Though planned for “early 2026,” the expansion in the CME Group’s trading services was still subject to regulatory review amid a US government shutdown with no end in sight. The derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group said it will expand its services to offer “always on” trading for crypto markets starting in 2026. In a Thursday notice, the CME Group said that, pending regulatory review, it would allow clients to trade cryptocurrency futures and options “24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning in early 2026.” The so-called “around-the-clock cryptocurrency trading” will represent a significant expansion in its services, beyond its scheduled pauses on weekends, holidays, and outside business hours. “While not all markets lend themselves to operating 24/7, client demand for around-the-clock cryptocurrency trading has grown as market participants need to manage their risk every day of the week,” said CME Group’s global head of equities, FX, and alternative products, Tim McCourt. “Ensur...
The ECB said it had reached agreements with seven entities not yet involving “any payment” responsible for components of the digital euro, potentially launching in 2029. The European Central Bank (ECB), as part of its preparation phase for a potential digital euro launch, announced framework agreements with technology providers responsible for components of the central bank digital currency (CBDC). In a Thursday notice, the ECB said it had reached agreements with seven entities — and at least one more expected to be announced — to provide services related to managing fraud and risk, a secure exchange of payment information, and software development for a possible digital euro. Among the companies were Feedzai, which uses AI to detect fraud and the security technology company Giesecke+Devrient. “Following the framework agreement conclusion, G+D and other successful tenderers will work with the ECB to finalize planning and timelines,” said Dr. Ralf Wintergerst, CEO of Giesecke+Devrient. “Under the guidance of t...
Bitcoin cleared the $120,000 level for the first time since August as long-term selling cools and short-term holders stabilize, hinting at a fresh accumulation phase. Key takeaways: Bitcoin clears the $120,000 hurdle as long-term holder selling pressure eases. Short-term holders are absorbing losses, signaling market stabilization. Read more
The DoubleZero network aims to reduce blockchain's reliance on public internet infrastructure and its fundamental speed constraints. The DoubleZero protocol, a high-speed network of fiber-optic connections dedicated to serving high-throughput blockchain traffic, launched its mainnet-beta on Thursday, along with the public debut of the utility token that powers the network. DoubleZero’s decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) now hosts over 70 direct high-speed links between 25 geographic locations to route blockchain traffic directly between source and destination, reducing communication latency and maximizing speed. The public internet is a bottleneck for crypto, DoubleZero founder Austin Federa told Cointelegraph in May, adding that the public internet was not designed for distributed consensus protocols because it is congested by general-purpose traffic, such as gaming and media streaming. Federa said: Read more