Why brokers aren’t always the bad guysWhat does dispute resolution in the CFD and retail FX industry actually look like in practice? FM Intelligence analyzed all 1,468 retail FX and CFD complaints handled by the Financial Commission in 2025. It found that brokers were not at fault in 94.8% of cases, based on decisions by an independent panel of 18 experts. However, these outcomes rarely gain the same visibility as the complaints themselves. Issues like delayed withdrawals often spread quickly on platforms such as Reddit or review sites, while the final rulings receive far less attention. The data also shows a gap between claims and actual payouts. Traders collectively sought $21.4 million, but only $496,304 was awarded.Most disputes were relatively small, with a median claim of $397.50. Withdrawal delays were the most common issue, accounting for 558 cases, yet 92.8% were resolved in favor of brokers, typically due to routine checks, bank processing times, or bonus terms rather than wrongdoing.XTB tops Polish account growth, pace slowsMeanwhile, XTB remained the leading broker for Polish account openings in May, adding 48,226 new accounts, according to data from the Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW). This brought its total to 1,087,740 accounts, more than double the size of its closest competitor.However, the pace of growth has slowed compared to earlier in the year, when the broker added 68,300 accounts in January and just over 51,000 in February. Monthly additions fell below 50,000 in April, the same month XTB surpassed the 1 million account mark. Despite the slowdown, XTB continues to widen its lead over rivals. mBank’s brokerage arm, the second-largest player, reached 560,967 accounts after adding 5,357 in May. BM Pekao followed with 210,079 accounts, while ING Bank Śląski’s brokerage unit held 205,897, leaving a significant gap between XTB and the rest of the market.eToro eyes wealth-tech deals, weighs banking licenceIn the fintch space, eToro is exploring acquisitions as it looks to expand its wealth-tech offering. CEO Yoni Assia confirmed that the company is in talks to buy two firms, one in the United States and another in a different market. Speaking to the Financial Times, Assia said eToro is working with investment bankers on the potential deals. The company, which went public last year, also confirmed to Finance Magnates that it is reviewing several opportunities but noted that discussions are still at an early stage. Assia described eToro as “very acquisitive,” adding that pursuing deals was one of the motivations behind its listing. While no details on deal size were disclosed, he said the company is targeting businesses that can strengthen its wealth offering and support global expansion, particularly in the US. In addition, eToro is considering applying for a banking licence as part of a broader push into the payments space.Axi enters Mauritius with dealer licenceAmid growing broker interest in Mauritius as an offshore hub, Axi expanded its regulatory footprint by securing a local license. The approval allows the company to operate as a full-service investment dealer in the region. Axi Markets Mauritius was granted a Category SEC-2.1B Investment Dealer license on May 14, 2026. The authorization, confirmed to Finance Magnates by a company representative, permits the firm to carry out full-service dealer activities, excluding underwriting. The broker holds multiple licenses globally, including authorization from the UK Financial Conduct Authority for its London operations.Brokers are not the only ones eyeing Mauritius, as proprietary trading firms are increasingly following suit. Prop trading firms that moved to the Comoros after MetaQuotes tightened white-label rules in early 2024 are now shifting toward Mauritius. Companies such as FundingPips, FundedNext (via FNmarkets), Hola Prime, and Finotive Markets have recently secured licenses from the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC), with several now operating their brokerage services from there instead of the Comoros. The earlier move to the Comoros was largely driven by necessity, as firms sought ways to retain access to MetaTrader platforms after restrictions disrupted their models. However, licenses issued in the Comoros have faced credibility concerns.Robinhood to cut 10% of staffLayoffs across financial firms show little sign of slowing. Robinhood plans to cut about 10% of its full-time workforce, impacting roughly 290 employees, as part of a restructuring effort aimed at improving efficiency. The move comes despite strong trading activity, including high demand for its prediction markets, which saw 8.8 billion event contracts traded in the first quarter of 2026.Trading platform Robinhood cuts 10% of workforce to flatten management layers https://t.co/wdvMsO7vWy— CNBC (@CNBC) June 16, 2026According to Reuters, the layoffs are intended to simplify the company’s structure and reduce management layers. CEO Vlad Tenev said the goal is to speed up decision-making and avoid operating with too many layers of management, even as the business continues to perform strongly.“You can’t grow by cutting”: Trieu on AI in financeAs AI adoption accelerates across finance, questions are growing about its impact on jobs and career paths. Huy Nguyen Trieu, co-founder of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), argues that the term “Artificial Intelligence” no longer fits, as the gap between human and machine capabilities has narrowed significantly. He prefers “Digital Intelligence,” noting that technology can now handle complex tasks like drafting legal briefs or building trading platforms. As adoption grows, the financial industry is increasingly questioning what this means for traditional career paths, especially as some retail brokers have already linked AI to recent layoffs. In 2026, more firms are pointing to AI as a reason for cutting staff, although there is rising skepticism that automation is sometimes used to justify cost reductions and improve financial optics. Trieu believes this reflects a deeper issue, where companies focus on reducing headcount instead of using AI to drive growth. He argues that treating employees mainly as a cost centre risks limiting the broader opportunities AI could bring to the industry.Where smart money finds valueSmall- and mid-cap stocks remain among the least efficiently priced areas of global equity markets, creating opportunities for active investors to find undervalued companies. It is widely accepted that share prices do not always reflect a company’s true value, which allows investors to target businesses with strong long-term growth potential.MARKET RECAP ? What a wild and crazy day, the S&P 500 was up in morning but closed the day down 1.2%, losing around $1 trillion in market cap ?The Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected. What the heck is going on??! Let’s talk about it ?️ https://t.co/xm4C82iTbG pic.twitter.com/5WqLms6cfw— Peter Tuchman (@EinsteinoWallSt) June 17, 2026To identify such opportunities, investors use a range of metrics, including analyzing revenue streams, focusing on companies that can benefit from industry shifts, and spotting those positioned for earnings growth. For example, Fidelity International’s Global Future Leaders strategy starts with a universe of about 1,000 small- and mid-cap companies and filters out those with poor ESG ratings before selecting potential investments.Tokenized SpaceX bets on four crypto exchanges fall shortSpaceX’s long-awaited market debut has exposed cracks in the promise of tokenized equities. Several crypto platforms have promoted tokenization as a way to disrupt traditional stock markets, but the recent cancellation of tokenized SpaceX share offerings highlights its limitations when the underlying asset is unavailable. Binance, Bybit, Bitget Wallet, and MEXC all withdrew their tokenized IPO campaigns and refunded users after failing to secure the actual shares behind the tokens. On June 12, the same day SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, the platforms confirmed that xStocks, the provider responsible for sourcing the shares, could not deliver the allocations. Bybit said it received no shares, Binance pointed to circumstances beyond its control, while Bitget Wallet and MEXC also cited a lack of available allocation, leading all four to cancel their offerings and return funds to subscribers.Binance vows commitment to MiCA licence as EU exit risk loomsBinance faces the risk of losing access to the European Union market as a key regulatory decision approaches under the EU’s new MiCA regime. If the crypto exchange does not secure approval, it will no longer be able to serve users across the bloc starting next month. Sources cited by Reuters say Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission is expected to reject Binance’s MiCA licence application.Under MiCA, crypto firms must obtain authorization from a national regulator by the end of June to continue operating EU-wide. Binance has said it engaged with the Greek regulator in good faith and believes its application meets the required standards.Perps hit $61.7 trillionAt the same time, perpetual futures recorded $61.7 trillion in trading volume last year, according to Reuters, making them an increasingly important product for the industry. For brokers, offering perps means handling continuous funding payments, margin and liquidation mechanisms, order routing, and compliance for an instrument that trades 24/7. A perpetual future gives traders long or short exposure to an asset with no fixed expiry date, so positions can remain open as long as margin requirements are met. The product began with crypto assets like bitcoin and ether, but brokers are now extending the same no-expiry, leveraged structure to FX pairs, equities, metals, and even pre-IPO markets, bringing perps into channels they already serve.CME sues CFTC in high-stakes perps clashOutgoing CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy says the exchange will file a federal lawsuit against the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over its decision to approve crypto perpetual futures in the United States. He told CNBC’s Fast Money that the case will specifically challenge the CFTC’s late-May authorization of Kalshi’s BTCPERP contract, the first regulated crypto perpetual futures product in US markets, along with a related no-action letter granted to Coinbase. Duffy, who is also preparing to step down from his role as CME’s chief executive, criticized the CFTC’s handling of the approval process. He argued that the regulator moved too quickly and bypassed what he describes as a mandatory full review for products it has classified as “novel and complex.”Meanwhile, Kalshi’s new crypto perpetual futures have generated more than $5.5 billion in trading volume in their first two weeks, making them the company’s fastest-growing product launch to date. The rollout marks a shift from Kalshi’s original focus on event contracts linked to politics, sports, and other real-world outcomes toward a broader slice of the derivatives market on its CFTC-regulated exchange.Highlights from the iFX EXPO International 2026Lastly, the iFX EXPO International 2026, held at City of Dreams Mediterranean, entered its final day on Thursday. The event gathered brokers, fintech firms, liquidity and payment providers, technology vendors, and other stakeholders from across the online trading industry.Interestingly, the Seychelles Financial Services Authority was also exhibiting at the event, promoting its offshore regulatory regime directly to brokers and other industry participants. