain-compatible financial instrument designed to align with traditional secured asset frameworks.
  • Stablecoin Layer (pmUSD): These assets support the issuance of pmUSD, a stablecoin engineered to maintain stability through structured collateralization tied to underlying real-world value.
  • Liquidity Infrastructure: pmUSD is deployed across established decentralized finance protocols and liquidity pools, enabling yield generation, market depth, and continuous capital deployment.

This vertically integrated approach, linking asset backing, issuance, and liquidity, addresses one of the primary limitations of earlier digital asset models: the disconnect between real-world value and on-chain utility.

The Role of Liquidity: From Concept to Market Depth

A defining feature of the next phase of digital finance is not simply tokenization, but liquidity at scale.

Deep, programmatic liquidity pools surrounding instruments like pmUSD are critical for:

  • Efficient price discovery
  • Scalable yield generation
  • Institutional-grade entry and exit pathways
  • Reduced volatility through structured collateral frameworks

By establishing liquidity infrastructure alongside asset issuance, platforms can move beyond static token models toward dynamic financial ecosystems capable of supporting meaningful capital flows.

Why It Matters for Small-Cap Investors

For investors focused on emerging growth sectors, the TradFi-to-DeFi bridge represents a foundational shift comparable to the early development of electronic trading or exchange-traded funds.

Key considerations include:

  • Early Infrastructure Positioning: Companies building compliant, scalable rails may capture disproportionate value as adoption accelerates
  • Institutional Tailwinds: Evolving regulatory clarity around stablecoins and digital assets is lowering barriers to institutional participation
  • Expanded Addressable Markets: Tokenization introduces liquidity and accessibility to asset classes historically constrained by geography or structure
  • Compounding Network Effects: Integrated ecosystems—combining asset backing, stablecoins, and liquidity—can scale rapidly as usage increases

A Structural Shift in Capital Markets

The integration of TradFi and DeFi is increasingly being viewed not as a replacement of existing systems, but as an extension that enhances efficiency, transparency, and capital mobility.

As real-world assets move on-chain and liquidity infrastructure matures, the ability to seamlessly connect regulated financial assets with decentralized markets may define the next generation of financial leaders.

About I-ON Digital Corp.

I-ON Digital Corp. is a U.S.-based digital asset infrastructure company focused on real-world-asset tokenization, regulated gold-backed digital instruments, and digital asset banking services. The Company’s platform enables institutions to digitize, tokenize, manage, and distribute physical and in-situ assets within compliant, treasury-grade frameworks.

Soter Insure Issues World’s First Ethereum-Denominated Slashing Insurance Policy 1575

Soter advances digital asset risk management through a novel ETH-denominated slashing product, providing stakers with native-asset indemnity and eliminating FX gaps in legacy insurance policies.

Soter Insure, a provider of institutional-grade insurance for the digital asset economy, today announced the launch of the world’s first Ethereum-denominated slashing insurance product. Developed in collaboration with Galaxy Digital, this innovative policy provides a critical safety net for Ethereum validators and institutional stakers.

As Ethereum staking becomes a cornerstone of institutional portfolios, “slashing”, or the penalization of a validator for protocol violations, remains a primary technical and operational risk. This penalty is denominated in ETH, while traditionally, insurance for such events was capped in fiat (USD), leaving institutions exposed if the price of ETH surged during the policy period. Soter’s new product solves this by denominating both premiums and claims in ETH, ensuring that the protection scales perfectly with the value of the staked assets.

Risk-Aligned Protection for the Staking Ecosystem

The policy provides comprehensive coverage for ETH stakers, covering financial losses from both isolated and network-wide slashing events, settled entirely in native ETH. By settling claims directly in ETH, Soter removes the “currency risk” associated with currency mismatch.

“As Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake architecture becomes more widely adopted by traditional financial institutions, institutional participants require sophisticated risk-transfer mechanisms that extend beyond mere technical redundancy,” said Henson Orser, Founder and CEO of Soter. “By collaborating with Galaxy Digital, we have engineered a capital-efficient solution that eliminates the currency risk inherent in traditional indemnity. This ETH-denominated framework ensures that institutional stakers can safeguard both principal and yield through a core risk-mitigation tool that is intrinsically aligned with their digital asset balance sheets.”

Strengthening Institutional Infrastructure

This new slashing product complements Soter’s existing suite of BTC-denominated crime policies and traditional fiat-denominated financial lines coverage. By addressing the specific nuances of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanics, Soter is providing the necessary infrastructure for the next wave of institutional ETH adoption.

The successful rollout of this product demonstrates that the insurance industry is no longer playing catch-up; it is now building bespoke solutions that enhance the robustness of the entire digital asset ecosystem.

