Robinhood is beta testing a new social feature that allows users to share and discuss trades, marking its first move toward social trading in the U.S. market.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.The product, called “Robinhood Social,” reflects a model already popular in Europe, where platforms such as eToro allow users to follow and automatically copy each other’s trades. Robinhood first signaled its interest in social trading features in October 2025. In the U.S., however, that approach sits in a more uncertain regulatory environment Manual Copying Instead of Automation Robinhood’s version deliberately stops short of full copy trading. Users can see what others are trading and replicate those positions manually, but there is no automatic portfolio mirroring or rebalancing. That distinction is central to the product’s design and reflects how the company is approaching regulatory risk. The concern is real. In the U.S., sharing trades at scale can be interpreted as a form of investment advice, particularly if it leads to systematic copying. At the same time, anonymous social features raise concerns around coordinated trading and market manipulation. Robinhood’s approach addresses both issues. Profiles are tied to verified users through existing onboarding processes, and trading decisions remain fully user-initiated. The company is effectively bringing the social layer that already exists on platforms like Reddit and X into its own app — but without automating decision-making.Robinhood is also limiting early access. The feature is initially available to around 1,000 invited users, with plans to expand to another 10,000 in the near term. A broader rollout to all customers is expected later this year.Robinhood Social is now in beta.We’re rolling it out to a select group of traders, starting with 1,000 customers who joined us at HOOD Summit last fall, with plans to expand in the coming weeks. Learn more on our blog: https://t.co/HB2MmnCtH0— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) March 18, 2026A Different Product Model from eToro The rollout is also limited. Access is initially restricted to a small group of users, with broader expansion planned later this year. The product positioning differs from established copy trading platforms. Services such as eToro are built around portfolio delegation, where users allocate capital to traders and have positions replicated automatically. Robinhood, by contrast, is adding a social layer on top of its existing multi-asset offering — including stocks, options, crypto, futures and prediction markets — without shifting control away from the user. That difference has implications for both user experience and risk. Instead of “following” a trader in the background, users remain responsible for each trade, even if the idea originates from someone else’s portfolio.Testing the Limits of U.S. Regulation For the brokerage industry, the rollout highlights a key constraint in the U.S. market. Social trading is well established globally, but its development domestically has been limited by rules around investment advice and market conduct. Robinhood’s model suggests one way forward: keep the social signal, remove the automation. Whether that balance holds as the product scales will depend on how regulators interpret the boundary between discussion and advice. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Apex Group Ltd., a financial services company administering more than $3.5 trillion in assets, said it will use the T-REX Ledger as its default infrastructure for distributing tokenized funds across multiple blockchain networks, with the company targeting $100 billion in tokenized assets on its platform by June 2027.The T-REX Ledger is a cross-chain compliance layer built using Polygon CDK and connected via Agglayer, Polygon's interoperability protocol, according to the announcement. T-REX Network, the firm behind the infrastructure, says it has tokenized more than $32 billion in assets to date using the ERC-3643 permissioned token standard.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.The Compliance Problem at the CenterAs more asset managers explore distributing tokenized securities across different blockchain networks, each serving distinct investor pools or liquidity venues, maintaining a single, consistent investor registry has become an operational pressure point for transfer agents. Apex Group said the T-REX Ledger addresses this by acting as a shared reference layer that connected chains can query in real time, rather than requiring each network to independently enforce compliance rules.The system ties eligibility and regulatory controls to investor identity rather than wallet addresses, the company said. Each investor is linked to a verified on-chain identity through OnchainID, an open-source framework that consolidates KYC and AML attestations from multiple verification agents into a portable digital credential. Under this model, transfers are automatically blocked if credentials expire, are revoked, or fail to meet the requirements of a specific fund or jurisdiction.Apex Group has also been active as an equity investor beyond its core fund administration business. In June 2025, the firm's Jersey-based trust entity acquired a 3.07% stake in London-listed CMC Markets, crossing the disclosure threshold under a TR-1 filing with the London Stock Exchange. The market value of the shares at the time of the transaction was approximately £21.66 million, according to the filing, making Apex one of CMC's larger institutional shareholders alongside founder and CEO Lord Cruddas, who retained over 59% of the company.Polygon as the BackboneThe T-REX Ledger runs on Polygon CDK, a toolkit for building application-specific blockchains, and connects to other networks via Agglayer, Polygon's interoperability layer. Sandeep Nailwal, CEO of the Polygon Foundation, said the infrastructure demonstrates how an industry-led compliance standard can be paired with shared infrastructure to give institutions both regulatory certainty and cross-chain liquidity access."T-REX Ledger shows how an industry-led standard can be paired with shared infrastructure to give institutions both regulatory certainty and access to cross-chain liquidity," he added.Polygon has been active in the tokenized real-world asset space, with RWA tokenization on the network surpassing $1.14 billion as of late 2025.The arrangement does not require any individual blockchain to cede autonomy, the company said. Instead, each connected chain queries the T-REX Ledger to verify compliance status without having to replicate identity infrastructure independently, something Apex described as a key requirement for maintaining governance integrity in regulated markets.Apex's Deepening Tokenization BetThe announcement builds on Apex Group's earlier moves into blockchain-based fund administration. The company acquired a majority stake in Tokeny, the Luxembourg-based tokenization solutions provider and original developer of the ERC-3643 standard, in May 2025, with a path to full ownership over three years. That deal followed an initial investment in December 2023. Apex also administered what it described as the first tokenized share class on the Polygon blockchain from Malta in 2025.Peter Hughes, founder and CEO of Apex Group, said the firm sees the T-REX Ledger as foundational industry infrastructure rather than a proprietary advantage. "What has been missing is a neutral orchestration layer that whitelists investor identity and brings clarity to KYC and AML across these networks, so transfer agents can maintain the governance and regulatory integrity that regulated markets require," Hughes said.Joachim Lebrun, co-founder of T-REX Network, said the goal was not to pick winners among blockchain platforms but to connect them. "Because ERC-3643 ties compliance to the investor identity rather than the wallet, KYC and AML controls remain portable and enforceable across every chain and platform without duplication or fragmentation," Lebrun said.Institutional Momentum Behind RWAsThe move comes as tokenization of real-world assets is picking up pace among large financial institutions. Leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026 described tokenization as "the name of the game" for the year, though the consensus pointed to wholesale markets as the more immediate opportunity over retail. Globally, tokenized real-world assets had grown to more than $24 billion in total value by February 2026, according to data from RWA.xyz, though the market remains concentrated among a relatively small number of asset classes.The T-REX ecosystem also includes an AppStore of vetted applications and what the company describes as an institutionally governed blockchain sequencer that filters suspicious transactions before processing. Whether this governance structure meets the requirements of major financial regulators across jurisdictions has not been independently verified.For Apex Group, the $100 billion tokenization target by mid-2027 represents a substantial scaling ambition. The firm currently administers assets across more than 13,000 professionals globally, and Hughes framed the T-REX Ledger adoption as a long-term structural commitment rather than a product pilot. As FinanceMagnates.com has previously reported, the practical challenge for institutions in 2026 is no longer proving that tokenization is feasible but building the governance and compliance structures capable of operating at scale across regulatory jurisdictions. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Admirals has stopped onboarding under its Jordanian licence in the fourth quarter of 2025 and is also not taking clients under its Kenya unit. New clients from those countries are being onboarded under the Seychelles licence.“We have informed all our clients and provided solutions and alternatives based on regulatory guidance and client needs,” an Admirals customer service executive told Finance Magnates when asked about the migration of traders under its Jordanian licence. “Since each case is individual and for compliance reasons, we cannot share further information.”However, the customer support team did not clarify whether Admirals had previously onboarded traders under the Kenyan licence. The broker obtained the Kenyan licence in 2022.Interestingly, it also gave up its South African licence, which it secured a few months before obtaining its Kenyan licence.