The Bank of Italy’s deputy governor floated the evaluation of tokenized SEPA payments, as the ECB experiments with tokenized digital payment frameworks to avoid stablecoin competition. European financial institutions should assess whether the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) can be extended into tokenized payments, Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti said, as policymakers look for ways to keep euro-denominated settlement central to digital finance. Scotti called a tokenized extension of SEPA an “important area for reflection” during a Monday speech at the Digital Assets and Monetary Policy Transmission workshop in Rome, saying Europe’s existing payments framework offers scale, shared standards and interoperability. Her comments come as the Eurosystem prepares a pilot for Pontes, a distributed ledger technology settlement initiative designed to link market DLT platforms with TARGET Services and settle transactions in central bank money. The pilot is expected by the third quarter of 2026. Read more
Кабинет Министров Украины принял решение продлить действие программы «Национальный кешбэк» еще на два года — до 30 апреля 2028 года.Об этом сообщает «Первый Подробнее
Bullish has agreed to acquire transfer agent Equiniti as more Wall Street participants accelerate their tokenization initiatives to offer 24/7 trading. Bullish agreed to acquire transfer agent Equiniti from Siris Capital in a $4.2 billion transaction, giving the crypto exchange a major shareholder recordkeeping business as it pushes deeper into tokenized securities. As part of the deal, Bullish will assume $1.85 billion in debt from Equiniti, according to a Tuesday announcement. The transaction is expected to close in January 2027, pending regulatory approval. The acquisition will allow Bullish to offer 24/7 trading of tokenized securities and stablecoin-based payment and settlement tools. Equiniti is one of the world’s largest transfer agents, servicing nearly 3,000 companies, including the likes of Berkshire Hathaway and Rolls-Royce. Transfer agents are crucial for trading venues, as they are responsible for investor records, issuing ownership certificates and facilitating dividend payments. Read more
The Romanian leu depreciated further against the euro on Tuesday (May 5, 2026), breaching a new psychological threshold of 5.2325 units to the euro on the interbank market after Romanian lawmakers toppled the government of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in a no-confidence vote held Tuesday afternoon.
Polymarket was banned in the Netherlands in February, but Kalshi, Hyperliquid and Interactive Brokers are still offering prediction markets to Dutch users. Dutch users can still access crypto prediction markets despite a previous ban on market leader Polymarket. Polymarket was banned by the Dutch Gaming Authority (Ksa) in February for operating without a gambling license. However, US-based Kalshi, crypto exchange Hyperliquid and investment giant Interactive Brokers are still offering prediction markets to Dutch users, according to an investigation by Dutch financial newspaper FD. The Ksa warned that Polymarket’s ban applies to similar platforms. “Websites similar to Polymarket also fall under our supervision and can therefore be sanctioned by us,” a spokesperson reportedly said. Read more