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Charles Schwab is preparing to launch a new set of binary options tied to the performance of the S&P 500 through a partnership with Cboe Global Markets. The products will allow Schwab clients to take simple yes-or-no positions on whether the index reaches a specified outcome. If the condition is met, the contract pays a fixed amount. If not, it expires worthless. Schwab executives have previously criticised prediction markets, particularly contracts tied to sports and entertainment events. CEO Rick Wurster has argued that such products blur the line between gambling and investing. “I really worry about the message that’s being sent to young investors that you’ve got to get these quick hits,” he said in an extensive interview with The Wall Street Journal in December. Now Schwab is introducing a product that uses a similar binary payoff structure, albeit within a traditional options-market framework and tied to a financial benchmark rather than a real-world event.How the Product Works Schwab is taking a narrower route than prediction-market platforms. The contracts are linked to the S&P 500 and operate within established exchange and options-market infrastructure rather than as standalone event contracts. The structure allows Schwab to offer a simpler retail trading product without entering the sports, politics, or entertainment markets that have generated much of the controversy around prediction platforms. The company will use a newer payout model developed by Cboe, including a feature called the “Plus Zone.” Traditional binary contracts typically result in either a fixed payout or a total loss. Unlike traditional binary contracts, the structure allows traders to receive partial payouts even when they miss the exact target level. What It Means for Brokers Schwab's change of heart highlights how retail demand for simple outcome-based trading products is spreading beyond dedicated prediction-market venues. Wurster recently acknowledged that offering these types of products has become a “competitive necessity” as firms such as Robinhood and Interactive Brokers expand their own event-style trading offerings. The use of Cboe’s options framework gives established brokers a way to respond to changing retail preferences without building separate prediction-market businesses or relying on new regulatory structures. Schwab’s launch suggests that yes-or-no trading experiences are not unique to prediction market platforms. Similar mechanics are increasingly being packaged through existing options-market infrastructure, bringing them into the mainstream brokerage product stack. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Webull Canada Crypto Limited has been admitted as a Dealer Member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, allowing it to operate as an investment dealer in Canada under CIRO oversight.The firm previously established operations in Canada under CIRO supervision as part of Webull’s international expansion. It provides access to listed securities and exchange-traded products under the Canadian regulatory framework, separate from its crypto-related services.Webull Gains CIRO Crypto ExemptionsAlongside the membership approval, CIRO granted Webull exemptive relief from certain insurance-related regulatory requirements. The relief applies to rules covering financial institution bond insurance and mail insurance obligations for dealer members.CIRO said the exemptions are limited in scope and apply only to Webull’s crypto-related business, including its platform for buying, selling, and holding crypto assets.Under the conditions, Webull must maintain insurance coverage for crypto assets held in custody, including both internal custody systems and external custodians such as Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC once engaged. The firm is also expected to seek additional coverage for assets held in cold storage where possible.Read More: Webull Canada Expands Trading Day With 24/5 Access to US Stocks, ETFs. The insurance arrangements must meet CIRO’s minimum capital and coverage standards. Any deductible must be reflected in the firm’s risk-adjusted capital calculations.CIRO Retains Power to Revoke ReliefWebull is also required to maintain a dedicated trust account at an approved financial institution. If a coverage shortfall is identified, the account must be funded accordingly, but client cash balances cannot be used for this purpose.CIRO also requires the firm to regularly review independent SOC 2 Type 2 audit reports from its custodians to ensure custody controls remain effective.The regulator said such exemptions are granted only in exceptional cases where firms demonstrate adequate safeguards. CIRO retains the right to revoke the relief if conditions are breached or if relevant rules change. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Freetrade has appointed Nick Robinson as its new Chief Financial Officer, according to a LinkedIn post published by him today (Friday). Robinson wrote that he is working with "everyone in the Freetrade and IG Group teams."The appointment comes during a period of change at the UK investment platform. Last month, Jenny Zhao announced that she had taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer at Freetrade. The leadership transition began earlier this year when co-founder Viktor Nebehaj said he would step down as CEO during the summer.IG Deal Reshapes Freetrade StrategyThe changes follow Freetrade's acquisition by IG Group. The online trading company agreed to buy Freetrade for £160 million in a transaction funded from existing capital. Under the terms of the deal, Freetrade was expected to continue operating as a standalone business. The acquisition expanded IG Group's presence in the UK direct investment market and broadened its investment offering.Commenting on his appointment, Robinson described the current period as "a pivotal moment for Freetrade." He added that the company has "the momentum and a generational opportunity to transform retail investment in the UK."Former Mastercard Executive Joins FreetradeRobinson joins Freetrade after a brief stint as Chief Financial Officer at TAB. Before that, he spent just over two years as Finance Director for the UK and Africa at Travelex.At Travelex, he worked as a commercial finance partner for the company's wholesale, outsourcing, and retail businesses. His responsibilities included supporting audit processes, regulatory initiatives, and finance transformation projects.Earlier in his career, Robinson spent more than four and a half years as Chief Financial Officer at Vocalink, the payments infrastructure company owned by Mastercard. In that role, he presented financial management updates to the Bank of England and worked on regulatory compliance, capital adequacy, and long-term investment projects.Before joining Vocalink, Robinson spent six years at Mastercard in several senior finance and product positions. These included Vice President, Product Advancement for Cyber & Intelligence Solutions; Vice President Finance for European Switching Services; and Vice President Finance for Cyber & Intelligence Solutions.His work at Mastercard included regulatory separation projects, product development initiatives, investment planning, and commercial strategy for digital identity and cybersecurity businesses. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

The Swiss broker-bank Dukascopy Bank has launched a new flagship mobile application that combines banking services, retail CFD trading, foreign exchange, payments, and investment tools in a single interface.The launch follows a recent expansion of Dukascopy’s trading infrastructure, including a dedicated stock trading platform offering more than 25,000 equity CFDs. The system operates alongside the firm’s existing JForex ecosystem and adds a separate execution layer within a broader modular architecture.Broker Bank Launches All-in-One AppThe rollout replaces the firm’s legacy Connect 911 and Swiss Mobile Bank applications, consolidating previously separate services into one mobile environment for account management and trading access.Dukascopy Bank said the new application is designed for its global client base of more than 400,000 users and marks the first phase of a wider mobile transformation strategy.“For 20 years, Dukascopy has been recognized as a technological pioneer in fintech and online trading,” said Andre Duka, CEO of Dukascopy Bank. He added that “exceptional mobile experiences are no longer optional—they are essential.”Trading Platform Extends into Mobile ServicesThe application allows users to open accounts remotely using video identification, manage Visa, Mastercard and Chinese payment cards, send and receive international payments, exchange currencies, and access investment services from mobile devices.It also provides 24/7 multilingual customer support through encrypted chat.Dukascopy also launched the Swiss Forex App, which offers real-time pricing, technical analysis, and market news for traders and investors.The bank said the new flagship app represents the first stage of a broader roadmap that will include regular updates and additional digital services. It also confirmed development is underway on a next-generation trading application for JForex accounts.The firm also expanded its MetaTrader 5 offering, increasing instruments from over 100 to more than 400, including metals, currency crosses and crypto CFDs available on both live and demo accounts. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

The votes are in. The industry's most credible awards, the UF AWARDS GLOBAL 2026, have announced this year's winners, recognising the best brokers, technology providers and fintech brands operating on the global stage. Following a Voting Round that concluded on 15 June, the results were revealed at the Award Ceremony held on 17 June at the City of Dreams Mediterranean. The ceremony took place during iFX EXPO International 2026 but remains a fully independent event with its own distinct scope. This edition was particularly special as it overlapped with the UF AWARDS' fifth anniversary. Celebrating the best in the industry for five years is an important milestone, with so many shifts in the market. As new trends emerge and more ambitious brands enter the FX and fintech space, the UF AWARDS will continue to raise the bar for transparency and trustworthiness in an industry long dominated by vanity metrics.A verdict delivered by the industryWhat separates the UF AWARDS from the crowded field of industry recognition programmes is the process itself. The winners are decided by an open vote. Anyone can nominate, and every member of the industry can vote, from brokers and affiliates to partners, employees and retail traders. The people casting votes are people with real experience of the nominated brands, which is precisely what makes the outcome impossible to engineer through marketing alone.Launched in 2021 by Ultimate Fintech, the UF AWARDS were established as a benchmark for excellence within the global financial services industry. The GLOBAL edition is the flagship of the series, and this year's competition drew nominees from across the full breadth of the online trading and fintech ecosystem. Winning here means standing out in front of the industry's most engaged and most discerning audience.The UF AWARDS GLOBAL 2026 winnersThe winning brands have demonstrated sustained commitment to their clients and partners in one of the most competitive industries in the world. Congratulations to each of them.BROKER AWARDSFXPRO: BROKER OF THE YEAREC MARKETS: BEST GLOBAL BROKERFP MARKETS: MOST TRUSTED BROKERFXTM: BEST CFD BROKERAXIORY: MOST INNOVATIVE BROKERVS MARKETS: MOST TRANSPARENT BROKERALPARI: BEST TRADING EXECUTIONTRADINGPRO: BEST TRADING EXPERIENCEWRPRO: BEST TRADING CONDITIONSVANTAGE: BEST BROKER FOR COPY TRADINGVERSUS TRADE: FASTEST GROWING BROKERTENTRADE: BEST EMERGING BROKERBULLWAVES: BEST AFFILIATE PROGRAMMEONEFUNDED: FASTEST GROWING PROP FIRMB2B AWARDSCENTROID SOLUTIONS: BEST TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERSCALETRADE: BEST TRADING PLATFORMCTRADER: BEST MOBILE TRADING APPPLUGIT: BEST COPY TRADING PLATFORMMATCH-TRADER: BEST PREDICTION MARKETS PLATFORMFINALTO: BEST B2B LIQUIDITY PROVIDERADVANCED MARKETS: MOST TRUSTED B2B LIQUIDITY PROVIDERTAPAAS: MOST INNOVATIVE RISK MANAGEMENT PROVIDERDEXA: BEST RISK MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONEXO CRM & TRADER: BEST CRM PROVIDERPAYTIKO: BEST CASHIER PLATFORMLETKNOW PAY: BEST CRYPTO PAYMENT GATEWAYMATCH2PAY: BEST CRYPTO PAYMENT SOLUTIONBLOCKMAZE: FINTECH OF THE YEARRecognition that carries weightReaching the voting stage was already a significant achievement for every nominated brand, placing them head-to-head with the most prominent names in the industry in front of a hyper-focused global audience. Winning goes further. A UF AWARDS GLOBAL title positions a brand among the most respected and trusted names in the market, backed by the only form of validation that cannot be bought: the active support of clients, partners and peers.For the winners, the trophy lifted at the City of Dreams Mediterranean represents thousands of individual decisions by people who chose to stand behind their brand. That is the kind of recognition that outlasts a marketing cycle.Looking aheadThe organisers thank everyone who participated in the UF AWARDS GLOBAL 2026, from the nominated brands to the thousands of voters who delivered the industry's verdict, and congratulate the winners on their dedication and relentless pursuit of excellence. As the flagship edition reaches its ceremonious close, attention now turns to the next edition of the UF AWARDS. Will your brand be on the 2027 winners' list? This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Investment scams cost Australians A$837.7 million in 2025, the country's largest single category of scam loss, according to the National Anti-Scam Center. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has opened a register of legitimate licensee website addresses, inviting more than 6,500 firms to list the sites consumers can trust.The move flips the logic of the regulator's recent work, which leaned on stripping out fakes after they surfaced. ASIC removed 11,964 phishing and investment scam websites in 2025, a 90% increase on the prior year and roughly 32 sites a day.A new FM Intelligence analysis asks whether certifying the real sites can do what those takedowns have not, and pull the loss numbers down. Read it on the FM Intelligence portal here.From Tearing Down Fakes to Certifying the Real OnesRather than chasing clones once they appear, the regulator now wants to give the public a reference point for what a licensed broker's genuine address looks like, a shift FM covered when ASIC first signaled the register.The clone problem already lands hard on brokers themselves. Pepperstone has said that taking down fake versions of its site is close to a full-time job for its fraud team, with the firm buying up domain variants to stay ahead of impersonators.Three Conditions That Decide the PayoffThe analysis finds the register's effect will hinge on three things. The first is how many licensees sign up while participation stays voluntary. The second is whether advertising platforms check submissions against the list. The third is how ASIC handles authorized representatives, who operate under another firm's license and sit outside the register's scope.Each gap points to the same risk, that a partial list leaves consumers more confused rather than better protected. The regulator has already warned that scammers cloned its own Moneysmart consumer site, a reminder that even official addresses get copied.What the UK and Italy ShowOther regulators have reached for adjacent tools with uneven results. In Britain, the Financial Conduct Authority pairs a long-running register with a public Warning List, and in December 2025 it added a consumer verification tool called Firm Checker. Even so, about 800,000 people reported losing money to investment and pension scams over the prior year, and UK Finance put investment-fraud losses at £144.4 million in 2024.Italy went a different way. Its market regulator Consob has held the power to order internet providers to block illegal financial sites since July 2019, and by April 2026 it was still adding to a tally past 1,000 domains. Blocking cuts off access, while Australia's whitelist tries to certify trust at the other end.Singapore moved the liability itself, with total scam losses easing only after banks and telecommunications firms were made partly responsible for reimbursing victims. Australia's register asks brokers to opt in rather than placing duties on the platforms that carry the ads, a distinction the analysis treats as central to whether losses fall.The full FM Intelligence analysis breaks down the 2025 loss profile by age, gender and state, sets out base, bull and bear projections for 2026, and compares Australia's whitelist with domain blocking in Italy and register verification in the UK.Read the full analysis on the FM Intelligence portal: After 12,000 Takedowns, ASIC Turns to a Whitelist of Australia's Licensed Broker Sites This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Many crypto enthusiasts dream of trading traditional equities around the clock on public blockchains. They imagine a decentralized utopia where anyone can buy fractional shares of major corporations without traditional brokers. This vision fundamentally misunderstands how institutional finance operates. In my opinion, major tokenized stocks will never migrate to public networks. The future of twenty-four-hour equity trading belongs exclusively to private or semi-private blockchain architectures.Regulatory Signals Fuel the NarrativeThe United States Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed rescinding two key rules under Regulation National Market System.Related: A Token Is Only as Good as the Share Behind It - How Four Crypto Exchanges' SpaceX Bets Came Up EmptyThese rules require trades to be routed to the national best price and prohibit locked or crossed quotes across venues. Analysts like Alex Thorn note that automated market makers on public chains conflict with these requirements because they execute against isolated liquidity pools without checking off-chain quotes. Removing the rules could theoretically open the door to compliant on-chain trading of tokenized United States equities.However, this remains a medium-term structural adjustment rather than an immediate green light. The proposal still faces a lengthy comment process, and platforms would still need to register as exchanges or alternative trading systems, satisfy clearing obligations, and ensure token holders retain voting and dividend rights. Traditional market groups also warn that removing the rules could reduce price transparency and fragment markets.Operational Constraints of Public BlockchainsEven with favorable regulations, public blockchains present significant operational hurdles for institutional equity trading. Gas fee volatility remains a primary deterrent. A surge in retail activity can congest public networks and sharply increase transaction costs. Institutions cannot risk large equity settlements being delayed or becoming more expensive because of unrelated retail traffic. Traditional finance requires deterministic execution.A bank executing a large block trade needs certainty around cost and settlement timing. Institutional traders require millisecond precision and reliable finality. Public networks prioritize openness and censorship resistance over the predictable throughput global capital markets demand.Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) presents another critical barrier. Public blockchains broadcast pending transactions in a public mempool before execution. Sophisticated actors deploy bots to scan this information and front-run large orders by manipulating transaction ordering. Billions of dollars have been extracted through these practices in recent years. This directly conflicts with the fiduciary obligations of traditional brokers and institutional mandates requiring best execution. Financial institutions are unlikely to embrace a system that permits such extraction from client order flow.Privacy, Compliance, and Control RequirementsPrivacy and compliance requirements further strengthen the case against public ledgers. Traditional finance operates under strict Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering regulations. Public blockchains expose transaction data to everyone. Institutions cannot broadcast their strategic positioning or client holdings on a transparent ledger. Regulators also require the ability to freeze assets or reverse transactions under specific legal circumstances. Public blockchains generally resist these interventions, creating challenges when compliance frameworks require administrative control.Wall Street is warming to tokenized stocks. The dream of eliminating middlemen? That’s another story https://t.co/jHO9RtW9fy— Businessweek (@BW) June 17, 2026Private networks provide the logical solution. A private blockchain functions as a shared, cryptographically secure ledger maintained by a trusted group of regulated institutions. This architecture delivers many of the benefits of distributed ledger technology without the unpredictability of public networks. Competitors cannot observe order flows, trade sizes, or account balances. Transactions remain confidential between authorized participants and regulators.These networks can also streamline clearing and settlement by enabling institutions to transact directly with one another. This lowers costs, reduces counterparty risk, and supports continuous settlement. Enterprise networks further offer dedicated support and contractual service guarantees that public protocols do not provide.Institutional Adoption Is Already UnderwayMajor financial institutions already recognize this reality. J.P. Morgan operates its Onyx platform for tokenized intraday repurchase agreement trades and payments. Goldman Sachs uses its Digital Asset Platform to issue and trade digital bonds and other institutional instruments. HSBC's Orion platform supports tokenized gold and digital bond issuance. These examples demonstrate that financial institutions view blockchain primarily as infrastructure for automation, synchronization, and efficiency within controlled environments.The Direction of Tokenized EquitiesMarket participants continue to pursue the vision of trading major corporate shares on public decentralized exchanges. Yet the structural, regulatory, and operational realities of global finance point elsewhere. The Securities and Exchange Commission may eventually adapt market rules for digital assets, but the infrastructure itself will remain largely in private hands. Tokenized equities are far more likely to thrive on secure, permissioned networks designed for institutional performance and compliance than on fully public chains. The future of financial innovation is not public exposure. It is private, efficient infrastructure built to meet the demands of modern capital markets. This article was written by Anndy Lian at www.financemagnates.com.