[#highlighted-links#] Estonia Is Still the HeadquartersThe contracts-for-difference (CFDs) broker has also applied to surrender its Estonian licence and migrated all traders from that unit to its Cyprus-regulated entity last November.It is now expected to give up the Estonian licence in the second quarter of 2026. The move is not new, as it already revealed its plan in mid-2023.Despite giving up the licence, it will maintain its headquarters in Estonia as a “strategic location” and will have about 60 employees in the country.The broker is currently accepting traders under its Cyprus, United Kingdom, and Seychelles licences. It also paused client onboarding under its Cyprus unit for about 10 months in 2024 before restarting it in March 2025.Read more: Admirals UK Migrated EU-Resident Clients Out; 2024 Trading Volume Took a HitThe Big Restructuring at AdmiralsAdmirals also sold its Australian business, and Finance Magnates later found that PU Prime was the buyer. The MENA unit of the broker surrendered its FSRA-issued UAE Financial Services Permission.The company also announced today (Thursday) that it is planning structural changes within the group, and giving up the Estonian licence is part of this.“The restructuring is driven by a fundamental need and strategic decision to optimise the group’s geographical footprint by focusing on a smaller number of countries and regions where the group has stronger growth opportunities and a clearer strategic focus,” the broker added. “The ongoing changes will not affect existing group clients.”Meanwhile, the broker’s finances also took a hit. The group posted a net loss of EUR 16.2 million in 2025, down from a profit of under half a million euros in the previous year.. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

Gold price is in freefall. After spending the better part of 2026 consolidating near all-time highs above $5,000, the yellow metal has lost approximately 6% in two consecutive sessions, crashing through the psychologically critical $5,000 barrier on Wednesday and extending the decline to $4,700 per ounce on Thursday, March 19, 2026, the lowest price since early February. In this article, I will break down the technical analysis of the XAU/USD, examine the mechanics behind this week's crash, and present the key gold price predictions for 2026 , including where the real floor is if the selling continues. Based on my 15 years of experience as an analyst and retail investor, here is what I am watching.Follow me on X for real-time gold market analysis: @ChmielDkWhy Gold Is Crashing? The Fed Pulled the RugWednesday's FOMC decision was a hold, as expected - Polymarket had it at over 90% probability and the market was fully prepared for no rate movement. What the market was not prepared for was the hawkish tone of the dot plot. The Fed trimmed its 2026 rate cut projections from two cuts to one, citing hotter-than-expected producer inflation - February's PPI came in at +0.7%, well above consensus - and signalled that the Strait of Hormuz-driven oil spike is creating inflation persistence that prevents easing. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.2%, the Dollar Index climbed toward 99.9, and gold - a non-yielding asset whose entire bull thesis rested on falling real yields and a weakening dollar - repriced accordingly.As Dilin Wu, Research Strategist at Pepperstone, frames it: "This sharp decline in gold reflects a confluence of factors - large-scale risk asset liquidations, a hawkish shift in Fed expectations, and a stronger dollar." Crucially, he views this as "a pricing logic adjustment rather than a reversal of the long-term trend."The technical break below the 50-day MA near $4,978 and below the $5,000 round level triggered momentum selling and profit-taking from a crowded long, amplifying what was already a fundamental repricing.The irony noted by my earlier gold analysis remains fully applicable: gold is being sold during an active Middle East conflict precisely because the oil shock from that conflict is now hurting gold's prospects by reigniting inflation and forcing the Fed to stay hawkish. Higher oil means higher inflation means higher-for-longer rates means gold suffers despite the geopolitical backdrop that should theoretically support it.Bloomberg Intelligence's Mike McGlone identified this paradox earlier this week: "Gold's best year in 2025 since 1979 - unequalled in a relatively low-inflation environment - looks prescient ahead of 2026's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with peak-price inklings. Technical Outlook - What Follows Gold's Warning? Store of Value's Speculative Shift - Gold's best year in 2025 since 1979 -- unequaled in a relatively low-inflation environment -- looks prescient ahead of 2026's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with peak-price inklings. The surge… pic.twitter.com/LhXk2U8EEy— Mike McGlone (@mikemcglone11) March 16, 2026The surge to multiyear extremes vs. most moving averages and broad commodities may suggest the store of value has shifted to a speculative risk asset." That framing - gold as speculative risk asset rather than pure safe haven - is the most bearish structural argument currently circulating, and the two-day crash gives it uncomfortable credibility.Gold Technical Analysis: The Levels That Matter NowAs my technical analysis shows, gold's two-day, 6% decline has materially changed the chart structure. The consolidation near the all-time highs that I described in Tuesday's analysis has been broken to the downside, and the move has opened up a sequence of support targets that were previously theoretical but are now directly in play.The first support I am watching is $4,550 - the late 2025 historical highs that marked the peak before the January blow-off to $5,600. This was an area of significant buying last year and should attract some demand on the first test. Below that, $4,360 is the next meaningful level, representing a prior consolidation zone and Fibonacci retracement target.The level that matters most on my entire gold chart is the 200-day EMA at approximately $4,200. That is the boundary separating a bull trend from a bear trend, and gold has not traded below it since late 2023. A sustained break below $4,200 would be a genuinely significant technical event. It would open the path toward $3,500 per ounce - the lows from which the current near-uninterrupted rally to $5,600 began. From Thursday's $4,700, that scenario implies a further decline of over 25% and would represent the most severe gold correction since the 2022 Fed tightening cycle.Analyst @Kb__Officiall had been maintaining a bearish gold bias since last week, targeting $4,650 as the primary downside target while watching for a potential retracement to $5,080 before the next leg lower - a level that has now been blown past entirely. Weekly Outlook – #Gold( $XAUUSD )Maintaining my bearish bias on $Gold this week. Last week’s momentum supports the downside and I expect the downward movement to continue.However, I’m watching for a retracement into the 5080 zone first. If price pulls back into that area, it… pic.twitter.com/Sy6FU54aY8— K_B?? (@Kb__Officiall) March 15, 2026His framework, which generated 12,100 views, is playing out faster than even he anticipated.Silver Is Falling Harder Than GoldAs my earlier silver analysis warned, silver amplifies gold's moves in both directions - and Thursday's session is proving that rule. Silver has fallen more sharply than gold in percentage terms, and according to the Saxo Bank commodities report from Ole Hansen, "silver may face a deeper retracement" due to its "higher sensitivity to economic growth and industrial demand, combined with rising concerns that energy-driven inflation will dent global activity." The crowded speculative positions that built up during the January $121 spike are still being unwound, and the broader risk-off tone is accelerating exits.My silver chart from Tuesday remains valid: the $80 support and 50 EMA are the immediate battleground. A break below $70 - the lower consolidation boundary - activates the path toward the 200-day MA at $60 and ultimately the October 2025 historical highs at $54. Dilin Wu of Pepperstone adds that copper is also trading lower and "adding to growth worries" - when industrial metals fall in unison, it signals that the market is pricing in genuine demand destruction, not just a monetary policy adjustment.Gold Price Predictions 2026: The Full RangeThe 6% two-day decline has not materially shifted the major institutional forecasts, which were built on year-end rather than near-term targets. However, the technical damage done to the chart warrants a full reassessment of the downside scenarios.FAQWhy is gold crashing today, March 19, 2026?Gold is falling for the second consecutive session after Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision delivered a hawkish hold: rates were kept at 3.5%-3.75% while the dot plot was revised to show only one rate cut in all of 2026, down from two. Hotter-than-expected February PPI at +0.7% pushed Treasury yields to 4.2% and the dollar toward 99.9, both direct headwinds for non-yielding gold. How low can gold go in 2026?As shown on my chart, the sequential downside targets are $4,550 (late 2025 historical highs), then $4,360 (prior consolidation), and then the 200-day EMA at $4,200 - the critical bull/bear dividing line. A sustained break below $4,200 opens the path toward $3,500, the starting point of the entire 2025-2026 rally, representing a decline of over 25% from Thursday's $4,700. @Kb__Officiall targets $4,650 as the near-term downside with potential for further weakness, while Mike McGlone warns that gold may have shifted from safe-haven to speculative risk asset.Is the gold bull market over?Not according to the institutional consensus. JP Morgan maintains its $5,000 Q4 2026 target, Goldman Sachs holds its $6,000 forecast, and Dilin Wu of Pepperstone describes the current decline as "a pricing logic adjustment rather than a reversal of the long-term trend." The structural supports - central bank buying, US fiscal deficits, and geopolitical risk - remain intact. What is the gold price prediction for 2026?The institutional range runs from the World Gold Council's conservative 5-15% upside scenario from current levels to Goldman Sachs' $6,000 target and Robert Kiyosaki's extraordinary $35,000 post-bubble-bust forecast. JP Morgan's base case of $5,000 by Q4 2026 is the most credible near-term institutional target. On the bear side, my chart's $3,500 extreme scenario and @Kb__Officiall's $4,650 near-term target represent the downside framework. