Another busy week across financial markets saw crypto weakness weigh on trading revenues, while broker earnings, regulation and expansion plans remained in focus. Trading activity softened in parts of the CFD market, while firms continued to invest in equities, technology and new markets. AI adoption also accelerated across trading infrastructure, alongside regulatory developments in crypto and…
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has issued a fresh warning against a group of websites offering, or appearing to offer, investment services without authorisation in Cyprus. In a notice dated 14 August 2026, the regulator said the websites do not belong to entities authorised to provide investment services or perform investment activities under Article 5 of Law 87(I)/2017. The…
XTB is examining systematic-internalizer arrangements for stock and ETF execution, Filip Kaczmarzyk, its board member for trading, said in an interview published today (Friday). The broker is looking for lower execution costs while retaining its zero-commission offer. Executing eligible orders against a firm's own book, rather than routing every order to an exchange, could make commission-free…
Gemini's president is calling prediction markets the platform's biggest near-term growth driver. However the claim has yet to be reflected in the segment's revenue contribution. Gemini Space Station reported a $107.7 million net loss for the second quarter, its fourth consecutive quarterly loss since going public in September 2025, according to results published on 13 August. Revenue rose 37%…
RedotPay attributes the delay to regulatory approvals alone, leaving unresolved legal and leadership questions out of its own framing. RedotPay has delayed its planned US initial public offering, which could have raised more than $1 billion at a valuation above $4 billion, Bloomberg reports , citing people familiar with the matter. The Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm is seeking regulatory…
For brokers, part of the counterparty due diligence now happens upstream, as exchanges start filtering out sanctioned platforms before brokers have to. Binance said on 14 August it will block transactions with 11 crypto platforms from 23 August, including HTX and EXMO, after already cutting off five smaller platforms — Shelbit, Aban Tether Exchange, A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance — earlier…
The Financial Commission has approved MBX PRO as its newest Broker Member. The brokerage’s membership took effect this week. The membership gives MBX PRO and its customers access to the organisation’s dispute resolution services and other member benefits. The approval follows other recent additions to the Financial Commission’s membership. The organisation recently confirmed RA Prime as a member .…
Payward, Inc., the parent company of Kraken, reported second-quarter adjusted revenue of $508 million, up 17% year over year, even as total platform transaction volume fell 13% to $310 billion. Crypto spot trading volume fell 27.9% industry-wide in the second quarter, Finance Magnates reported , as eToro, Robinhood and Coinbase all posted declining crypto revenue. Against that backdrop, Payward…
Swissquote reported more than 1.2 million accounts at the end of June, but those accounts do not carry equal economic weight. Yuh, its mobile finance app, held 34.7% of the total and only 4.2% of client assets. A new FM Intelligence study shifts attention from how many users Swissquote has acquired to how much of that reach becomes funded banking and investing relationships. The gap is measurable.…
Equiti has renewed and expanded its sponsorship of Abu Dhabi football club Al Wahda FC for the 2026/27 season. The deal moves Equiti's branding from the club's sleeve to the front of its home, away and goalkeeper shirts, alongside Abu Dhabi developer Lead Development. Equiti first partnered with Al Wahda in 2024 as a sleeve sponsor . In 2025, it also became the naming partner of Dubai's Youth…
When one speaks of trading platforms, the discussion of MT4 and MT5 always comes together because choosing one of them is viewed as purely a technical matter. In fact, there is no unified approach to working with them, and each trader chooses a platform according to his or her experience, trading strategies, and preferences. While some continue using the same tool for trading, others switch from…
Revolut’s digital assets unit in Cyprus has onboarded Georgios Vasiliou as new CEO. He previously served as the chief executive for Trading.com, the sister brand of retail brokerage giant XM. He takes over from Costas Michael , the founding CEO of Revolut's Cyprus unit. Finance Magnates had learned that Michael stepped down from the company two months ago. Michael made the announcement public only…
Spec Capital Group Pty Ltd (ABN 55 683 368 765) today starts operations under its Australian Financial Services Licence No. 700136 by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), formally authorising the company to provide financial services to wholesale clients in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The AFSL authorisation represents a pivotal milestone for Spec…
The central debate in digital asset policy used to be whether to regulate at all. That question is now settled. MiCA's transitional period ended July 1st, 2026; the UK finalized its cryptoasset rulebook on June 30th; the US celebrated the one-year anniversary of the GENIUS Act becoming law ; and the SEC and CFTC issued joint guidance in mid-March that classified many digital assets as digital…
Deribit has received a Broker-Dealer Licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), allowing the Coinbase-owned crypto derivatives platform to route most spot orders to Coinbase Exchange for execution. Deribit will remain the client-facing venue and retain its derivatives ecosystem, while Coinbase Exchange will provide main execution and liquidity for the upgraded spot product.…
Crypto Travel Rule laws now cover 83% of jurisdictions answering the relevant Financial Action Task Force (FATF) question, FM Intelligence reported today (Thursday). Only 40% of those with enacted rules reported a focused supervisory or enforcement measure. The full FM Intelligence report counted 91 enacted-law jurisdictions among 109 respondents to that question. Only 36 reported a finding,…
FX activity remained substantially above year-earlier levels across several parts of the institutional currency market in July. CLS reported a 14.7% year-on-year increase in average daily traded volume, after Cboe and CME also recorded higher FX activity for the month. CLS reported average daily traded volume of $2.658 trillion in July 2026, up from $ 2.317 trillion in July 2025. Cboe Global FX…
Apex Fintech Solutions has launched a solution for brokers and fintech companies that are looking to expand their product sets with event contracts. The new API-based service allows them to offer Kalshi’s event contracts inside their own trading interfaces without building their own Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) infrastructure or direct exchange connectivity. Tastytrade is the first firm to go…
Alpaca has partnered with cryptocurrency platform Gate to support its launch of US stocks and exchange-traded funds, initial public offering allocations and tokenized stocks. Gate’s move follows a broader push by cryptocurrency exchanges into traditional equities. In June, Binance added 7,000 US stocks to its platform , with Alpaca providing custody, dividend processing and corporate-action…
Bullish’s second-quarter results show why crypto platforms have to diversify from crypto: digital asset sales fell sharply, while transaction revenue contributes less than 50% to the bottom line. Digital asset sales fell 44% year-on-year to $32.6 billion from $58.6 billion. Adjusted transaction revenue rose 24% to $29.9 million from $24.1 million, while subscription, services and other revenue…