HSBC is the latest megabank to double down on tokenized deposits versus stablecoins by preparing for new launches in the US and the UAE next year. Global megabank HSBC is doubling down on tokenization over stablecoins as global banks rush to keep pace in the stablecoin race. HSBC Holdings will start offering tokenized deposits to its corporate clients in the US and the United Arab Emirates in the first half of 2026, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS) by HSBC enables clients to send money domestically and abroad in seconds around the clock, said Manish Kohli, HSBC’s global head of payments solutions. Read more
How Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade scales the L1 and the L2s — explained for ordinary crypto fans without the usual baffling technical jargon. After three successful trials on the Holesky, Sepolia and Hoodi testnet, Ethereums Fusaka hardfork will go live on mainnet on December 3. Its the most eagerly anticipated upgrade to Ethereum since the last one, Pectra although Fusaka will have a much more significant impact, enabling rollups to scale in the space of a month up to 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) and to 100,000 TPS over time. Its actually two separate hard forks: the Fulu upgrade to the consensus layer (the part of a blockchain where validators in the network agree on what happened) and the Osaka upgrade to the execution layer (the part that actually processes transactions). In the future, the consensus layer will be rebuilt as Lean Consensus (formerly known as Beam Chain but renamed after a trademark dispute) and hardened for security and decentralization with finality in seconds. As part of the Lean Eth...
Kenyan regulators say no crypto firms are licensed under the new VASP Act and warn that providers claiming approval are doing so illegally. Bitcoin ATMs were spotted across major shopping malls in Nairobi days after Kenya implemented its first comprehensive cryptocurrency law, creating an immediate stress test for regulators who claim that no crypto provider is yet authorized to operate. Local media outlet Capital News reported that several major malls across Nairobi had new machines branded “Bankless Bitcoin” installed beside traditional banking kiosks, offering cash-to-crypto services to the locals. This isn’t the first time Kenya has seen Bitcoin ATMs. In 2018, The East African reported that ATM provider BitClub installed Bitcoin ATMs in Nairobi, although adoption remained minimal and the devices did not reach mainstream retail spaces. Read more
Machi Big Brother dominates the liquidation leaderboard with 71 liquidations so far this month, far ahead of James Wynn and Andrew Tate. Decentralized exchange Aster is delving into crypto’s degen culture with the launch of “Machi mode,” a new feature that rewards traders with points for getting liquidated. The update, set to go live next week, was announced with a direct nod to Machi Big Brother (real name Jeffrey Huang), a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur and former musician who has recently become a high-risk investor in the cryptocurrency space with a track record of liquidations. “You get liquidation points for getting rekt,” Aster wrote in a Wednesday post on X, adding that “this one’s for you, king @machibigbrother.” Read more
New Hampshire has approved a $100 million Bitcoin-backed municipal conduit bond, letting borrowers raise capital against overcollateralized BTC. New Hampshire has approved the issuance of a $100 million municipal bond backed by Bitcoin, in what appears to be the first structure of its kind at the US state level. Minutes from a Nov. 17 meeting of the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority (BFA), the state’s business financing agency, show the board planned “to consider approving a resolution authorizing up to $100,000,000 bonds for a project to acquire and hold digital currency.” Minutes from the following day record that directors voted to “approve the preliminary official intent, with no reservation, to issue a taxable conduit revenue bond for WaveRose Depositor, LLC of up to $100,000,000.” Read more