Rails is betting that Stellar‑based smart contract vaults, onchain proofs and segregated collateral can make high‑speed perpetuals more palatable to institutions. Institutional crypto derivatives provider Rails announced the launch of “Institutional-Grade Vaults” on the Stellar network on Tuesday, allowing brokerages, fintechs and other intermediaries to plug into crypto perpetuals via a single backend. The company aims for options trading in Q2 2026. Satraj Bambra, CEO of Rails, told Cointelegraph that the core idea was to separate matching from money. “The critical difference is custody and verifiability,” he said. Rails runs a centralized matching engine, while client assets will sit in audited smart contract vaults on Stellar. Every 30 seconds of profit and loss (PnL), fees and liabilities are committed onchain, as Merkle roots that institutions can independently reconcile against their own records. Read more
The planned altcoins listings will expand CME’s regulated crypto derivatives contracts beyond Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Solana. Chicago-based derivatives exchange CME Group is moving to deepen its exposure to altcoins as demand for regulated crypto products continues to expand in the United States. CME Group said Thursday that it plans to list futures contracts tied to Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM) on Feb. 9, pending regulatory approval. The proposed contracts would broaden CME’s crypto derivatives suite regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which includes futures and options linked to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL). The exchange said the new offerings are aimed at meeting growing interest from market participants seeking exposure to digital assets. CME plans to offer both standard and micro futures contracts for each altcoin, with position sizes ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 ADA, 250 to 5,000 LINK and 12,500 to 250,000 XLM. Read more
During their bull runs, XLM and XRP often move in sync, with a high correlation coefficient typically topping 0.70. Will history repeat for Stellar? Key takeaways: XLM eyes a 35% breakout toward $0.63 as it tests an ascending triangle resistance. A strong historical correlation with XRP suggests that XLM may continue rallying. Read more