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Spotware Systems has added Virex Market, a forex and CFD brokerage from St. Lucia, to its cTrader platform roster, the companies announced today (Thursday). Virex Market describes itself as a global brokerage focused on providing a technology-driven trading environment for retail and professional traders. The company's CEO, Wasi Mohammadi, said the partnership is about building a "truly technology-driven brokerage," citing cTrader's architecture as aligned with the firm's values of "fairness, performance, and long-term trader trust."The Virex Market deal follows a run of similar announcements from retail trading companies operating outside mainstream regulatory frameworks. Frontbroker, a Mauritius-based CFD broker, integrated cTrader across its client accounts in a recent deal and TFunded, a small LATAM-focused prop firm running a two-phase evaluation model, also joined the platform.However, in recent months, Spotware also landed two brokers operating under authorization from South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), one of Africa's more structured regulatory environments, namely Vault Markets and Swyft Markets. Both are FSCA-licensed CFD brokers that cited the platform's execution transparency and compliance-friendly architecture as factors in the decision. Spotware currently puts the platform's total user base at more than 11 million traders across more than 300 brokers and prop firms globally.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.What Virex Market Is GettingFor Virex Market, the cTrader integration provides access to a set of tools the company says aligns with its focus on performance and transparency. These include cTrader Copy, a built-in copy trading feature with disclosed fee structures and strategy performance data, and cTrader Store, a marketplace Spotware says attracts up to 10,000 daily visitors, hosting bots, indicators, copy strategies, and prop challenges. The platform also supports more than 100 third-party FX and CFD integrations through APIs and plugins, the company said.Yiota Hadjilouka, COO of Spotware Systems, described Virex Market as "taking an innovation-led approach to building its offering" and said cTrader would bring "transparency, powerful tools and best-in-class trading experience tailored to the needs of traders of all levelsSpotware Pushes Beyond Its Core Platform BusinessThe offshore broker pipeline is not the only thing moving at Spotware this week. The company launched cBridge, a standalone liquidity bridge, declaring the product can reduce bridge costs by up to 80% for high-volume brokers by replacing per-trade billing with flat infrastructure pricing. The product is platform-agnostic, meaning it connects MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, FIX API environments and cTrader through a single interface, positioning Spotware in more direct competition with dedicated bridge providers.CEO Ilia Iarovitcyn framed the pricing logic plainly: "as a broker grows, its margins should improve, not its vendor's revenue." Offshore Launches Attract Experienced Industry NamesThe offshore jurisdictions themselves have been drawing a wider range of industry figures. Earlier this month, a former BlackBull Markets chief strategy officer launched TabTrade under Saint Lucia registration, currently running on MetaTrader 5 with plans to add cTrader over time. TabTrade founder Benjamin Boulter, who spent six years at BlackBull and four years prior at Pepperstone, acknowledged the competitive challenge directly: "In many ways core product offerings have become similar among brokers," he said. "Most offer the same platforms, asset classes, pricing structures, and advertise the same benefits." This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a proposal from Nasdaq to test trading in tokenized versions of equities and other securities. This follows Nasdaq’s earlier statements that tokenized shares could enable faster settlement, potentially moving toward “instant or atomic settlement,” though infrastructure remains a constraint.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.The exchange submitted the plan in September. It proposed a pilot that would allow certain widely traded stocks to be bought and sold either in their conventional form or as blockchain-based tokens on the same platform. The initiative will involve the Depository Trust Company, which provides core post-trade infrastructure in U.S. markets.Tokenized Shares Mirror Traditional Stock RightsUnder the structure outlined in the filing, tokenized shares will not be treated as separate instruments. They will be listed under the same ticker, match the same price, and trade within the same order book as standard shares. Investors will also retain identical rights regardless of the format.Tokenization refers to the process of representing financial assets on distributed ledger systems. Large financial institutions have recently increased testing in this area, focusing on reducing settlement times and enabling trading beyond standard market hours.The SEC said participation in the pilot will be restricted. Only “eligible participants” will be allowed to access tokenized trading. These participants can choose between traditional and tokenized formats when executing trades.Nasdaq receives SEC nod for trading in tokenized securities https://t.co/IM3avyH0J0— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) March 19, 2026SEC Addresses Tokenization Surveillance ConcernsThe pilot will include large-cap U.S. equities and major index-linked funds. Eligible securities cover stocks in the Russell 1000 Index, as well as ETFs linked to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.During the SEC review, some comments raised concerns about how the model would handle market surveillance and whether tokenized and traditional shares could trade at different prices. The regulator said these issues were addressed through a revised submission that provided additional operational details.The approval follows Nasdaq’s broader tokenization initiatives. Earlier in March, the exchange said it would work with Kraken to allow securities to be converted into tokenized formats for blockchain use. The program also includes a framework for companies to create and issue their own tokenized shares.Other market operators are pursuing similar moves. Intercontinental Exchange recently invested in OKX to develop tokenized equity products. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Let Your Leadership Be Heard: Why Executive Interviews Matter in Financial ServicesYour CEO probably knows the industry better than anyone.Your founder may have real market insight.Your senior team may have years of experience, strong views, and a clear sense of where the industry is heading.But here is the real question: Is the market hearing them?In financial services, knowledge alone is not enough.Your leadership needs to be visible. It needs to be heard. It needs to help shape how your brand is seen by clients, partners, and the wider market.That is where executive interviews can make a real difference.More Than VisibilityAn executive interview is not just another piece of content.It gives your leadership team the chance to speak directly to the market in a way that feels human, credible, and focused. It puts your people at the centre of the story and helps your audience connect your brand with real experience and clear thinking.When your CEO, founder, or senior executive appears in a well-produced interview, your brand becomes more than just another company name.It becomes:a voice people listen toa name people remembera brand people trustThis is not only about getting seen.It is about building presence.Why Leadership Content WorksPeople do business with brands they trust.And trust often starts with the people behind the brand.A strong executive interview helps your audience understand what your company stands for, how your leadership thinks, and why your business matters in the market. It gives your brand context and helps turn attention into credibility.For firms in online trading, fintech, payments, and crypto, this matters even more. These are competitive markets, and many companies offer similar products or services. What often sets one brand apart is not just what it sells, but how clearly it communicates its value and expertise.That is why leadership-led content works so well.Put Your Expertise in Front of the Right AudienceFinance Magnates reaches the people who move this industry, including C-level leaders, brokers, product teams, data professionals, and compliance voices. Finance Magnates is trusted by 200+ top financial brands. This means your executive interview is not appearing in isolation. It sits within a trusted media brand that already speaks to the right audience.That matters.Because when your leadership is featured in the right place, the message carries more weight.A Stronger Way to Build AuthorityExecutive interviews help brands do more than fill a content slot.They help companies:show real expertise through the voice of their leadershipbuild trust with clients, partners, and prospectsstrengthen brand perceptionstand out in a crowded marketcreate a useful content asset that can also be shared across sales, email, and social channelsAn interview can keep working long after it is published. It can support campaigns, sales outreach, brand building, and event follow-up. It can also give your team a strong piece of content (check out a Thought Leadership article constructed from a Finance Magnates Executive interview) that shows not only what your company does, but how it thinks.➡️ Are you building a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy for Fintech Brands? Make sure Video Executive Interviews are included. Let the Market Hear What Your Team Has to SayIf your leadership team has something worth saying, an executive interview is one of the clearest ways to make sure it gets heard.Finance Magnates Executive Interviews help turn expertise into visibility, and visibility into trust.Because in this market, being good at what you do is important.But being heard is what helps people remember you.Book Your Executive InterviewPut your leadership in front of the right audience.Share your insight. Strengthen your brand. Build authority where it matters.Book your Executive Interview with Finance Magnates today at the next Finance Magnates Summit or iFX EXPO in 2026 This article was written by Dora Christofi at www.financemagnates.com.

