USDT is disappearing from regulated European platforms, but there is little sign that it has resulted in weakening global demand for Tether. Europe’s crackdown on Tether’s USDT is entering a new phase. When Revolut told European users it would delist USDT after Aug. 31, it became another in a long line of European platforms restricting access to the world’s largest stablecoin as firms adapt to the requirements of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. MiCA’s stablecoin rules have been phasing in since 2024, and the EU-wide transition period ended on July 1, putting further pressure on platforms to drop tokens that don’t meet the rules. Read more
Sweden’s H100 more than tripled its Bitcoin holdings to 3,506 BTC after completing an acquisition involving 2,455 BTC. Sweden-listed health-tech and Bitcoin treasury company H100 Group completed its acquisition of Norwegian Bitcoin companies holding 2,455 Bitcoin (BTC), more than tripling its Bitcoin treasury to 3,506 BTC. The transaction involved no cash consideration, with H100 issuing 790.5 million new shares to the sellers, the company said in a Monday press release. The newly issued shares diluted existing shareholders by about 70%. H100 priced them at 1.86 Swedish kronor ($0.20) each, valuing the transaction at about 1.47 billion kronor ($155 million). Read more
JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform will tokenize select BlackRock money market fund shares denominated in pounds, euros and US dollars. BlackRock will offer tokenized versions of select European money market funds using JPMorgan’s blockchain infrastructure. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, the offering will include pound sterling, euro and US dollar share classes from BlackRock’s Institutional Cash Series, which collectively manage about $311 billion. The figure refers to the broader fund range, not the assets that will be tokenized. Each token will represent a share in an underlying money market fund and can be transferred around the clock between approved digital wallets. Read more
The UCITS ETF, CoinShares’ first in Europe, began trading on Deutsche Börse Xetra, tracking a rules-based index of publicly listed BTC miners. CoinShares has launched its first UCITS exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe, which tracks publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies, giving European investors exposure to the sector through an Irish-domiciled fund listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra. The CoinShares Bitcoin Mining UCITS ETF began trading Tuesday under the ticker MINE. The physically replicated fund tracks the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining Index, a rules-based basket of listed Bitcoin miners administered by Solactive AG, the asset manager said in an announcement. The ETF was last trading at 19.50 euros ($21.74) per share. Deutsche Börse Xetra data showed 60 units traded for a turnover of 1,184 euros. The similar US-traded CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) has net assets of $343.6 million. Read more
The Luxembourg approval completes the company's MiCA licensing process, enabling it to provide regulated crypto-asset services across the European Economic Area. Ripple said it has received full authorization under the European Union's MiCA crypto framework after Luxembourg's financial regulator granted the company a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license. The authorization follows Ripple's preliminary approval in June and, together with the company's existing Electronic Money Institution license, allows the blockchain payments company to offer regulated crypto-asset services across the European Economic Area (EEA). Ripple said the approval makes it one of a small number of digital asset companies with full authorization under MiCA. The company now holds more than 75 regulatory licenses worldwide, including authorization from the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority secured in January. Read more
MiCA crypto licensing data shows 244 approved companies across EU and EEA jurisdictions, led by Germany with France and the Netherlands also among top hubs ahead of July 1 cliff. Update 2:00 pm UTC, June 29: Added comment from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework is producing uneven crypto licensing across member states and European Economic Area (EEA) jurisdictions, with Germany leading approvals under the new regime that takes effect on Wednesday. Data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) interim register, compiled on Friday, shows Germany has 57 MiCA-authorized crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), accounting for about 23% of the 244 total licenses issued. Read more
OKX rolls out stock-linked expiry futures for European retail traders, expanding competition with Coinbase, Kraken and Binance in regulated derivatives. OKX is rolling out expiry futures tied to the Magnificent 7, SPY, QQQ and major commodity benchmarks for European retail customers. In a Tuesday release shared with Cointelegraph, OKX said the new X-Perps markets allow users to trade futures linked to individual Magnificent 7 stocks, alongside index-linked contracts based on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 via SPY and QQQ. The products also provide exposure to gold, silver and oil with up to 10x leverage, using the same margin pool as customers' crypto holdings. Read more