“As institutional participation in Ethereum deepens, having coverage that is native to the protocol is a natural and important evolution for the ecosystem,” said Chris Ferraro, President and CIO at Galaxy. “We’re proud to have worked with Soter to develop this product and look forward to utilizing it ourselves.”

Empowering the Next Generation of Staked ETH ETFs

The launch of Soter’s ETH-denominated slashing product arrives at a critical juncture as major asset managers look to evolve their spot ETH offerings into Staked ETH ETFs. By providing indemnity exclusively in ETH, Soter ensures that any insured slashing penalties are replaced in kind. This native settlement removes the basis risk inherent in fiat-denominated policies, where price fluctuations could prevent a full recovery of the insured principal.

About Soter Insure

Soter Insure is a leading provider of specialized insurance solutions for the institutional digital asset ecosystem. Soter offers a range of innovative insurance products—including D&O, Professional Indemnity, and natively-denominated crime and slashing cover—that address the unique risks of the blockchain ecosystem. For more information, please visit soter.insure.

About Galaxy

Galaxy Digital Inc. is a global leader in digital assets and data center infrastructure, delivering solutions that accelerate progress in finance and artificial intelligence. Our digital assets platform offers institutional access to trading, advisory, asset management, staking, self-custody, and tokenization technology. In addition, we develop and operate cutting-edge data center infrastructure to power AI and HPC workloads. Our 1.6 GW Helios campus in Texas positions Galaxy among the largest and fastest-growing data center developers in North America. The Company is headquartered in New York City, with offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Additional information about Galaxy’s businesses and products is available on www.galaxy.com.

Rain Launches an OpenClaw and AI Agent-Ready SDK for Building Independent Prediction Market Platforms and a $5M Grant Program 1908

Rain, the decentralized prediction markets protocol, announces the launch of its AI agent-ready SDK and a $5 million grant program to support developers and creators worldwide in building, launching, and monetizing their own independent prediction market platforms. Open to builders and creators globally, the initiative aims to accelerate the growth of decentralized prediction markets by giving builders access to the funding and infrastructure needed to launch new platforms on top of the Rain protocol.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently described OpenClaw as part of a broader shift in AI, from systems that answer questions to ones that can actually perform work. OpenClaw lets us have a personal agent, much like Microsoft let us have a personal computer. Rain is built precisely for this shift, exposing the full stack of prediction markets – creation, pricing, trading, liquidity, and resolution – as simple, composable primitives. With Rain, builders using OpenClaw agents can take a single prompt and generate a live prediction market without manual coding or centralized gatekeepers. This allows anyone with an idea to turn it into a functioning market product more quickly than traditional development would allow.

Prediction market platforms have dominated public discourse over the past few months and have quickly gained unprecedented popularity. Yet even as platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi pursue valuations approaching $20 billion and present themselves as part of a more open financial future, much of the ecosystem remains far more centralized than it appears. Most platforms offer APIs and SDKs that limit interaction to markets the platform itself created. This creates an environment where developers can build discovery, analytics, or trading tools around these markets, but they cannot create new ones independently.

As interest in prediction markets continues to grow, Rain is opening the system up to a wider group of builders. Developers and AI agents will have access not only to existing markets, but also to the infrastructure needed to create and launch their own applications and prediction markets directly on the protocol. The $5 million grant program will allocate $3 million directly to development building on the protocol, while the remaining $2 million will fund a daily rewards system designed to incentivize ongoing activity across the ecosystem. Rain is the first protocol in the industry that lets anyone create and launch fully functional prediction markets on any topic, in any language. Builders maintain full control over their product, branding, and regulatory strategy, while using Rain as the underlying technology layer.

The program also gives builders a direct path to participate in the category’s growth. Every builder earns a flat 0.5% share of the trading volume they generate. The commission is paid directly from Rain’s token allocation, creating a predictable revenue stream for builders who drive activity on the platform.

“In the past year, prediction markets have become one of the most talked about sectors in the market, and Rain is now changing how these platforms are built,” says Roy Shaham, CEO of Rain. “We designed our SDK specifically for OpenClaw and AI agents, allowing anyone to take an initial prompt to a fully live, functional platform. With a $5M pool that is nearly double the industry standard, we give creators the resources to move beyond just pulling data and actually launch their own platforms and create their own markets. By making it easy for anyone to bring their ideas to life with OpenClaw and Rain’s SDK, we are building a colorful ecosystem that pushes the boundaries of what prediction markets can become.”