A new FM Intelligence analysis maps what it calls a "triple squeeze" on UK CFD brokers, which, as of this week, has become a four-front campaign. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed final rules requiring financial firms to report operational incidents and supply chain disruptions through a single, standardised portal, landing a fresh compliance obligation on top of three others the FM Intelligence analysis already identified as converging on the sector within the same six-month window.The report, which draws on FM Intelligence Q4 2025 volume data across 23 FCA-regulated brokers, identifies combined monthly trading volumes of $9.3 trillion, directly in the regulator's line of sight, and models the cost of the full compliance stack for firms of different sizes. The conclusions are sobering for the mid-tier of the market.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.The rules, developed jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England, take effect on March 18, 2027. They require firms to notify regulators when a material incident, whether caused internally or by a third-party technology provider, threatens the continuity of services retail clients depend on.The FCA did not frame the announcement as routine housekeeping. Over 40% of cyber incidents reported to the regulator last year involved a third-party provider, including outages linked to major infrastructure suppliers. Mark Francis, the FCA's director of specialists and wholesale sell-side, said the scale of the challenge was unlike anything the sector had previously faced."Resilience is being tested like never before, with firms facing growing cyber threats and increasing reliance on third parties to deliver the essential financial services consumers rely on," Francis said. "These changes give firms clearer rules and practical guidance to better manage disruption, while supporting our ambition to be a smarter regulator, giving us better data to spot risks, share insights and strengthen sector-wide resilience."Four Fronts, One WindowFor UK CFD and retail FX brokers, Wednesday's announcement lands on top of three workstreams already reaching enforcement or final consultation stage in the same six-month window: Consumer Duty price-and-value enforcement targeting overnight funding charges and margin interest practices, the CP25/36 client categorisation overhaul that proposes raising the professional investor wealth threshold to GBP 10 million, and an escalating crackdown on financial influencer marketing that saw FCA enforcement actions rise 174% in 2025.What makes the current period distinctive is that all four workstreams are converging at once. The FCA's March 4 Consumer Investments Regulatory Priorities report explicitly names CFD providers at the intersection of all four of its stated supervisory goals: building a stronger investment culture, strengthening trust, securing good consumer outcomes, and controlling financial crime. FM Intelligence identifies at least 23 FCA-regulated brokers with combined Q4 2025 monthly trading volumes exceeding $9.3 trillion as facing direct compliance exposure across these workstreams.The Cost Is ClimbingFM Intelligence estimates the cumulative annual compliance cost for a mid-tier FCA-regulated CFD provider now ranges from GBP 325,000 to over GBP 1 million, depending on exposure to each workstream. For firms with UK revenues below GBP 10 million, that burden could prove existential. The precedent is already visible: Gain Capital plans to surrender its FCA licence, while AETOS, ADSS, and GMI Markets have already done so. None of the approximately 100 EEA CFD firms that entered the UK's post-Brexit Temporary Permissions Regime obtained permanent FCA authorisation.That is just one of the findings in a new deep-dive analysis published this week on the FM Intelligence portal, which maps the full regulatory landscape across all four workstreams, models revenue impact by firm tier, and ranks the 15 largest FCA-regulated CFD brokers by monthly volume, compliance exposure, and retail loss rates.The full FM Intelligence report, "FCA Squares the Circle on UK CFD Sector," is available now at the FM Intelligence portal. Access requires only a free registration.Inside, readers will find:The complete ranking of 15 FCA-regulated CFD brokers by monthly volume, with FMI compliance exposure ratingsA breakdown of which brokers face the highest risk from the professional opt-up crackdown and overnight funding repricingFM Intelligence's regulatory impact model estimating revenue and cost effects across all four workstreamsAn outlook on UK CFD sector consolidation, and which firms have already exited the market This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Gold-i announced today (Thursday) that it has enhanced its crypto liquidity offering for institutional clients by integrating the Crypto.com Exchange into its MatrixNET liquidity management and distribution platform.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.Gold-i Efforts to Boost Crypto LiquidityThe latest addition to the liquidity pool follows a continued effort by Gold-i to enhance the offering under MatrixNET.“Crypto.com is one of the world’s largest and most secure cryptocurrency platforms,” said Tom Higgins, CEO and Founder of Gold-i.“We are delighted to be expanding our offering to enable Gold-i’s MatrixNET clients to connect seamlessly to Crypto.com’s liquidity pool, gaining access to an even greater choice of high-quality crypto liquidity.”According to CoinMarketCap data, Crypto.com handled $2.1 billion in spot crypto trading volume over the past 24 hours and almost $1.3 billion in derivatives volume.Following this latest integration, Gold-i clients can connect to the Crypto.com Exchange via a single FIX API connection to MatrixNET, simplifying onboarding and reducing operational complexity.However, the company’s announcement highlighted that Gold-i clients in “selected jurisdictions” (not specified by name) will have access to the Crypto.com Exchange’s liquidity infrastructure.[#highlighted-links#] The Demand for Crypto Liquidity Is RisingGold-i is known for its liquidity offerings and is actively enhancing its services. The firm recently combined three products: Matrix2, a liquidity management platform; Crypto Switch™, its institutional digital asset solution; and MatrixNET, a liquidity distribution platform. This consolidation has resulted in MatrixNET evolving into a unified platform for liquidity management and distribution.The company has recently been focusing on enhancing its offerings. FinanceMagnates.com earlier reported that Gold-i added Hyperliquid to its MatrixNET liquidity management platform, making it the first decentralised finance exchange in the liquidity pool.MatrixNET is already connected to more than 80 liquidity providers and 35 crypto exchanges, according to Gold-i, with recent additions covering multiple asset classes. In February 2025, the firm added Edgewater Markets to the platform, extending access to precious metals, FX, and NDFs. In mid-2024, it integrated Cypator to expand cryptocurrency liquidity options for retail brokers. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

UP Fintech Holding Limited (NASDAQ: TIGR), the Singapore-based operator of Tiger Brokers, posted full-year 2025 revenue of $612.1 million, a 56.3% increase from $391.5 million in 2024, according to the company's unaudited earnings report released today (Thursday). Non-GAAP net income attributable to shareholders reached $186.5 million for the year, up 164.7% from $70.5 million the prior year.The results cap a year of strong top-line growth for the online broker, but the quarterly picture tells a more nuanced story. Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $175.6 million, up 41.5% year-over-year but essentially unchanged from the third quarter's $175.2 million, suggesting the revenue acceleration that defined the first three quarters plateaued in the final stretch.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.Q4 Profit Slips From Record HighQ4 GAAP net income came in at $45.2 million, up 61.3% year-over-year, but down roughly 16% from the $53.8 million recorded in Q3 2025, when the company had reported what was then its best quarter on record across both revenue and profit. On a non-GAAP basis, Q4 net income came to $48.9 million, compared with $57 million in Q3. The company did not provide a specific explanation for the sequential profit decline in its earnings statement.