The no-action position taken by the US regulator under Chair Michael Selig will allow the company to engage in certain activities without registering as a broker. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Tuesday that its Market Participants Division issued a no-action letter in response to a request from crypto wallet provider Phantom Technologies. A CFTC notice said that the no-action letter would, under certain circumstances, stop the division from recommending that the regulator take an enforcement action against Phantom or its staff for failure to register as a broker. According to Phantom, the no-action position will allow the company to “act as a non-custodial interface connecting users to a registered exchange [...] without taking on the regulatory obligations of an introducing broker.” Read more
The Israeli claim of killing Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani, if confirmed, would mark the most consequential setback for Iran since the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei at the start of the US-Israel war on the Islamic republic, which is now in its 18th day. Larijani is one of the few remaining figures who straddle the political, security and diplomatic layers of the Iranian system at a time of war. He is not merely a senior insider, but part of a small cohort that can reconcile competing power centres within the state and translate battlefield developments into coherent political signalling. His role extends beyond messaging to quietly shaping external engagement, including maintaining channels that could, if required, support de-escalation. His loss, if confirmed, would not fracture the system. It would rather narrow the space within which strategy is formulated, tilting the balance further toward a security-driven approach and reducing flexibility for any future political exit. ...
A new gold-linked yield stablecoin aims to tap commodity markets for returns as institutions explore alternatives to Treasury-backed tokens. Tokenization platform Theo has received $100 million for a structured investment facility backing its yield-bearing stablecoin, thUSD, underscoring growing institutional appetite for digital dollars tied to alternative yield sources beyond US Treasurys. Theo co-founder Ari Pingle told Cointelegraph that the capital was committed through a structured facility known as the Genesis Vault, which reached its $100 million cap within 24 hours. The funds were deposited into the facility to support the launch of thUSD, rather than representing venture funding for the company. The company uses the deposited funds to buy tokenized gold while simultaneously shorting gold futures on the CME to hedge price movements. The strategy is designed to reduce exposure to gold price volatility while generating yield from gold financing and futures market spreads. Read more