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has “stopped the illegal activities” of the executives of a Cyprus-based broker and their accomplices over an alleged fraud involving more than 7 billion rubles, the Russian version of Finance Magnates first reported.Three of the suspects have been remanded in custody, while two have been placed under house arrest.Raid on the Broker’s Russian PremisesThe Russian authorities conducted searches of the accused's residences and offices in Moscow and St Petersburg. This also led to the seizure of communications equipment, documents, seals of Russian and foreign legal entities, digital media containing cryptocurrency wallets, and cash totalling more than 100 million rubles.According to a press release from the FSB Public Relations Centre, the accused were involved in a fraud involving shares of Russian telecommunications and fuel and energy companies worth more than 7 billion rubles.They have been accused of violating anti-sanctions laws, which prohibit the issuance and circulation of foreign depositary receipts representing shares in Russian issuers.The broker allegedly obtained rights to shares in public Russian companies that had been traded on foreign stock markets prior to the ban.The Russian authorities further alleged that the suspects “conspired” with the management of another company and used “forged documents, exchanged frozen American depositary receipts for shares in Russian companies, thereby causing significant damage.”Are There Criminal Links in Cyprus?Separately, a shooting incident recently occurred at an office building in Limassol housing multiple CFD brokers. The target of the early-morning shooting remains unknown, but local police confirmed that “the offices of a specific company have indeed been shot at.”Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos also alleged last year that Cyprus had become part of an international money laundering network involving Latin American drug cartels. He further claimed that some forex firms based on the island were being used to launder drug money through complex shell company networks in Latin America.Moreover, recent local reports revealed that Cypriot authorities detained three individuals, including a police officer, as part of an investigation into an alleged criminal organisation linked to money laundering, tax evasion, and extortion targeting businesses such as forex firms. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

A complaint over late-night app alerts has resulted in a compensation payment and an ombudsman ruling for Revolut, after a customer said notifications disrupted his sleep and affected his workday.Complaint and Initial ResponseThe case, reviewed by the UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), involved a customer referred to as Mr A. According to City A.M., he reported that two push notifications sent on separate days activated his phone during the early hours, waking him and prompting concern that something was wrong with his account.Revolut offered £25 in compensation and directed the customer to settings that allow users to manage or disable notifications. The firm also stated that some communications must be sent without time limits due to regulatory requirements.A Revolut customer recently took his grievance all the way to the Financial Ombudsman Service after receiving marketing alerts in the middle of the night. Listen to Business As Usual, brought to you by Okta: https://t.co/ga7FstcwhY#DigitalBanking #FintechUpdate… pic.twitter.com/PrZ6cafkOb— City A.M. (@CityAM) June 17, 2026The FOS decision noted: “Revolut explained how Mr A could manage his notifications, including how to opt-out of marketing communication. But it said its regulatory requirements meant some of its communications didn’t have timeframes.” Mr A said the disruption prevented him from returning to sleep and led to a poor day at work.Continue reading: FCA’s Review Exposes Concerns over Push Notifications and Prize Draws in Trading AppsOmbudsman Decision and Payment IssueThe dispute escalated after Revolut paid the compensation into Mr A’s business account instead of his personal account. The customer challenged both the payment handling and the compensation amount.An FOS investigator found that Revolut acted within its obligations when sending the notifications and considered the £25 payment fair. Mr A then requested a final decision from an ombudsman.The final ruling required Revolut to redirect the £25 to the correct account but did not increase the payout. Revolut declined to comment on the specific case, citing the ongoing ombudsman process, and said customers can opt out of marketing notifications through the app at any time.Notably, the UK Financial Conduct Authority reviewed trading apps and found that features like push notifications and prize draws may encourage riskier investor behaviour. Based on a study of over 9,000 consumers, push notifications increased trading activity by 11% and risky trades by 8%, while prize draws raised trading by 12% and risky trades by 6%. The regulator also found that although firms acknowledge the need to use these digital features responsibly, some lack proper checks to ensure users understand the risks of investing. The FCA warned that certain business models and pricing structures may not always deliver fair value, and said firms must better align their practices with consumer protection rules. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Institutional money is edging into prediction markets, with a slice of derivatives firms already trading event contracts and many more preparing to follow, according to research firm Acuiti. Nine percent of institutional derivatives participants now trade prediction markets, the firm said, while a further 35% are considering entry.Proprietary trading firms are furthest along, at 13% active and 31% weighing participation. The reading comes from the SGX Global Market Sentiment Index, a quarterly survey Acuiti produces with Singapore Exchange, and lands alongside the institutional inflows already tracked in Finance Magnates coverage.Why Regulation Still Holds It BackThe appetite is running ahead of the rulebook. Acuiti said 57% of respondents named regulatory uncertainty as the main barrier to wider participation, and 56% pointed to CFTC clarity as the single most important catalyst for mainstream adoption.That is the same agency that has flagged insider trading risks in the sector even as venues court professional flow. Infrastructure is already being laid, with Trading Technologies adding Kalshi connectivity to bring event contracts to professional desks.Brokers are building access too. Interactive Brokers launched a prediction markets platform that pools contracts from several venues, a sign the plumbing is moving faster than the regulation around it.Ross Lancaster, head of research at Acuiti, said the speed and unpredictability of the moves "has been exceptionally challenging" for firms managing directional positions.[#highlighted-links#] A Confidence Boom Built on VolatilityThe prediction-markets push sits inside a wider upswing. The same survey put overall industry confidence at 79 in the second quarter, up from 75, its highest reading in five quarters and a third straight quarterly gain.Acuiti tied the mood to record activity. Energy derivatives reached 624 million contracts in March as the Strait of Hormuz closed, interest rate derivatives topped 1.1 billion contracts, and equity derivatives exceeded 10.6 billion contracts in January, a backdrop that has also pulled more brokers toward listed futures and options.The Boom Cuts Both WaysThe headline reading masked a split. Sell-side execution desks scored 85, sell-side clearing firms 87, and proprietary trading firms 87, all records, as transaction-linked revenue rose, according to Acuiti.Firms taking directional risk fared worse. Hedge fund confidence slipped to 74 from 76, while asset managers, at 60, were the weakest segment, and several large multi-strategy funds were reported to have booked significant losses. Acuiti runs similar benchmarks for the industry, including a study on futures commission merchants' post-trade spending.For prediction markets, the question is whether regulatory clarity arrives fast enough to convert the 35% still on the sidelines, as venues like Kalshi already push event contracts toward derivatives territory with margin plans. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

A US exchange is pushing forward with plans to bring tokenized equities into regulated trading, as 24X National Exchange filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move would allow certain stocks and exchange-traded funds to trade in tokenized form, marking another step in testing blockchain-based infrastructure in traditional markets.Proposal Targets Tokenized Stocks and ETFs24X submitted the rule change on June 11, seeking to update its trading rules to support tokenized securities. The proposal outlines how the exchange would handle trading, access, and order routing for these instruments.Keep reading: Tokenised Stocks Jump 30× as Platforms Explore 24/7 Equity TradingTokenized equities on a venue like 24X could extend practical access to US stocks beyond the traditional cash session. That matters most for international retail traders who want to trade U.S. names in their local time zones without relying on offshore or lightly regulated platforms.For many retail traders, the front‑end experience may look similar: a broker or app interface that routes orders into tokenized versions of familiar tickers. The bigger change happens behind the scenes in how trades clear, settle and are recorded, which could eventually support faster settlement and more seamless movement of assets between platforms and wallets.24X said the initiative supports its goal of expanding access to US markets. “Facilitating the trading of U.S. equities in tokenized form on 24X will advance these efforts,” said Founder and CEO Dmitri Galinov, adding that the exchange will engage with the SEC during the review process.If approved, eligible members of the exchange would be able to trade tokenized versions of Russell 1000 stocks and major index ETFs. Trades would clear and settle through the Depository Trust Company, which is running a pilot program for tokenized securities.The initiative follows a similar move by Nasdaq, which already received approval for its own tokenization-related proposal. This suggests that US exchanges are starting to test how tokenized assets can fit within existing market structures.Linked to DTC Pilot ProgramThe plan depends on a pilot run by the Depository Trust Company under an SEC no-action letter issued in 2025. The program allows tokenized versions of traditional securities to be issued and processed without changing their legal status.This means the assets remain standard equities, while the tokenized layer aims to improve how trades are recorded and settled. The pilot structure allows regulators and market participants to test the model before any broader rollout.Read more: Tokenisation is no longer optional: Why brokers must prepare for the next evolution of financial marketsThe filing comes as 24X also prepares to extend its trading hours. The exchange plans to move from 16-hour sessions to 23-hour weekday trading later this year, aiming to serve global participants more effectively. Nasdaq and the NYSE have already moved in the same direction, so 24X is stepping into a pattern that is now becoming a playbook rather than a novelty. Taken together, those moves show that tokenization is shifting from experiment to incremental market-structure upgrade on the incumbent venues, with DTC acting as the common plumbing. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

If one walked the exhibition floor at the ground level of the iFX EXPO International in Limassol’s lush City of Dreams Mediterranean, one might be forgiven for doing a double-take at a booth that, much like the old Sesame Street song, was “not like the others.” While the floor was a sea of liquidity providers, brokers, payments and so on, there sat the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Seychelles: business cards stacked, representatives in suits and flyers ready. Their presence in the heart of European regulation, just an hour and some change drive from CySEC's headquarters, did not go unnoticed.A Good Offshore Plan The numbers tell a compelling story. According to data from FM Intelligence, the Seychelles regulator has issued 1,042 licenses, with a substantial chunk (446) specifically in the capital markets and trading. For the retail brokers in attendance, major, small and everything in between, the Seychelles FSA license (formally a Securities Dealer License) has become one of the industry’s favourite offshore plans.However, they are not the only offshore plan. Mauritius, in particular, has been increasingly positioning itself as an attractive hub for brokers, driven by reduced banking and payment friction alongside a supportive regulatory environment.In this context, the FSA's booth might look a little less like a curiosity and more like a strategic placement. After all, this is not the first time the regulator has had a presence at an iFX Expo event. Fertile GroundThis year's iFX Expo was thrumming with energy that made conversation a high-decibel exercise. In the thick of the crowd, surely not everyone passing by the booth was already regulated by the FSA. It does not take a great leap to consider that the regulator did not travel almost 5,000 kilometres to the sun-drenched shores of the European industry simply to network with existing licensees. Even in an age dominated by AI, one of the fundamental truths of the finance services industry still holds: putting a face to the name is still the most powerful move on the floor. That is true for a broker, a bank, a payments provider, and, evidently, true for a regulator. This article was written by Adonis Adoni at www.financemagnates.com.