“Both of our financial and operating performance have achieved significant growth in the full year of 2025,” Wu Tianhua, Chairman and CEO of UP Fintech, commented on the results. “We are pleased to see significant breakthroughs in both our annual and quarterly topline and bottom line compared to 2024.”Total client assets stood at $60.8 billion at the end of December, down slightly from $61.0 billion at the close of September, with the modest dip likely reflecting market-driven asset valuation changes during the quarter. Year-over-year, client assets were up 45.7% from $41.7 billion at year-end 2024. Margin financing and securities lending balances also eased from $5.7 billion at the end of Q3 to $5.4 billion at year-end, though they remained 21.5% above December 2024 levels, the company reported.Hong Kong Growth Leads Regional ExpansionThe most pronounced growth came from Hong Kong, where the company said full-year trading volume expanded 840.9% year-over-year, and Q4 trading volume rose 1,305% year-over-year. Average net asset inflows per new funded client in Hong Kong reached $43,000 in the quarter, while client assets in the city more than tripled year-over-year, according to the company. Virtual asset trading was also active, with crypto order volume growing 228% year-over-year in Q4 and 60.9% quarter-over-quarter.Singapore, where UP Fintech is headquartered, delivered what the company described as its eighth consecutive quarter of growth in trading orders and trading accounts. Full-year net profit in Singapore rose 96% year-over-year, with client assets up 50% year-over-year in Q4, the company said. UP Fintech entered Singapore's securities market in 2021 and has since built a meaningful retail footprint in the city-state. Client assets in Australia and New Zealand more than doubled year-over-year, the company added.IPO Business Drives Corporate Revenue SpikeThe company's other revenue segment, covering investment banking, ESOP, and corporate services, rose 220.6% year-over-year to $30.8 million in Q4. The company said it completed 20 Hong Kong IPOs during the quarter, including autonomous driving firm Pony.ai, described internally as the largest global autonomous driving IPO of 2025, and HashKey Group, which the company said was the sole digital asset IPO in Hong Kong that year.Full-year Hong Kong IPO margin financing subscription reached HK$1.2 trillion, the company said, crossing the HK$1 trillion mark for the first time. UP Fintech's growing role in the city's IPO pipeline reflects broader momentum in Hong Kong's listing market, a theme that also drove strong Q3 results for the broker. On the ESOP side, the company added 135 new clients for the full year, bringing its total corporate client base to 748. Annual ESOP net profit rose more than 400% year-over-year, the firm said.Scale Gap With Futu Remains WideWhile UP Fintech's results reflect consistent expansion, the company operates at a considerably different scale than its nearest comparable, Futu Holdings. Futu reported full-year 2025 revenue of HK$22.85 billion (approximately $2.94 billion), an increase of 68.1% year-over-year, with net income more than doubling to HK$11.3 billion. Futu's funded account base stood at 3.37 million at year-end 2025, compared to UP Fintech's 1.25 million. Tiger Brokers had first crossed the one-million funded-client milestone in 2024.UP Fintech added 29,700 funded accounts in Q4, its lowest quarterly addition since Q1 2025, and below the 40,000 added in Q2 2025 and 31,500 in Q3. The company has set a target of 150,000 new funded clients for 2026, in line with what it guided for 2025, and said it will prioritize user quality over volume in the coming year. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Flow Traders, the principal trading firm, said today (Thursday) it has opened an over-the-counter desk offering continuous, two-way liquidity for tokenized money-market funds, equities, and commodities, with Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund and Tether's gold-backed token XAU₮ among the initial products covered.The desk is designed to run around the clock, seven days a week, and targets permissioned institutional counterparties that, the company said, need to manage equity and commodity exposure when traditional exchanges are closed. Counterparties can trade tokenized equity and commodity exposures against fiat currencies or stablecoins, using standard OTC workflows with defined settlement processes.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.Overnight Volumes Driving the PushFlow Traders CEO Thomas Spitz framed the launch as the latest step in a longer shift in how investors access market exposure. "Over the past two decades, evolving market structures, from ETFs to electronic trading, have transformed how investors access exposure," Spitz said. "Tokenization has the potential to be one of the next major steps in that evolution."The company stated that in some large-cap U.S. stocks, combined activity across tokenized and synthetic markets has "at times reached around 2-3% of the notional trading volume of their primary U.S. listings," with much of that activity occurring outside regular U.S. market hours. Flow Traders did not identify which stocks or cite an independent source for those figures.The firm's move into tokenized OTC liquidity follows several years of building out its digital asset infrastructure. In 2023, Flow Traders' crypto subsidiary was registered by De Nederlandsche Bank as a provider of crypto services in the Netherlands, authorizing the firm to offer spot OTC cryptocurrency liquidity and make markets in crypto exchange-traded products.Tether Gold Included From Day OneTether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the partnership reflects a broader pickup in demand for gold exposure across both traditional and on-chain markets. "Demand for gold, both in traditional markets and on chain, has accelerated as investors look for resilient stores of value in a more uncertain macro environment," Ardoino commented. "Liquidity providers such as Flow Traders play a critical role in ensuring that tokenized assets like XAU₮ can trade efficiently across venues and reach a broader set of market participants."Ardoino added that "supporting XAU₮ across multiple exchanges and through their OTC desk helps strengthen the market structure around digital representations of physical gold," framing the arrangement as an infrastructure improvement rather than a purely commercial one. The desk provides what the firm describes as risk controls designed specifically for overnight and weekend market conditions, though it did not elaborate on the mechanics of those controls.Institutional OTC Market Faces ConsolidationThe launch places Flow Traders among a growing field of firms building infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, even as the broader OTC liquidity provider market faces growing pressure. A survey published by Finery Markets in early 2026 found that 60% of institutional OTC participants expected the number of active liquidity providers to fall before year-end, suggesting consolidation may be approaching even as new entrants expand into the space.Flow Traders has been broadening its digital asset presence on multiple fronts over recent years. The firm joined DWS and Galaxy Digital in a joint venture to develop a euro-denominated stablecoin, and was named the sole liquidity provider in TP ICAP's institutional crypto trading platform when it launched in 2021. The new OTC desk extends that activity into the tokenized asset space, where discussion at Davos in January centered on wholesale rather than retail applications as institutions began to treat tokenization as a practical infrastructure question rather than a speculative one.Access and AvailabilityInstitutions can reach the desk via direct FIX connectivity, OMS/EMS platforms, ECNs, or high-touch OTC execution. The company declares that asset coverage will expand based on counterparty demand and regulatory considerations, and noted that product availability may vary by jurisdiction and counterparty eligibility, with different members of the Flow Traders group providing services depending on their regulatory status in a given market. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

IG Group Holdings (LSE: IGG) posted record total revenue of £1.12 billion for calendar year 2025, driven by double-digit growth in net trading revenue and a surge in new customer acquisition, fuelled by the Freetrade integration. The London-listed trading and investment platform also launched a strategic review that could reshape its ownership structure, listing venues and corporate composition, with results expected in autumn 2026.IG Group’s Revenue Record, but Margin SlipsNet trading revenue for the twelve months to 31 December 2025 reached £1,004.6 million, a 10% increase on the £910.6 million recorded in calendar year 2024. That prior-year performance had already impressed analysts, with IG beating estimates in FY25 as net profit jumped 24% to £380 million, making the CY25 record all the more notable for being built on an already-strong base.That growth, however, came alongside a 16% drop in net interest income, which fell from £141.6 million to £118.8 million, as declining benchmark interest rates reduced the yield on client cash balances while pass-through to customers increased.[#highlighted-links#] Net interest income's share of total revenue fell from 14% to 11%, reflecting a deliberate business model shift toward fee and trading-based income. EBITDA edged up just 1% to £531.1 million, while the EBITDA margin contracted from 49.9% to 47.3%, as the group reinvested efficiency savings back into marketing and product development. "Record financial results and accelerating customer growth demonstrate the strength of IG's platform," Breon Corcoran, the CEO of IG Group, said, "We operate in large and fast-growing markets being reshaped by structural drivers, and now is the time to raise our ambitions. Today we are launching a strategic review to ensure IG captures the full long-term opportunity ahead - evaluating routes to maximise shareholder value."The Numbers Behind the HeadlineBeyond the top line, several operational and cost metrics reveal the true shape of IG's 2025 performance. Marketing spend rose 31% to £108.8 million, a deliberate acceleration designed to drive customer acquisition and fund new product launches. Legal and professional costs surged 78% to £62.3 million, reflecting M&A advisory fees, technology consulting and early-stage work on the company's legal entity structure.The table below offers a broader comparative view of IG's key performance indicators across calendar year 2025 and calendar year 2024, cutting past the headline revenue figures.The adjusted EPS growth of 5% - from approximately 109.8 pence to 115.3 pence - was supported by ongoing share buybacks that have reduced the share count by over 16% since May 2022. The 29% leap in basic EPS to 130.0 pence is more eye-catching, but that figure includes a one-off £76.0 million gain from the disposal of Small Exchange to Kraken in a $100 million deal completed in October 2025. Strip that out and the underlying earnings picture is more measured.Customer Growth: Real and AcquiredThe reported 174% surge in active customers from 270,300 to 742,100 is almost entirely explained by the acquisition of Freetrade, which was consolidated from 1 April 2025 and