Ripple has followed Circle in looking to be its own bank after Congress moved ahead with a bill to regulate stablecoin issuers under the national bank regulator. Crypto firm Ripple Labs is applying for a banking license in the US, following a similar move by stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group as crypto firms look to be regulated to deepen ties with traditional finance. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote to X on Wednesday that the company is applying for a license with the US national bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), confirming an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal. “True to our long-standing compliance roots, Ripple is applying for a national bank charter from the OCC,” he wrote. Read more
Bitcoin moved closer to its all-time high today, but several data points suggest pro traders are not on board yet. Key takeaways: Bitcoin trades near all-time high, but derivatives data show traders remain cautious and uncommitted. The USDT discount in China and spot Bitcoin ETF outflows highlight investor concerns over global trade tensions. Read more
The platform's OpenAI private equity tokens were disavowed by the company, prompting OpenAI co-founder, Elon Musk, to call the AI firm "fake." OpenAI issued a statement on Wednesday clarifying that OpenAI tokens distributed to European Union users by the trading platform Robinhood do not represent equity in the company. "We are not involved in this and do not endorse it,” representatives of the company wrote on social media. “Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer. Please be careful." Robinhood distributed $5 worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to clients in the EU region on Monday as part of the company's push into tokenized stock trading, which included launching a layer-2 blockchain network to settle tokenized equity trades. Read more