BGC Group has introduced BGC Compute Infrastructure Markets, a division designed to support trading in compute and memory capacity. A growing scramble for AI infrastructure is turning compute power into a tradable asset, prompting BGC Group to launch a new division focused on brokering these emerging markets. The unit will sit within its Energy, Commodities and Shipping business and will initially focus on over-the-counter deals.It means BGC is trying to turn computing power, like the capacity used to run AI models, into something that can be traded much like oil or electricity. As demand for AI grows, companies need reliable access to chips, servers, and memory, but supply is uneven and prices can fluctuate.New Unit Targets AI Infrastructure TradingBGC wants to act as a broker in a secondary market where firms can buy, sell, or hedge this capacity, helping them manage costs and secure supply. In simple terms, it is bringing financial market structure, pricing, liquidity, and risk management, to the business of AI infrastructure.The move reflects rising demand for AI workloads, which has made access to compute and memory a key constraint for companies. BGC sees this shift as an opportunity to build a structured market where participants can trade capacity and manage price risk.Read more: BGC’s Revenue Jumps 30% on Strong Markets and OTC AcquisitionBGC plans to apply its experience in energy and commodities brokerage to this new asset class. The firm argues that compute and memory share features with traditional commodities, including volatile pricing and the need for forward contracts.“Compute and memory capacity have many of the characteristics of a commodity market, including supply-demand volatility, forward price risk and the need for clear pricing,” said Co-CEO John Abularrage.Applying Commodity Market StructureThe division will be led by Espinosa and Marc Kuber. Clients will also gain access to BGC’s Fenics market data and Lucera connectivity network, which the firm expects will support price discovery and execution. By building brokerage infrastructure around compute capacity, BGC is positioning itself at the center of a developing market tied closely to the expansion of AI.BGC recently recorded an increase in revenue as stronger trading activity across asset classes and the integration of OTC Global Holdings boosted performance. The firm reported fourth-quarter revenue of $756.4 million, up 32.2 percent year-over-year, while full-year revenue rose 30 percent to $2.94 billion. Brokerage revenues alone climbed 35 percent, supported by broad-based growth across product lines, particularly in energy, commodities, and shipping, which surged 92 percent due to both the OTC acquisition and organic expansion. Despite the strong top-line growth, profitability was weighed down by restructuring costs. Quarterly pre-tax operating income fell 8 percent to $25 million, reflecting $54.8 million in charges tied to a cost reduction program. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has added Bybit to its Investor Alert List, putting the global crypto exchange alongside Binance and KuCoin in a growing group of offshore platforms flagged to local investors. Inclusion on the MAS alert list does not necessarily imply wrongdoing. It is a formal warning that the company is not authorised to solicit or serve Singapore residents.Bybit is aware that Bybit Fintech Limited has been included on the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Investor Alert List and is engaging MAS to better understand the basis for this listing.Bybit has consistently engaged openly and constructively with MAS and has been…— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) June 18, 2026The move adds to a series of steps Singapore has taken to bring locally based crypto firms under its licensing framework. Last year, MAS expanded licensing requirements to cover locally based digital asset firms even if they served only overseas customers. That change directly challenged the hub-and-spoke model used by many global crypto exchanges. Firms could no longer rely on Singapore for credibility, talent and corporate presence while keeping their regulated activity elsewhere. Bitget and Bybit have reportedly already started shifting parts of their local operations out of the country in response. A More Selective Crypto Market MAS is still allowing licensed crypto firms to operate, but access is becoming more selective. Coinbase and Crypto.com are among the firms that have secured local approvals and built a regulated presence in the city-state. For everyone else, the regulator is using a wider set of tools: the Investor Alert List, restrictions on retail promotion and licence enforcement. The regulator has become more selective about who receives and retains approval. The recent revocation of Bsquared Technology’s licence, just 16 months after approval, underlined that authorisation is not a one-time achievement. What Brokers Should Take From It For regulated brokers and fintechs, Singapore’s tougher stance creates a sharper competitive split. Inclusion on the MAS alert list carries both compliance and reputational implications for firms seeking institutional clients, banking relationships or regulated partnerships. There may also be a market opportunity. As unlicensed offshore exchanges lose room to operate, licensed firms that can offer compliant access to digital assets may be able to capture higher-value clients who still want exposure but need a cleaner regulatory route. . Bybit said it is “engaging MAS to better understand the basis for this listing.” The move reinforces a broader trend in Singapore’s crypto market: local presence and regulatory supervision are becoming increasingly difficult to separate. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Where Does the Value Lie?Small and mid-cap equities continue to be among the least efficiently priced segments of global equity markets. This situation has fostered a favourable investment landscape for active investors looking for companies that can generate long-term shareholder value.The view that markets are less than completely efficient and that the actual value of a business is not always reflected in the price of its shares is well established and widely held.There are various metrics for identifying such undervalued companies. These include analysing revenue streams, focusing on businesses that have the potential to generate significant revenues from changes in their industry, and looking for firms that are well placed to take advantage of an upward earnings cycle.If we take Fidelity International’s Global Future Leaders strategy as an example, from a list of approximately 1,000 global small- to mid-cap companies, those with poor ESG ratings are immediately screened out.MARKET RECAP ? What a wild and crazy day, the S&P 500 was up in morning but closed the day down 1.2%, losing around $1 trillion in market cap ?The Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected. What the heck is going on??! Let’s talk about it ?️ https://t.co/xm4C82iTbG pic.twitter.com/5WqLms6cfw— Peter Tuchman (@EinsteinoWallSt) June 17, 2026It then conducts more detailed analysis on the 150 to 200 investable stocks that are found to have the most promising prospects during the initial screening, based on viability of returns (pricing power, strong opportunities and rising return on equity), sustainability of returns (a strong industry position and the ability to generate cash flow to fund growth and withstand competitive pressures), and credibility (strong conviction in the quality of the business and management).At an individual stock level, the highest-conviction positions are in the range of 200–300 basis points (bps) overweight, medium-conviction holdings are 100–200 bps overweight, and reasonable-conviction positions have a 50–100 bps exposure at any given stage.How to Defend Your PositionRisk management is a key element of investment strategy regardless of market conditions. But when there is so much uncertainty surrounding global macroeconomics and geopolitics, it is vital to have some sort of allocation to defensive assets.There are many options here – some investors will hang their hats on consumer brands that seem oblivious to inflationary turmoil, while others will look at the tech giants with their soaring valuations and seemingly limitless potential. The startling rise in the value of gold, which peaked in the early weeks of this year, will have encouraged many to look to precious metals.According to Artemis analyst Harry Eastwood, an allocation to some of the world's modestly valued, growing but under-owned smaller companies has something to offer the defensively minded.This thesis is based on three interrelated factors:• The world looks different from how it did when many managers formed their ideas of what constitutes a ‘defensive’ asset.• The fundamentals of some smaller companies are compelling, particularly when compared with the large US companies that dominate market-cap-weighted indices.• Diversification remains the only free lunch on offer in financial markets.Eastwood notes that attributes that were once helpful for mega-cap multinationals, such as their globally diversified revenues and international just-in-time supply chains, now appear to be liabilities. Smaller companies, by contrast, tend to focus on their domestic markets, which offer shelter at a time when trade tariffs can change overnight.Read more: SpaceX at $2.5 Trillion vs. Bitcoin at $1.3 Trillion“Diversification may be the only ‘free lunch’ in investing, but it has slipped down the menu in recent years,” he says. “The comfort zone for many investors has been to be long in the US, long in mega-caps and long in growth. Funds that track capitalisation-weighted indices are exposed to the same themes and, until relatively recently, that was a winning formula.”But now a handful of mega-cap technology stocks exercise outsized influence over the success (or otherwise) of market-cap-weighted indices. Given the level of political and economic uncertainty, it is reasonable to ask whether having close to two-thirds of your equity portfolio exposed to the US – as anyone tracking the MSCI AC World Index does – makes sense.Don’t Rush to JudgementSmall-cap stocks have been viewed as persistent buy-and-hold winners since the 1990s because their higher risk premium led to historical outperformance. However, this return anomaly has faded.When the small-cap anomaly started to gain notoriety, large firms had relatively more debt and made more acquisitions that were not always accretive to earnings. These bloated conglomerates often made small and nimble firms appear attractive.However, we are now in a different era. Small-cap stocks have lost much of their edge over the past decade, with persistent underperformance against large-caps driven by structurally less supportive long-term market dynamics rather than just short-term cyclical factors.You may also like: Why Are Kraken, Coinbase, Binance and More Targeting Traditional Trades?That is the view of Michael Gates, Head of Model Portfolio Solutions for the Americas and Lead Portfolio Manager for Target Allocation Models and Mutual Funds at BlackRock.But just because small-caps have lost some of their edge does not mean that they should be discounted. For example, Gates sees reasons to own small-caps selectively with a more dynamic approach, trading on tailwind indicators rather than owning them long term.“If the IPO market re-emerges from its current winter, we believe that smaller firms could go public sooner and potentially allow the stock market to capture more early growth,” he says. “In our view, small-caps could also see tailwinds from rate cuts, which could lower the cost of their relatively high debt burden.”The Fed moving faster than markets anticipate on the way back down could provide an upside for debt-laden firms, while temporary supply disruptions have also benefited smaller stocks in the past.Gates notes that because large-caps tend to rely disproportionately on global supply chains, supply shocks and trade disruptions have served as a boon for firms that source domestically. These forces could create tradable events and sector trends.“It is not that small-caps have lost all their potential,” he concludes. “Our analysis indicates that they can be great investments when bought at the right time.” This article was written by Paul Golden at www.financemagnates.com.