brought approximately 460,000 active customers onto IG's platform. On an organic, continuing-operations basis, active customers grew 6% to 281,300, a more modest figure that nonetheless represents an improvement on prior-year trends.First trades on an organic basis rose 54% to 103,800, suggesting that IG's investment in marketing and product development is beginning to attract genuinely new trading activity rather than simply absorbing acquired users. As FinanceMagnates.com reported, the group had already signaled momentum building through fiscal year 2025, with active clients rising 2% quarter-on-quarter even before Freetrade was folded in. Fixed cost to serve per customer fell 8% organically since the end of 2023, the company said, as digital servicing, faster KYC processes and AI-powered onboarding began delivering measurable savings.tastytrade Pushes US Revenue to £186.7mIG's US division, built around its tastytrade platform acquired in 2021 for $1 billion, generated net trading revenue of £186.7 million in CY25, up 18% year-on-year. Exchange-traded derivatives, the core tastytrade product, contributed £153.2 million of that total, driven by higher payment-for-order-flow rates and double-digit growth in active customers and first trades.Assets under administration at tastytrade climbed 47% to £18.2 billion at 31 December 2025, benefiting from strong market performance, net inflows and a rapidly growing customer base. As FinanceMagnates.com examined in February, IG's US bet now contributes meaningfully to the case that CFD-heritage brokers can build durable non-OTC businesses, with tastytrade delivering 23% net trading revenue growth in US dollar terms in 2025 alone.Freetrade Beds In, Crypto Ambitions GrowFreetrade contributed £24.2 million to total revenue in its first nine months as part of the group, surpassing IG's own guidance of approximately £20 million. Assets under administration on the Freetrade platform reached £3.3 billion at 31 December 2025, up 34%, and grew further to over £3.5 billion by 28 February 2026. The group launched a zero-commission mutual fund offering in October 2025, which has since expanded to over 760 funds across 40 managers, and introduced free SIPPs in January 2026, which the company says have prompted over £250 million in pension transfer applications.On the crypto front, IG secured both an FCA registration and a European MiCA licence in 2025, and completed the acquisition of Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve on 30 January 2026 for a provisional consideration of approximately £67.7 million. IG launched spot crypto trading in Australia in March 2026, powered by Independent Reserve, with plans to extend the offering to Singapore and the UAE in the second half of 2026. The group's AI-driven compliance operations, expanded through a partnership with Adclear, now see 87% of marketing assets approved within target timeframes.Revenue Mix and What Comes NextOTC derivatives remain the dominant revenue engine, generating £781.4 million in net trading revenue for CY25, up 8%, with customer income retention improving by more than four percentage points to over 83% following spread realignment and passive hedging adjustments introduced in late 2024. Stock trading and investments nearly doubled, rising 96% to £68.4 million, driven by the rollout of zero-commission equity trading across the UK, Ireland, Singapore and France, where organic first trades in the UK and Ireland alone grew 52% year-on-year in the three months to 28 February 2026.The momentum carried into early 2026, with Q3 total revenue up 2% to £274.2 million, net trading revenue up 5% to £247.2 million, and assets under administration on the IG platform reaching £19.5 billion. For the full year, the group guided to approximately 7% revenue growth in the first quarter, full-year EBITDA broadly in line with consensus at £538.1 million, and organic revenue growth towards the top end of its mid-to-high single-digit target range over the medium term. A final dividend of 28.12 pence per share was proposed for the seven-month transitional period, with the Annual General Meeting set for 19 May 2026. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Swissquote expects to close 2026 with net revenue of CHF 760 million and pre-tax profit of CHF 385 million. It has also revised its 2028 net revenue target from CHF 900 million to CHF 950 million; however, the pre-tax profit margin has been reduced from 55 per cent to 53 per cent.It is still expected to bring in CHF 500 million in pre-tax profit by 2028.A Strong Year and a Bullish OutlookThe guidance came as the Swiss broker ended 2025 with net revenue of CHF 723.3 million and a pre-tax profit of CHF 420.2 million. The numbers increased by 9.4 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively.Revenue last year was boosted by an increase in trading activity. This drove a 17.5 per cent increase in net fee and commission income to CHF 209.4 million and a 52.6 per cent increase in net trading income to CHF 119.5 million.Although the CHF saw a notable interest rate cut, net interest income remained stable at CHF 217.6 million, a 3 per cent decline, supported by higher loan and deposit volumes.Due to low FX volatility, the broker’s net eForex income decreased by 3.8 per cent; however, client activity shifted to precious metals such as gold, which saw a strong one-sided rally last year.Crypto trading volume at the broker also declined by 12.1 per cent. However, net income from crypto assets remained almost unchanged at CHF 85.7 million.Meanwhile, Swissquote added more than 100,000 accounts last year, bringing its total to 1.2 million. Client assets on the platform also increased by 16.3 per cent to CHF 88.7 billion.It also attracted CHF 8.5 billion in new funds, of which roughly 40 per cent came from Europe.Investments for GrowthLast year, Swissquote also took full control of Yuh, a digital finance platform. It previously held a 50 per cent stake and acquired the remaining share from PostFinance, paying CHF 89.8 million in cash and treasury shares.The upward revision in revenue and profit came due to the impact of Yuh’s performance on Swissquote’s overall results.For 2025, Yuh reported a profit for the second consecutive year, 399,201 accounts, and CHF 3.7 billion in client assets.The broker also increased its spending on technology and AI, as well as strengthening its existing international presence.“While this acceleration is expected to weigh on the pre-tax profit margin in the short term, the Group expects the resulting benefits to become increasingly visible from H2 2026 onwards,” the broker noted.“Swissquote remains committed to disciplined cost growth over time, with total expense increases expected to remain below the growth rate of customer numbers and client assets. Without these strategic investments, the increase in total expenses in 2025 would have been lower.” This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

The Cyprus Diaspora Forum is proud to announce a strategic collaboration with REALTYon, creating a powerful platform designed to attract high-net-worth international investors to Cyprus and connect them with premium real estate opportunities.The partnership is particularly strategic as both the Cyprus Diaspora Forum and the REALTYon exhibition will take place during the same week in May 2026, creating a unique opportunity to bring together global diaspora leaders, international investors, and leading real estate developers in Cyprus at the same time.Through this collaboration, both organisations will activate their international networks to identify and engage qualified VIP investors who are actively seeking property and investment opportunities in Cyprus. Selected investors will be invited to participate in the exclusive REALTYon VIP Buyer Programme, where they will gain access to carefully curated one-to-one meetings with leading developers and sponsors during the REALTYon exhibition on 7–8 May 2026.“The initiative is designed to facilitate high-value connections by arranging pre-scheduled meetings between serious investors and Cyprus’ most prominent real estate stakeholders,” Elena Christopher, REALTYon’s Director, Hosted Meetings & Strategic Engagement – Events, said.As part of this collaboration, the partners aim to facilitate pre-qualified VIP investor meetings onsite at REALTYon.“Leveraging the Cyprus Diaspora Forum’s influential global diaspora network and REALTYon’s specialised real estate platform, this partnership creates a strategic gateway for international capital to engage directly with the Cyprus property market,” Paul Lambis, Founder and CEO of the Cyprus Diaspora Forum, said.“Through targeted outreach to its global diaspora investor network, the Cyprus Diaspora Forum will introduce qualified investors to the REALTYon VIP Buyer Programme. Interested investors will then be guided through a structured qualification process to ensure their investment interests are matched with the most relevant real estate projects and developers participating in REALTYon,” Lambis added.“The REALTYon team will coordinate the investor matchmaking process, facilitating curated one-to-one meetings that allow investors to explore a wide range of opportunities within the Cyprus real estate market,” Christopher explained.By aligning two major international platforms taking place at the same time in Cyprus, this collaboration is expected to significantly strengthen investor engagement and position Cyprus as a dynamic hub for real estate investment, international business, and diaspora connectivity.The Cyprus Diaspora Forum and REALTYon look forward to welcoming global investors, developers, and industry leaders to a unique environment where strategic connections, investment opportunities, and meaningful partnerships can flourish.View this post on InstagramA post shared by REALTYon Expo (@realtyonexpo.cy) This article was written by Finance Magnates Staff at www.financemagnates.com.