About Rain:

Rain is a decentralized protocol that provides the infrastructure for anyone to build their own prediction market platforms or applications. Using the machine-readable Rain SDK, developers and AI agents can launch independent markets and niche apps. Rain features private, invitation-only markets, AMM, account abstraction, AI market and dispute resolution, cross-chain support, and more. For more information, visit: https://www.rain.one/.

Former JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort Traders Launch Crypto Prop Firm After Paying Out USD2.5 Billion in Fintech 1504

Velotrade enters the crypto funded trading market with institutional foundations, aligned incentives, and a rule set built from scratch for crypto traders

Velotrade, founded by former institutional derivatives traders from JP Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort, and Bank of America, today announced the launch of its crypto funded trading platform. The firm offers traders the opportunity to operate a prop trading account without risking their own capital. The account sizes range from $5,000 to $200,000, with considerable profit splits.

Velotrade is not a rebrand, a pivot from forex, or a first venture. The founding team brings combined decades of experience in capital markets, risk management, and financial technology. Their previous company, Velotrade Management Limited, operates a fintech trade finance platform that has paid out more than $2.5 billion to clients worldwide since 2016. That business continues to operate today as a separate legal entity. The founding team and the Velotrade name carry a track record covered by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq. The crypto funded trading platform is operated by Velotrade Re Limited, a separate Hong Kong company incorporated in November 2025.

The decision to enter the crypto prop market came from a simple observation: most firms in the space are not built by or for traders.

“We looked at the crypto prop market and found firms run by people with little experience in trading, in risk management, or in running a financial services company,” said Gianluca Pizzituti, CEO and co-founder of Velotrade. “That shows. It shows in the rules, in the structure, in the fine print. We thought: there is an opportunity to build something the industry actually needs.”

A Different Business Model

Most prop firms generate the majority of their revenue from challenge fees. The more traders fail, the more fees they collect. Velotrade is built on the opposite logic.

The firm uses institutional liquidity bridges and AI driven hedging to mirror selected trader positions in real markets. When a funded trader is profitable, Velotrade earns alongside them. The business model only works if traders succeed.

“We are not here to collect challenge fees and hope people fail,” Pizzituti said. “Our revenue model is tied to trader performance. That changes everything about how you design rules, and how you treat the people trading your capital.”

Rules Written for Crypto, Not Borrowed from Forex

The majority of prop firms offering crypto instruments today were originally built for forex. Their evaluation frameworks reflect that: trailing drawdowns calibrated for pip range volatility, consistency rules, weekend holding bans, and restricted news trading windows. Applied to a 24/7 asset class with a fundamentally different liquidity and volatility profile, these rules create avoidable breaches that end funded accounts for reasons unrelated to trading skill.

Velotrade was designed from the ground up for crypto. The evaluation framework includes:

  • No consistency rule. Traders are not penalised for having one large winning day or for varying position sizes based on conviction.
  • No time limit. There is no cap on evaluation duration. Traders move at their own pace.
  • News trading permitted. No restricted windows around market events.
  • Weekend holding permitted. Positions can be held through weekends across all account tiers.

Two evaluation formats are available. The 2 step challenge targets traders who want maximum drawdown room (10% overall, 5% daily). The 1 step challenge offers a faster path to funding with tighter parameters (7% overall, 4% daily). Both run on DXtrade.

The full rule set is published on velotrade.com and written with institutional grade clarity. The stated standard: a trader should be able to read the rules once and know exactly where they stand.

Crypto Only

Velotrade does not offer forex, indices, or equities. The platform trades a wide range of cryptocurrencies with leverage of up to 6x on BTC and ETH. The decision is deliberate: build for one asset class and do it properly, rather than bolt crypto onto an existing infrastructure.

Payout Structure

Funded traders can request their first payout after 14 calendar days. Subsequent payouts are available weekly on request. All payouts are processed within 24 hours in USDC or USDT.

About the Founders

Gianluca Pizzituti, Chief Executive Officer
Formerly at the derivatives desk at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. Founded and ran a proprietary high frequency trading firm in FX and equity indices out of Singapore. In 2016, he founded Velotrade in Hong Kong and scaled the trade finance platform to over USD 2.5 billion in disbursements worldwide.

Vittorio De Angelis, Executive Chairman
Over 30 years in capital markets and risk management. Traded equity derivatives at JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort in London, rising to Co Head of Equity Derivatives at Bank of America. Later served as Head of Brokerage at a global broker in Hong Kong.

About Velotrade

Velotrade Re Limited is a Hong Kong based company operating a crypto funded trading platform for disciplined traders. The founding team previously built Velotrade Management Limited (est. 2016), a trade finance platform that has paid out over $2.5 billion to clients worldwide and has been covered by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq. The two companies are separate legal entities.