Silver traded at $68.91 per ounce on Thursday, June 18, 2026, up 1.5% on the day and back above the 200 EMA it had broken just one week earlier. The reclaim reverses the bearish signal that defined my last analysis and drops price back inside the $66 to $89 consolidation that has framed the white metal since February. Wednesday's near 3% drop, triggered by a hawkish Federal Reserve, found a floor almost exactly at the moving average that matters most.The setup now is simple. Silver sits at the bottom of a range it has refused to leave for four months, and the next directional clue is the 50 EMA at $74. Until that level breaks, very little has changed on the chart since February.Follow me on X for real-time silver market analysis: @ChmielDkSilver Technical Analysis: The $74 GateA week ago I wrote that silver had broken below its 200 EMA and warned how low that could take it, in my analysis of the 200 EMA breakdown. The chart has since flipped. Price has climbed back above that average, and the consolidation between $66 support and $89 resistance is live again.The $66 to $68 support zone coincides almost to the dollar with the 200 EMA, and that confluence is what stopped Wednesday's selloff. The upper boundary near $89 traces the local highs from early February, a level last tested in the first half of May, which is what triggered the most recent leg down.[#highlighted-links#] This is the same range I mapped when silver crashed to the $70 floor for the third time in March. In 15+ years trading and analyzing metals at FinanceMagnates.com, 10 of them spent covering silver's every major break, a 200 EMA reclaim this fast after a breakdown is rare, and you can read more of my metals work on my analyst page.Silver is trying to bounce, but the move higher has a ceiling: the 50 EMA sits near $74, a meaningful distance above spot. That is the gate. The swing-trading principle for range-bound markets is direct. As long as price holds between two boundaries, it tends to travel from one to the other, so the path to $89 stays open while $66 holds.From current levels, the upside to the top of the channel is roughly 30%. My Fibonacci extension, stretched across the prior trend, puts the 100% level just above the $89 boundary, which reinforces a target aligned with the dominant trend. I do not rule that scenario out, but I want to see $74 taken first.Key levels:A close back below $66 reopens the $62 March low and turns the chart bearish again. A daily close above $74 is the trigger I am watching for the move toward $89.Why Is Silver Recovering?Silver climbed above $69 on Thursday after the US dollar retreated from the spike that followed Wednesday's Fed decision. President Donald Trump signed an interim agreement to end the conflict with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, easing the oil-driven inflation premium that has weighed on metals all year. Lower crude takes pressure off Treasury yields, and softer yields reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding silver.The cap on the rebound is monetary policy. Silver tumbled about 3% on Wednesday after the Fed signaled growing support for rate hikes this year, with half of FOMC members projecting that a hike may be needed. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh declined to guide on the next move but stressed that inflation has run above the 2% target for years. That hawkish tilt is why silver bounced off support rather than ripping through resistance.The drivers behind the current move:Dollar pullback: The US Dollar Index eased off its post-Fed spike, the direct trigger for Thursday's bounce.Hormuz reopening: The US-Iran interim deal pulled oil lower, easing the inflation channel that suppressed metals.Hawkish Fed cap: Half of FOMC members flagged a possible 2026 hike, keeping yields elevated and limiting upside.Industrial demand floor: Data-center and AI infrastructure buildouts continue to underpin physical silver demand.How High Can Silver Go? What Traders on X Are WatchingSentiment among chart-focused traders on X leans cautiously bullish, with the $66 zone treated as the line in the sand."My view remains bullish while price stays above $60," said Jess, the trader behind @JessXAUUSD, who flagged $71 as the breakout trigger toward $77. That aligns with my own read: $66 holding keeps the bullish structure intact, though I put the real gate higher, at the $74 50 EMA.$xag #Gümüş takip ettiğimiz 66 bölgesinde yer alan mavi kutu desteğine geldi. Destekte tutunduktan sonra yükseliş yeniden devam edebilir. 71 tepesini kırdığında takip edeceğimiz dirençler 77-89 tepeleridir. Bu bölge önemli, üzerlerinde kapanış yapıp kalıcılık… pic.twitter.com/NoD5W47UkQ— Kamile Uray (@remdocan) June 18, 2026Kamile Uray (@remdocan) sees the same $66 support holding and points to $77 and $89 as the resistances above a $71 break. The clustering around $89 from independent analysts is notable, since it matches the top of my consolidation channel exactly.The most aggressive target comes from Dr. Potassium (@potassium_phd), who wrote that silver's "next target is $96.01, likely sometime in June," conditional on the October 2025 trendline holding as support. That sits well above my channel, and I would need a clean $89 break to entertain it.Silver ? — $77.04 — still not out of dead cat bounce territory until getting at least above the 50% level of the prior daily candle, but looks promising that the October 2025 trend line will hold as support and that the sell-off is essentially over. Could still be choppy for a… https://t.co/uU2GZMAIss pic.twitter.com/WfVtShejG2— Dr. Potassium (@potassium_phd) May 18, 2026Not everyone is positioned for a breakout. "Silver is entering a multi-month sideways consolidation between $60 and $75," said Damodara Rao (@damodara_SEBIRA), arguing selling momentum is drying up while the market builds a base. That range-bound thesis is closest to what my chart has shown since February.Silver is entering a multi-month sideways consolidation between $60 and $75 as the previous parabolic uptrend cools down and selling momentum is also drying up which signals that the market lacks the pressure to break lower but needs time to build a new base. pic.twitter.com/73W7YC3nOP— Damodara Rao (SEBI RA) (@damodara_SEBIRA) June 13, 2026Janey (@Janey_Analyst) framed an intraday long setup off the $67.65 area with short-term targets up to $70.15, a near-term echo of the broader bullish-while-above-support structure.#SILVER#XAGUSD Trading Setup – Buy Opportunity (1-Hour Chart)#XAGUSD is approaching a key demand zone, and buying power is emerging. As long as the price remains above the current market area, the bullish outlook remains valid.Current Market Area: 67.6500Technical Targets:… pic.twitter.com/XZPqfgWdgn— Janey (@Janey_Analyst) June 8, 2026Silver Price PredictionsThe forecast range for silver remains extraordinarily wide, and the spread between X traders and institutions tells the story. Back in April I laid out the full institutional case from BofA, Citi and Reuters as COMEX inventory tightened. My own structure says the question is binary: hold $66 and grind toward $89, or lose it and revisit $62.My view on each: Damodara Rao's $60-$75 base is the scenario my chart most supports, since silver has refused to leave this range since February. Jess and Uray's $77 is realistic but only after the $74 50 EMA falls, which neither flags explicitly. Dr. Potassium's $96 requires breaking $89 first, a level that has capped every rally this year.Citi's $150 call was made in January near the $120 highs and looks stretched against current action. HSBC's $68.25 average is almost exactly where silver trades today, which makes it the most credible institutional anchor on the board.FAQ, Silver Price AnalysisHow high can silver go in 2026? My chart puts the immediate ceiling at $89, the top of the consolidation that has held since February, roughly 30% above the $68.91 price on June 18. A daily close above the $74 50 EMA is the trigger for that move. Independent X traders target $77 to $96, while Citigroup's January call of $150 looks stretched against current action.What is the key level for silver right now? The 50 EMA at $74 is the gate. Silver reclaimed its 200 EMA near $66 to $68 this week, putting price back inside its range, but upside stays capped until $74 breaks on a closing basis. Below, the $66 confluence floor is the line that keeps the bullish structure intact.Why did silver fall this week? Silver dropped about 3% on Wednesday, June 17, after the Federal Reserve signaled growing support for rate hikes in 2026, with half of FOMC members projecting a hike may be needed. The hawkish tilt lifted the dollar and Treasury yields, both headwinds for non-yielding silver, before a US-Iran deal reopening the Strait of Hormuz sparked Thursday's bounce.What is silver's support level? The $66 to $68 zone is critical support, coinciding almost exactly with the 200 EMA, and it held on Wednesday's selloff. A daily close below it reopens the $62 March swing low as the next downside target. As long as $66 holds, the four-month consolidation between $66 and $89 stays intact.Is silver a buy at current levels? This is not investment advice. Technically, silver sits at the bottom of its range, which is where range traders look for long setups toward the $89 boundary, provided $66 holds. The risk is a hawkish Fed forcing a close below support, which would flip the chart bearish toward $62. Position sizing matters given silver's volatility. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