The March 2026 joint framework from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission represents the most significant regulatory development in U.S. crypto history. While most of my peers see this as "good", I view this moment with cautious optimism. The classification of 16 major digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, as digital commodities under primary CFTC jurisdiction finally provides the legal certainty that institutional capital has demanded.Clarity, however welcome, does not equate to perfection. The framework's very structure reveals tensions that could undermine its stated goal of fostering innovation while protecting investors.After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the SEC treats crypto assets under federal securities laws.This is what regulatory agencies are supposed to do: draw clear lines in clear terms. https://t.co/wij5cA7N2i— Paul Atkins (@SECPaulSAtkins) March 17, 2026Order Meets Oversight GapsThe 5-category taxonomy, covering Digital Commodities, Digital Securities, Digital Collectibles, Digital Tools, and regulated Payment Stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, offers a pragmatic scaffold for a market that has operated in a regulatory gray zone for too long.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.By acknowledging that assets can transition from securities to commodities as decentralization deepens, the agencies have embraced a dynamic view of technological evolution that the static Howey test never accommodated. This is progress.Related: SEC Clarifies Crypto Rules, Shifting Responsibility to BrokersThe practical implications of shifting oversight from the SEC's disclosure-heavy regime to the CFTC's market-conduct focus raise legitimate questions about investor safeguards.Commodities regulation simply does not mandate the same level of financial transparency, audit requirements, or fiduciary obligations that securities law imposes. For retail participants who have grown accustomed to the SEC's investor-first posture, this represents a tangible reduction in recourse should manipulation or fraud occur. The data bears this out. While the CFTC has expanded its enforcement capabilities, its budget and staffing remain a fraction of the SEC's, limiting its capacity to police a market now valued in the trillions.The GENIUS Act’s Safeguards Could BackfireThe GENIUS Act's treatment of stablecoins illustrates another layer of complexity. While the legislation rightly mandates one-to-one reserve backing, monthly attestations, and segregation of customer funds, it explicitly prohibits issuers from paying yield on stablecoin holdings.TRUMP: ?? "The Golden Age of America is upon us, with today's signing."President Trumps signs the Genius Act signaling the first of Stablecoin legislation. pic.twitter.com/JD2TtV0p9b— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) July 18, 2025This well-intentioned guardrail against shadow banking risks inadvertently pushes yield-seeking users toward unregulated offshore platforms or riskier DeFi protocols, potentially increasing systemic fragility rather than reducing it.Furthermore, the Act's bankruptcy provisions, while granting stablecoin holders super-priority status in theory, leave unresolved questions about the practical enforceability of those claims across fragmented custody arrangements.Read more: Trump Signs GENIUS Act Into Law, Setting Stage for Wider Crypto OversightIf a major issuer were to fail, the FDIC's $250,000 insurance limit applies to the corporate account holding reserves, not to individual token holders. This gap could leave millions of users exposed despite the framework's consumer-protection rhetoric.Perhaps the most pressing concern is the framework's non-binding status. The SEC and CFTC do not legislate. Congress does. What we have today is an interpretive memorandum, not codified law, and as such, it remains vulnerable to shifts in agency leadership, judicial challenge, or superseding legislation like the pending Clarity Act.JUST IN: ? The CLARITY Act could see a markup before Easter, according to Senator Kevin Cramer.?? Cramer advocates for "U.S. guardrails" between traditional and non-traditional banking, warning the U.S. could lose its "innovative edge" if digital assets move overseas. pic.twitter.com/2cWRw6SsXy— Bitcoin.com News (@BitcoinNews) March 17, 2026Policy Without Law Leaves Investors ExposedThis uncertainty is compounded by the grey period inherent in the transition mechanism. Projects must now navigate costly legal analyses to determine precisely when they have achieved sufficient decentralization to shed their securities classification. For early-stage teams operating on lean budgets, this ambiguity could stifle the very innovation the framework purports to enable. Moreover, national security experts at institutions like CSIS have warned that the GENIUS Act's focus on centralized issuers may leave decentralized protocols and privacy-enhancing technologies outside the regulatory perimeter, creating vectors for sanctions evasion that adversaries could exploit.Continue reading: SEC and CFTC Finally Align on Crypto: “Most Assets Aren’t Securities”From my vantage point, having engaged with both regulators and builders, I see this framework not as an endpoint but as a foundation on which more durable, adaptive regulation must be built. The harmonization of SEC and CFTC authority through Project Crypto is a historic step toward ending the jurisdictional turf wars that have long paralyzed U.S. crypto policy.The Real Test Will Be in How Regulators ApplyStill, true regulatory maturity requires more than asset classification. It demands ongoing dialogue with technologists, economists, and civil society to ensure that rules evolve alongside the systems they govern. The inclusion of on-chain activities like staking, mining, and wrapping within the framework's analytical scope is encouraging. The devil will be in the implementation details that regulators now must develop through notice-and-comment rulemaking. The market has responded positively to the clarity, with institutional interest in the newly designated digital commodities rising measurably since the announcement. But we must resist the temptation to declare victory prematurely.After months of hard work, we have bipartisan text ready for Thursday’s markup. I urge my Democrat colleagues: don’t retreat from our progress. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act will provide the clarity needed to keep innovation in the U.S. & protect consumers. Let’s do this! pic.twitter.com/fuu5CIQa8X— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) January 13, 2026The framework's success will ultimately be judged not by the elegance of its taxonomy but by its real-world outcomes. Does it reduce fraud without stifling experimentation? Does it protect consumers without cementing incumbent advantages? Does it position the United States as a leader in responsible digital asset innovation, or merely as a jurisdiction that has replaced one set of uncertainties with another?Prioritize Transparency and User ProtectionAs we await Congressional action to codify these principles into law, the industry must remain engaged, constructive, and vigilant. Builders should leverage the newfound clarity to prioritize transparency and user protection, not as a regulatory checkbox but as a competitive advantage.BREAKING: The SEC has formally classified SOL as a digital commodity in its new crypto asset taxonomy, alongside BTC, ETH, and 14 other assets.SOL is not a security. pic.twitter.com/PnqpT46NdT— Solana (@solana) March 17, 2026Investors must recognize that commodity classification does not eliminate risk and should conduct due diligence accordingly. Policymakers must continue to listen to the diverse voices shaping this ecosystem, from developers in decentralized autonomous organizations to consumer advocates demanding accountability.Do not get me wrong. The March 2026 framework is a big plus for the industry, yes, but it is a plus that comes with asterisks. It is a map, not the territory. It is a starting gun, not a finish line. Those of us who have championed decentralization, privacy, and financial inclusion for over a decade understand that regulatory clarity is necessary but insufficient.Classification to CultivationThe work now shifts from classification to cultivation. We must build the institutions, standards, and cultural norms that will allow digital assets to fulfill their promise without repeating the excesses of traditional finance. If we approach this moment with both appreciation for the progress made and humility about the challenges ahead, the United States can yet lead the world into a more open, equitable, and innovative financial future. The framework gives us the rules of the road. It is up to all of us to ensure the journey delivers on its destination. This article was written by Anndy Lian at www.financemagnates.com.

SBI VC Trade, the digital asset arm of SBI Holdings, is launching a USDC lending product, bringing regulated access to dollar-pegged crypto returns in the domestic market. It allows retail investors in Japan to earn yields by lending stablecoins through a licensed platform.To celebrate the rollout, SBI VC said it will offer an annualized yield of 10% for a 12-week term during the initial phase. The company plans to maintain an annual rate of around 5% going forward—still well above most U.S. dollar time deposit rates, which typically range between 0.01% and 4%.High Initial Yield to Mark LaunchUnder the new program, users can lend Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) directly to the platform, with each offering capped at 5,000 USDC. Interest earnings will be treated as miscellaneous income for tax purposes, allowing small-scale participants to remain tax-exempt if their total annual miscellaneous income stays under ¥200,000.SBI clarified that the service constitutes a loan, not a deposit, meaning participants face direct counterparty risk rather than enjoying bank-style asset segregation.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.The company also reserves the right to re-lend the borrowed USDC as part of its regular operations. Funds cannot be withdrawn during the fixed 12-week term, limiting quick access in response to market changes.SBI VC Trade’s move highlights the rapid evolution of Japan’s regulatory stance on stablecoins. The company began handling USDC in March 2025 after becoming the only licensed platform in the country authorized to distribute and trade stablecoins to the public.A Milestone in Japan’s Stablecoin EvolutionIn partnership with Circle, SBI has been advancing local stablecoin infrastructure. Their joint venture, established in August 2025, aims to promote USDC adoption and explore its use in digital finance. SBI VC Trade’s new USDC lending product comes as SBI Holdings accelerates its push into regulated digital assets and tokenized markets. The launch adds a yield-bearing stablecoin service on top of SBI’s existing USDC spot support and comes through a licensed domestic platform that targets retail demand for dollar-linked returns. In parallel, SBI and Startale have begun building out“Strium,” a blockchain infrastructure for trading tokenized securities and real-world assets in Asia. That project, along with their digital yen stablecoin initiative, shows SBI trying to stitch together stablecoins, tokenized assets and 24/7 settlement into a single architecture that can serve both retail and institutional clients. SBI has also moved on the international front with an investment in U.S. prime broker Clear Street and plans for a joint venture in Japan. That deal aims to connect SBI’s domestic securities and derivatives flow with modern prime brokerage infrastructure in the U.S., giving the group more flexibility around cross-border trading and financing. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Colmex Pro has decided to restrict the onboarding of new retail contracts for difference (CFD) clients, FinanceMagnates.com has learned.No More CFDsThe Cyprus-regulated broker highlighted that its decision to exit the CFD market was “part of its longer-term transition towards investment products and market access solutions.” It is going to focus on products such as equities, ETFs, and other exchange-traded instruments.“CFDs have been a significant part of the online trading industry for many years,” said Nicos Vasiliou, Chief Executive Officer of Colmex Pro. “At the same time, we believe there is growing importance in building around products that are more transparent in nature and better suited to long-term investor participation.”Vasiliou took over the broker’s executive control in late 2024. Interestingly, he has a compliance background and spent over three years of his career at the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which regulates CFD brokers on the Mediterranean island.The company also believes that future growth in financial services will increasingly come from firms able to provide straightforward market access through products with less structural complexity and clearer alignment with investor interests.“[Our] decision reflects what we believe,” Vasiliou added. “Our focus is increasingly on exchange-traded products and on building a platform model grounded in transparency, sustainability, and long-term client value.” This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