Challenge options, pricing, and the complete rule set are available at http://velotrade.com.

LedgerLink Completes SOC 2 Type II Audit, Reinforcing Bank-Grade Security for Blockchain Connectivity 1429

Independent SOC 2 Type II examination validates control effectiveness under AICPA Trust Services Criteria

LedgerLink has successfully completed a SOC 2 Type II examination, reinforcing the company’s commitment to bank-grade security, controls, and operational rigor as regional and community banks expand into blockchain-enabled services. Johanson Group attested to LedgerLink’s information security controls meeting the leading industry standards for banking and financial services.

As banks evaluate new Web3 business models— including stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized assets, cryptocurrencies, and agentic commerce —security and control frameworks must meet the expectations of regulated financial institutions. SOC 2 Type II provides independent assurance that LedgerLink’s controls are not only designed appropriately, but also operate effectively over an extended period, under the AICPA Trust Services Criteria.

“Connecting banks to blockchains requires an operational standard that matches the environment banks operate in,” said Greg Sossaman, CEO of LedgerLink. “Completing SOC 2 Type II underscores LedgerLink as trusted infrastructure that is flexible enough to work with any core banking system provider, any blockchain network, and adaptable to a changing regulatory environment.”

LedgerLink positions regional and community banks as management hubs for blockchain network activity—rather than distribution arms for large fintech intermediaries. LedgerLink’s bank-first architecture supports policy enforcement, approvals, and auditability so institutions can adopt Web3 capabilities without compromising their risk posture.

“Banks don’t need hype. They need defensible controls,” said Austin Vincent, President of LedgerLink. “SOC 2 Type II is a concrete milestone that validates how we’ve built LedgerLink: controls-first, audit-ready, and designed for banks that must maintain governance, approvals, and accountability. AI is the killer app for blockchains, and the winners will be the institutions that can serve this new class of commercial client safely.”

LedgerLink’s platform is designed to help banks move at their own pace. Its configurable architecture enables staged adoption of digital-asset and Web3 services, while keeping governance and oversight aligned with institutional requirements.

LedgerLink is a bank-first, bank-grade integration fabric that connects core banking systems to blockchain networks, enabling secure, compliant, API-native digital asset and Web3 services for AI-led organizations.

Investio Launches New Trading Platform With Enhanced Security and AI-Driven Risk Tools 1524

  • Retail trading continues to account for a significant share of global market activity, with industry observations indicating that execution-related factors — including timing errors, exposure misjudgment, and slippage during volatility — contribute to a substantial portion of retail trading losses.
  • As trading environments become faster and more information-dense, platform structure and execution clarity are increasingly seen as critical elements influencing outcomes.
  • Against this backdrop, Investio has recently launched a new trading platform designed to strengthen execution transparency, enhance system stability, and introduce AI-supported risk visibility tools for retail traders operating in volatile market conditions.

Investio’s newly launched platform focuses on improving system reliability and helping traders better understand exposure before executing orders. The platform is designed to operate consistently during periods of market volatility while reducing cognitive overload caused by dense real-time information flows.

Key features of the platform include:

  • Enhanced security infrastructure designed to strengthen account protection and transaction integrity.
  • AI-supported exposure insights, helping traders assess position risk before execution.
  • Improved execution stability during periods of high market activity
  • Streamlined information hierarchy to support faster and more informed decision-making.

These capabilities aim to support traders operating in fast-moving markets where execution timing and system predictability play an increasingly important role in trading outcomes.

Executive Commentary

“Retail participation remains strong, but market conditions continue to place pressure on trading outcomes,” said the CEO of Investio.

“The new platform was developed to improve execution clarity, strengthen system reliability, and provide tools that help traders understand risk more clearly before making decisions.”

He added that technological expectations among retail traders have evolved alongside market conditions.

“Traders today operate in faster, more information-dense environments,” the CEO said. “Features such as AI-driven risk insights and enhanced security protections are increasingly expected as standard components of modern trading platforms.”

Market Context

Retail trading remains a meaningful contributor to overall market liquidity, supported by widespread access to digital trading infrastructure.

At the same time, volatility surrounding macroeconomic developments, liquidity shifts, and rapid price movements has increased the importance of consistent execution performance and clear exposure visibility.

Within this environment, trading platforms are increasingly evaluated based on how reliably they perform during periods of market stress and how clearly they present risk information prior to trade execution.

About Investio

Investio is a trading platform provider focused on delivering secure, transparent, and technology-driven solutions for retail market participants. The company develops infrastructure designed to support reliable execution, clear risk visibility, and user-focused trading environments across global financial markets.

For more information, visit: https://investio.uk/