XTB stayed the dominant force in Polish account openings in May, adding 48,226 accounts with access to the local market, according to fresh data from Poland's Central Securities Depository, known as KDPW. That kept the Warsaw-listed broker far ahead of every domestic rival, even as its own monthly pace eased from the highs it set earlier in the year.The figure pushed XTB's domestic total to 1,087,740 accounts, more than double the second-placed firm. But it also extended a softer run. XTB booked 68,300 new accounts in January and just over 51,000 in February, before the monthly count slipped under 50,000 in April, the same month it crossed 1 million Polish accounts for the first time.XTB's Lead Widens Even as Growth CoolsThe gap between XTB and the rest of the field is still getting wider. mBank's brokerage arm, the second-largest player in the KDPW data, finished May with 560,967 accounts after adding 5,357 during the month. State-controlled BM Pekao ranked third with 210,079, followed closely by ING Bank Śląski's brokerage unit on 205,897.Only mBank cleared four-figure net additions alongside XTB. Dom Maklerski BOŚ added 1,087 accounts and BM PKO BP added 858, leaving the chasing pack adding in the hundreds while XTB added in the tens of thousands.mBank is also working through a leadership change. The bank's brokerage head, Maksymilian Skolik, is leaving at the end of June, with Kamil Figlarek set to take over the director's duties.Source: KDPW, May 2026.A Market on Track for 3 Million AccountsAcross the whole market, Polish brokerages added 59,444 accounts in May, taking the total to 2,856,520, the KDPW reported. That is 713,711 more than a year earlier, the largest annual jump on record.The monthly pace has held near 60,000 since February. December and January ran hotter, at roughly 100,000 and 80,000, as Poles rushed to open tax-advantaged IKE and IKZE retirement accounts before the year-end deadline. At the current rate, the market is on course to reach 3 million accounts within months.The depository's tally comes with a standing caveat. KDPW counts every account with access to the Polish market, not just those holding cash or actually trading. Brokerages periodically purge dormant accounts from their registers, which can pull the headline total lower.Price War Keeps Pressure on the LeaderXTB's home-market dominance is unfolding against the most crowded competitive backdrop the country has seen in years. German neobroker Trade Republic entered Poland in September 2025, its first market outside the eurozone, and immediately set off a fee fight, with mBank and DM BOŚ scrapping ETF commissions on retirement accounts to defend their bases.Incumbents are also retooling. ING Bank Śląski's brokerage unit has flagged a retirement-account push to challenge XTB, prioritizing IKE and IKZE products and foreign-market access through 2026. Revolut, which sits outside the KDPW count because of its Lithuanian license, is another pressure point, with a Polish investing base that rivals XTB's account totals.For its part, XTB has kept expanding its product range, recently rolling out retail options and extending ETF trading hours for Polish clients. That product drive comes shortly after the KNF, Poland's financial regulator, fined the broker 20 million zlotys over CFD marketing rules, a penalty XTB is contesting.The KDPW data captures only part of XTB's reach. The broker reports a larger global client base in its quarterly filings, while Poland still generates the bulk of its revenue. After a record first quarter built largely on its home market, the question for XTB is whether the slower May intake marks a normal post-milestone cooldown or the early sign of a saturating domestic market. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

iFX EXPO International 2026, held at the City of Dreams Mediterranean, enters its final day as attendees return for a second round of conference sessions and the closing stretch of meetings across the exhibition floor. The event continues to bring together brokers, fintech firms, liquidity providers, payment providers, technology vendors, and other participants from across the online trading industry.iFX EXPO 2026 Final Day Sessions ContinueFollowing a busy opening day marked by discussions, networking, and deal-making, activity has resumed across both the Speaker Hall and the Mastery Hub. Today’s programme features a full schedule of sessions spanning trading technology, regulation, payments, digital assets, client acquisition, and broader operational trends shaping the sector.Technology and AI are transforming the investment landscape. Speaking at iFX EXPO International 2026, CySEC Chairman highlighted the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of financial services, with a focus on innovation, investor protection and market integrity. pic.twitter.com/Jw7UWV8nYR— CySEC - Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (@CySEC_official) June 17, 2026Finance Magnates is on-site providing live coverage from across the venue, with updates throughout the day highlighting key insights, speaker remarks, and developments as the 2026 edition draws to a close.Tokenized Assets Open New Broker RevenueThe fireside chat titled “How Brokers Can Unlock New Revenue Through Tokenized RWAs” featured Tajinder Virk, Co-founder and CEO of Finvasia, and Panagiotis Tanampasidis, Managing Director at Blockmaze Greece.The discussion focused on the growing role of tokenized real-world assets as a potential revenue stream for brokers and trading platforms.The conversation examined how tokenisation could expand product offerings, enhance client engagement, and support new business models in a competitive market increasingly influenced by crypto-native firms. It also highlighted the importance of regulated infrastructure and the key considerations brokers must address before integrating tokenized assets into their product suites.Market Data Reveals Broker Growth ShiftsThe presentation titled “Where the Market Is Actually Moving – Data, Regulation, and the Next Broker Playbook” featured Ramzi Ahmad, Director of Intelligence at Finance Magnates Intelligence. The session focused on data-led insights into current trading activity and how market dynamics are shifting across regions and asset classes.Drawing on internal market intelligence, the discussion examined volume trends, emerging growth markets, and areas showing signs of slowdown. It also highlighted how ongoing regulatory developments may influence broker expansion strategies and operational planning.The session further explored the importance of aligning business decisions with real-time market data, including regional opportunities in LATAM and APAC, as well as broader industry feedback from regulatory discussions.Global Payments Infrastructure Faces Transformation Debate The panel “Who Will Power the Future of Global Payments?” featured Nikolett Palinkas, Group Chief Growth Officer (Acquiring) at payabl., Martynas Bieliauskas, Founder and CEO of Bivial AG, Tim Ferland, CEO of LetKnow Pay, Fotini Tsikkou of ECOMMBX, Ayodeji Osisami, Chief Financial Officer at Kora, and José Martí, CEO of PayPaga.The discussion focused on the evolving global payments landscape as fintech firms, payment providers, and digital asset companies seek to shape the next generation of payment infrastructure. Panelists examined the growing integration between blockchain-based systems and traditional payment networks, particularly in areas such as cross-border transfers, business payments, and global payouts.The session also explored the role of partnerships between financial institutions, fintech companies, and crypto firms, alongside the regulatory and infrastructure challenges associated with scaling new payment models. Speakers considered how these developments could influence the future structure and operation of global payment networks.Market Risks Expose Operational Blind SpotsThe session “F*&K UPS – Real Failure Cases: Lessons From Leaders Who Learned The Hard Way”* featured Gil Ben Hur, Founder of 5% Group, Ruben Abitbol, Founder and CEO of RUBIK Prop Firm Consulting, and Albina Zhdanova, CCO at TFB.The discussion focused on operational and risk management challenges facing firms in fast-moving financial markets. Drawing on real-world examples, the speakers examined how issues such as toxic flow, latency arbitrage, liquidity disruptions, and unexpected client behaviour can affect business performance and resilience.The session also explored common blind spots in risk management frameworks, along with the technologies, processes, and mitigation strategies firms use to navigate volatile market conditions. Particular attention was given to lessons learned from past failures and how these experiences can inform stronger operational practices going forward.Who Owns the Customer in FintechThe panel “Your Customer Isn’t Yours Anymore” featured Stanislav Galandzovskyi, Acquisition & Growth Marketing Consultant at finforceone.com, Anthony Migui, Group Chief Commercial Officer at Virtual Pay International, Vince De Castro, Head of Marketing at Acuity Trading, Angelos Gregoriou, Co-Founder and CEO of Dynamic Works, and Lihi Notea, Director of Client Engagement & Marketing at Nuvei.The discussion focused on how evolving platform ecosystems are reshaping customer acquisition, distribution, and retention across payments, trading, and fintech. Panelists examined how product, marketing, and transaction flows are increasingly influenced by platforms, intermediaries, and algorithm-driven systems rather than direct brand control.The session also explored the impact of AI on user discovery, personalisation, and fraud prevention, and how firms are adapting to changing customer expectations while competing for visibility and transaction flow in environments where traditional ownership of the customer journey is becoming less defined.Next Era of Digital Checkout BeginsThe Masterclass by Visa titled “The Next Era of Checkout Starts with Click to Pay” featured Michael Ioannides, Visa Country Manager Cyprus at Visa Europe.The session focused on the Click to Pay solution, a digital card payment experience designed to streamline the online checkout process. It examined how reducing friction at checkout can improve authorisation rates, enhance security, and create a faster payment journey for customers.Day 1 at iFX EXPO showed exactly why the industry comes together here ?Day 2 is underway, come find us ?? Booth 70–71#iFXEXPO2026 #Leverate #Fintech #FX #Brokers pic.twitter.com/qcKYiVkqeC— Leverate (@leveratelive) June 18, 2026The discussion also highlighted the broader impact of frictionless payment design on merchant performance, including its influence on conversion rates, customer trust, and overall payment efficiency in a digital-first environment.Bullion Debate Focuses on Market ResilienceThe panel “The Great Bullion Debate: Rally or Retreat?” featured Yam Yehoshua, Editor-in-Chief at Finance Magnates, Stuart Brock, Business Development Manager at B2PRIME, Rauan Khassan, Chief Growth Officer at TradingView, Emanuel Georgouras, Head