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In this issue:
- US Payments and Digital Asset Companies Announce Stablecoin Initiatives
- US Digital Asset Firms Launch New Offerings for Tokenized Securities
- Digital Assets and Banking Sector Reply to GENIUS Act Request for Comments
- Canada Imposes $176M Penalty on Crypto Exchange for Anti-Money Laundering Violations
US Payments and Digital Asset Companies Announce Stablecoin Initiatives
On Oct. 28, a U.S.-based multinational money transfer company announced the launch of its stablecoin, the U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT). According to a press release, USDPT is built on the Solana blockchain and is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank's "federally regulated stablecoin issuance platform." The press release also announced the launch of the company's Digital Asset Network, which will reportedly provide access to cash off-ramps for digital assets through a network of wallets and wallet providers. In a quote from the press release, the company's CEO said that USDPT and the Digital Asset Network will allow the company to "own the economics linked to stablecoins" and enable the company's mission to "make financial services accessible to people everywhere."
In other news, a major global payments company recently announced that it plans to increase its crypto service offerings by adding support for four new stablecoins on four "unique" blockchain networks. The four stablecoins, which were not disclosed, are reported to represent two currencies and are projected to be convertible into more than 25 fiat currencies.
According to reports, another major global payments company is said to be in late-stage negotiations to acquire Zerohash, a Chicago-based blockchain and stablecoin infrastructure provider, for a projected purchase price of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Zerohash provides a broad range of digital asset and stablecoin product offerings, including staking infrastructure and tokenization payment rails.
In more stablecoin news, the company that issues the USDC stablecoin has announced the launch of the public testnet for Arc, its new open Layer-1 blockchain network. According to a blog post by the company, the Arc network is directly integrated with the company's full-stack platform and enables use cases across payments, capital markets, foreign exchange and lending.
In a final notable item, a major global cryptocurrency exchange announced that it has filed a national trust bank charter application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. According to a press release, the exchange is pursuing a bank charter to further its digital asset custody offerings with a view toward expanding its role as a regulated service provider among digital asset treasury companies, exchange-traded funds, institutional investors and other market participants.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- [] Announces USDPT Stablecoin on Solana and Digital Asset Network
- [] to start supporting stablecoins on four blockchains
- Exclusive: [] poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly $2 billion, sources say
- [] Launches Arc Public Testnet
- [] Files National Trust Bank Charter Application
US Digital Asset Firms Launch New Offerings for Tokenized Securities
By Amos Kim
According to a recent press release, Ironlight Markets, a subsidiary of Ironlight Group Inc., has received approval from FINRA to launch a U.S.-regulated alternative trading system (ATS). The new ATS is designed to trade both traditional and tokenized securities, including real-world assets. The press release notes that the new ATS platform integrates a centralized order book with atomic onchain settlement, which allows for real-time trading and clearing. The system's open-access model will allow banks, brokers and registered investment advisers to connect through standard Financial Information eXchange interfaces or application programming interfaces (APIs).
In a separate development, Securitize Inc. announced the launch of the Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund, a tokenized fund focused on AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations. A global financial services company will serve as the custodian for the fund's underlying assets while its investment management division will act as the sub-adviser to the fund. The fund has a planned $100 million anchor allocation from Grove, an institutional-grade credit infrastructure protocol. The shares will be issued as digital tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and will be available to eligible investors through Securitize.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Ironlight Markets Receives FINRA Approval to Launch the First U.S. Regulated ATS with Atomic On-Chain Settlement for Tokenized Securities
- Securitize Launches Tokenized AAA CLO Fund with Services Provided by BNY, Bringing Institutional Structured Credit Onchain
Digital Assets and Banking Sector Reply to GENIUS Act Request for Comments
In recent weeks, multiple digital assets and financial services organizations have published their comments responding to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Aug. 18 request for comment related to the GENIUS Act, seeking feedback "on innovative or novel methods, techniques or strategies that regulated financial institutions use, or could potentially use, to detect illicit activity involving digital assets." The following is a brief summary of some of the comments published:
- The DeFi Education Fund provided details on a "suite of solutions" to address illicit finance risks in digital assets consisting of (i) risk assessment and defensive blocking, (ii) proactive user-protection tools, and (iii) threat information coordination.
- Two bank industry organizations issued a joint letter with comments focused on the principle of "same activity, same risk, same rules." Among other things, the organizations advocated for regulatory clarity on which activities trigger Know Your Customer responsibilities, on expanded information sharing and on the issue that certain DeFi entities may qualify as digital asset service providers.
- Another bank industry organization advocated for modernizing rules to regulate digital assets both in light of traditional illicit finance risks and novel risks presented by decentralized technologies, interim guidance to apply existing Bank Secrecy Act regulatory obligations to digital assets, and exemptions to avoid duplicative requirements for banks that provide both traditional and digital asset offerings.
- A major U.S. crypto exchange published a 40-page response addressing various aspects of the request for comment with a key focus on how illicit finance can be combatted with emerging technologies, including APIs, artificial intelligence, decentralized identification, zero-knowledge proofs and blockchain tracing tools.
- Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, recommended clear regulatory expectations for blockchain analytics adoption, promotion of public-private data collaboration under privacy safeguards, cross-sector education, integrating new technologies with existing systems and incentivizing innovation through grants.
- The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) published a 46-page letter reflecting "the consolidated feedback of a subset of GBBC's 500+ institutional members," including "representatives from regulated financial institutions, blockchain and digital asset exchanges, technology providers, legal advisors and other members of GBBC's diverse global network."
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Treasury Urged to Embrace Tech in Crypto Compliance Push
- Response to Department of the Treasury's Request for Comment on Innovative Methods to Detect Illicit Activity Involving Digital Assets
- Re: Request for Comment on Innovative Methods to Detect Illicit Activity Involving Digital Assets
- Re: Request for Comment on Innovative Methods to Detect Illicit Activity Involving Digital Assets; 90 Fed. Reg. 40148 (Aug. 18, 2025)
- Re: Request for Comment on Innovative Methods to Detect Illicit Activity Involving Digital Assets
- Elliptic submits recommendations to US Treasury on ways to fight crypto crime
- Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) USA: The US Department of Treasury Request for Comment on Innovative Methods To Detect Illicit Activity Involving Digital Assets
Canada Imposes $176M Penalty on Crypto Exchange for Anti-Money Laundering Violations
According to recent press releases, Canada's national financial intelligence unit, FINTRAC, imposed a monetary penalty of more than $176 million on a cryptocurrency platform for violations of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and associated regulations. The penalty reportedly relates to findings that the platform failed to report suspicious transactions related to money laundering and other violations, including failure to submit suspicious transaction reports for transactions involving known darknet markets and virtual currency wallets linked to criminal activity. According to the press releases, the monetary penalties are intended to encourage change in the noncompliant behavior of businesses.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
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