of Precious Metals Trading at Swiss Finance Corporation, and Liam Smith, Chief Operating Officer – UK at 26 Degrees Global Markets.The discussion focused on recent volatility in bullion markets, including sharp price movements that have placed pressure on broker balance sheets and trading infrastructure.Panelists examined how gold has become a dominant instrument for many brokers, and the operational challenges created by concentrated positioning and rapid market swings.The session also explored broader structural issues in bullion trading, including liquidity strain, margin adjustments, shifts between B-book and A-book models, and whether gold is increasingly behaving like a digital asset in terms of volatility and flow dynamics. Speakers considered what these developments mean for market resilience and whether current trading infrastructure is prepared for future volatility spikes.Execution Matters More Than AIThe Masterclass by Microsoft titled “AI Isn’t the Advantage, Execution Is” featured George Georgiades, CEMA Azure Tech Lead at Microsoft, and Valentinos Georgiades, Azure Business Lead, CEMA SMB at Microsoft.The session focused on how financial firms are shifting from AI adoption as an innovation goal toward execution at scale as the key differentiator. It explored how cloud infrastructure, AI, and automation are being used to improve operational efficiency, decision-making, compliance, and resilience across organisations.The discussion also highlighted the move from incremental modernisation to broader transformation, with emphasis on cloud-native architectures, secure system design, and scalable platforms. It further examined how firms are operationalising AI to support productivity, faster innovation cycles, and real-time performance while maintaining regulatory and cost efficiency requirements.Brokers Face Crypto Trading Competition ShiftThe panel “Blurred Lines: When Crypto Platforms Trade Wall Street” brought together Badea Alexandru Gabriel, Senior Regional Director at Naga, Lior Aizik, Co-Founder and COO of XBO.com, Andrew Theodosiou, Sales Director EMEA at Talos, Dr. Demetrios Zamboglou, Group CEO of BitDelta Group, and Steven J. Hatzakis, Global Director of Research at ForexBrokers.com.The discussion focused on the convergence between crypto-native platforms and traditional financial services, as both expand into overlapping asset classes and trading models. Panelists examined how crypto firms are moving into equities and commodities, while traditional brokers are integrating digital assets and upgrading infrastructure to remain competitive.Key themes included the growing demand for 24/7 multi-asset trading, the role of regulation in shaping competitiveness, and whether the future market structure will be led by crypto-native platforms or legacy brokers as the industry shifts toward hybrid trading models.Tokenization Debate: Who Will Own MarketsThe session “The Tokenization Revolution: Who Will Own the Markets of Tomorrow?” brought together Jonathan Fine of Ultimate Group, Louis Hawila, VP Capital Markets – Europe at Crypto.com, Stavros Vassiliades, COO and Executive Director at Kraken Cyprus, and Oren Danziger, Managing Director at Finvasia Wealth.The discussion focused on the evolving landscape of tokenized assets and the question of which market participants are best positioned to shape future financial infrastructure.Panelists examined whether traditional financial institutions or blockchain-native platforms are more likely to lead the transition toward tokenized markets, along with the technological and regulatory challenges involved in scaling adoption.Key themes included interoperability, liquidity, and infrastructure readiness, as well as the potential impact of regulatory frameworks such as the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. The session also considered the longer-term outlook for tokenization, including whether it could reshape capital markets within the next five years or require a longer transition period.Simplicity Drives Leadership High PerformanceThe Leadership Workshop titled “High Performance Is About Doing Less, Not More” featured Hassan M. Al-Shohaty, Executive Performance Coach at HMS Coaching. The session focused on leadership performance and the idea that higher effectiveness is often achieved through prioritisation and refinement rather than increased workload.The discussion explored how leaders can improve outcomes by identifying key behavioural and strategic adjustments that deliver disproportionate results. It also examined the role of habits, mindset, and decision-making in sustaining high performance, with an emphasis on simplifying processes to enhance clarity and efficiency in leadership practice.Athlete Mindset Drives Business Success GrowthThe session titled “Built Like an Athlete: Surviving Dubai’s Business Rollercoaster on the Road to the Top 1%” featured Tarik Chebib, MENA CEO at Capital.com.The discussion focused on the demands of building and scaling a business in Dubai’s highly competitive environment, where continuous performance and adaptability are key to sustaining growth.Chebib reflected on how principles drawn from sport — including discipline, preparation, and consistency — have shaped his approach to leadership and decision-making. The session drew parallels between elite athletic performance and business resilience, highlighting how structured training and mindset can translate into navigating competitive markets and sustained professional development.Day 2 at iFX EXPO Cyprus! Proud to connect with financial institutions & fintechs shaping payment futures. We build partnerships, simplify infrastructure, and ensure compliance. Visit us at City of Dreams Mediterranean Resort | Booth 176 + 177. pic.twitter.com/yOy1qCERqk— VirtualPay (@virtual_pay) June 18, 2026Geopolitics, Inflation Drive Economic Outlook DiscussionThe Executive Interview titled “The Macro Shock Era: What’s Next For The Global Economy” brought together Darius Anucauskas, Chief Market Analyst at Markets.com, and Michalis Persianis, Chairman of the Fiscal Council of Cyprus. The discussion focused on how ongoing geopolitical tensions are reshaping the global economic outlook, with particular attention to implications for growth, inflation, and international trade.The conversation also examined how major central banks could respond over the upcoming policy cycle, alongside potential risks to global trade flows and consumer stability. The speakers further considered how these macroeconomic pressures may transmit to smaller open economies, before turning to Cyprus and assessing its economic resilience, structural strengths, and key vulnerabilities in the current global environment. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Outgoing CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy revealed that the world's largest derivatives marketplace will file a federal lawsuit against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over the agency's decision to greenlight crypto perpetual futures in the United States.Talking to CMBC’s Fast Money, Duffy said that the lawsuit will directly target the CFTC's late-May authorisation of Kalshi's BTCPERP contract, the first regulated crypto perpetual futures product in US history, and a related no-action letter issued to Coinbase.Duffy Pulls No PunchesDuffy, who is simultaneously stepping down as CME's top role, described the CFTC's approval process as rushed and legally flawed, arguing it bypassed a mandatory full review required for products the agency had classified as "novel and complex.""Perpetuals are effectively swaps," he said, adding that CME holds exclusive benchmark licensing agreements that would require all such contracts to route through its infrastructure. On the prospect of fighting the very regulator that oversees his exchange, Duffy was characteristically blunt; he is, in his own words, “always up for a good battle.”Perps vs. Swaps: The Distinction That Could Reshape US Crypto MarketsThe crux of CME's legal argument is a technically loaded classification question. Traditional futures are standardised contracts to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a fixed expiry date: they settle, they close.Perpetual futures have no expiry. Traders hold leveraged positions indefinitely, with a periodic funding rate exchanged between longs and shorts to keep the contract price tethered to spot.You may also like: Perps vs CFDs and Futures - What Brokers Need to Know Before Adding Crypto’s Hottest DerivativeDuffy argues that an open-ended, rolling, cash-settled structure makes perps functionally identical to swaps; bilateral derivative contracts regulated under Dodd-Frank with mandatory clearing, dealer registration, and strict margin requirements. If a federal court agrees, U.S.-listed perps would face a far heavier compliance burden and, given CME's licensing claims, would arguably need to clear through CME's own systems, dealing a significant blow to Kalshi, Coinbase, and Kraken, which have only just entered the space.Systemic Risk at the CoreBeyond the classification argument, Duffy has raised a broader macro alarm. Perps on crypto exchanges routinely offer leverage of 50-to-1 or higher, backed by automated liquidation mechanisms that force-close positions when margin thresholds are breached. He earlier warned at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Fintech Conference that this mirrors the structural vulnerabilities that amplified losses in 2008: "This is a catastrophe in the making."Read more: CySEC Chair on Crypto Perps, Prediction Markets and the High-Wire Act of EU RegulationCFTC leadership appears to be pushing back firmly. The agency's position, as articulated publicly, is straightforward: It wants to regulate perps locally and seal the offshore gap.If the court sides with CME, regulators could face pressure to roll back existing approvals and impose swap-level oversight on all perp products. If the CFTC prevails, it would signal broad judicial backing for the agency's authority to approve novel derivatives structures, potentially opening the door to a wider class of crypto products entering US markets.Either way, Terrence Duffy's final act as CME Group CEO may prove to be one of his most consequential. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.