Collapsed crypto exchange FTX Trading Ltd. said it will begin a new round of creditor payments on March 31, 2026, as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring process.Earlier in 2025, the company began returning funds under the plan, starting with a $7 billion payout in February. A second distribution of about $5 billion followed in May. Recoveries were expected to range between 54% and 120%, with payments made through providers such as BitGo and Kraken.FTX Starts Fourth Creditor Payout RoundTogether with the FTX Recovery Trust, FTX said the fourth distribution will cover holders of allowed claims in convenience and non-convenience classes who have completed required steps.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.Eligible creditors are expected to receive funds within one to three business days from March 31. Payments will be processed through selected providers, including BitGo, Kraken, and Payoneer.The payouts follow priorities set out in the court-approved plan. Certain claim classes will receive incremental or full recoveries in this round.Dotcom customer entitlement claims will receive an additional 18%, bringing total recoveries to 96%. U.S. customer entitlement claims will receive 5%, reaching 100%.General unsecured and digital asset loan claims will each receive 15%, also reaching full recovery. Convenience claims will total 120% in cumulative distributions.?LATEST: "WE CAN'T HAVE ANOTHER FTX" SAYS CFTC CHAIRSpeaking on the All-In podcast, CFTC Chair Michael Selig spoke about the risks involved in blockchain and financial innovation.He spoke about fraud and market manipulation but, most importantly, he clarified a commitment to… pic.twitter.com/zPruQx74dK— BSCN (@BSCNews) March 16, 2026Preferred Shareholders Scheduled for May PaymentFTX said customers who onboarded with a distribution provider have “irrevocably elected to forego” direct cash payments. Distributions are instead sent to the selected provider.The company said issues related to fund availability should be directed to the provider. FTX also set a timeline for preferred shareholders. An April 30, 2026 record date has been scheduled for a May 29, 2026 payment.Creditors must complete several steps to qualify for future distributions, including logging into the claims portal, completing identity verification, submitting tax forms, and onboarding with an approved provider. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Crypto exchange Kraken has paused its plan to go public. According to sources cited by Coindesk, the exchange is blaming unfavorable market conditions four months after it filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Kraken’s parent company, Payward, submitted a draft S‑1 registration last November for an initial public offering of its common stock. The filing came a day after the company raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation, including $200 million from Citadel Securities.IPO Plans on HoldA Kraken representative acknowledged the confidential SEC filing but did not provide further details. According to people with knowledge of the situation, the company intends to revisit its IPO plans once market conditions become more favorable.The move follows a sharp downturn in crypto markets since Bitcoin hit a record high in October. Lower asset prices and weaker trading volumes have weighed on valuations, making firms more cautious about public listings.At the time of publication, Bitcoin traded around $71,375 dollars with a market capitalization of about 1.43 trillion dollars, according to CoinMarketCap data. Over the previous 24 hours, BTC has dropped 3%, with a modest 1% gain in the weekly chart. This is low compared to more than $120K posted around October last year.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.Last year, however, crypto firms saw a surge in IPO activity. Crypto firms including Circle, Bullish, and Gemini raised a combined $14.6 billion in 2025, according to Cointribune.Related: Kraken’s 2025 Revenue Soared to $2.2 Billion as It Prepares for an IPOSeveral crypto firms and exchanges are currently preparing for potential public listings, including Kraken, Consensys, Gemini, OKX, FalconX, Ledger, Chainalysis and tZero. Tokenization specialist Securitize is moving toward a Nasdaq debut via a SPAC deal valued at about 1.25 billion dollars.Crypto IPO Pipeline GrowsBitGo became the first major crypto listing of 2026 when it raised about 213 million dollars in a U.S. IPO in January at 18 dollars per share, implying a valuation of roughly 2 billion dollars for the digital asset custodian. The shares initially traded higher but later fell below the offer price, leaving the stock down by around 40–45% from its IPO level in the weeks after listing, according to market data reported by mainstream financial outlets. Meanwhile, Kraken has been expanding through acquisitions, including the purchase of NinjaTrader, a Cyprus MiFID-licensed broker, tokenization platform Backed Finance, and most recently token management firm Magna. The exchange also rolled out tokenized equity perpetual futures for non U.S. clients via its xStocks offering. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

An approach to regulation that balances clear guidelines with a willingness to innovate has positioned Singapore at the forefront of developments in asset tokenisation.MAS Initiatives and Early ProjectsSpeaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025 last November, Chia Der Jiun, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), noted that the regulator started its journey with asset-backed tokens with the launch of Project Guardian in 2022, since when money market funds have been tokenised and bonds have been issued natively and settled on chain.Join the inaugural Finance Magnates Singapore Summit 2026, which will bring together brokers, fintechs, banks, EMIs, wealth managers, and hedge funds across APAC.A few weeks later, Lim Tuang Lee, MAS assistant managing director (capital markets), told the Futures Industry Association Asia Derivatives Conference that interest in tokenisation arrangements among market participants was growing steadily.To facilitate this growth, MAS has launched the settlement equivalent of Project Guardian to support industry trials with tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins for settlement, and established an operational shared ledger infrastructure that enables financial institutions to test the settlement of tokenised financial assets using wholesale CBDC.Ecosystem Strengths and Market InfrastructureSingapore’s dense concentration of global asset managers, banks, and wealth platforms makes it possible to test tokenisation across the full value chain, including issuance, distribution, servicing, and settlement, observes Justin Christopher, head of Asia at Calastone.“Crucially, Singapore understands tokenisation isn’t about experimenting with technology; it’s about building efficient, cross-border market infrastructure,” he says. “This pragmatic mindset has kept the focus on real outcomes.”The ecosystem works because policymakers, banks, asset managers, and fintechs sit at the same table and move from whitepaper to pilot quickly. There is also deep capital markets expertise, which means tokenisation is approached as market infrastructure reform rather than crypto speculation. That is the view of Alvin Chia, head of digital assets innovation Asia Pacific for Northern Trust, who agrees that Singapore understands that interoperability and cross-border use cases rather than domestic scale alone will define success.Regulatory Support and CollaborationSingapore’s leadership in asset tokenisation reflects a deliberate push to modernise capital markets infrastructure, agrees Huan Kiat, fintech director at PhillipCapital.“The MAS has created space for experimentation while maintaining strong regulatory guardrails, which has given market participants confidence to test real-world use cases,” he adds. “At the same time, Singapore’s ecosystem of banks, asset managers, and fintech firms has been willing to collaborate on pilots involving real assets and real capital.”Efficiency and AdoptionTokenisation exists to improve market infrastructure rather than chase temperamental price swings, as the ecosystem is compact and decision-makers are accessible.“Because of this, pilot programmes can move into production relatively quickly and adoption across the board becomes easier,” suggests Chetan Karkhanis, SVP, digital asset partnership development at Franklin Templeton.The high level of crypto asset activity across Asia has translated into a deeper institutional comfort with blockchain‑based products among investors, founders, and financial firms, adds Duncan Trenholme, managing director, TP ICAP Fusion Digital Assets.“At the same time, Singapore’s position as a global financial hub gives it the kind of ecosystem where new market plumbing can be tested at scale rather than in isolation,” he says.Varied Adoption Across Asset ClassesThe broad scope of applications and fragmentation of models/systems means that the pace of adoption for tokenisation differs for each financial asset, notes Hubert Grignon Dumoulin, digital assets senior expert at CACEIS.“The biggest and most obvious use case is stablecoins (tokenisation of fiat money), followed by intra-day repo operations with issuance of non-native securities tokens representing custody positions of government bonds and short-term papers,” he says.Scaling Challenges and InteroperabilityAccording to Danny Chong, co-chair of the Digital Assets Association Singapore, the path to scaling tokenisation rests on overcoming the adoption gap, specifically the challenge of achieving interoperability across networks and harmonising global regulatory standards.“The focus must shift toward democratising access through frameworks that reduce operational complexity, ensuring that the next wave of financial innovation delivers efficiency and liquidity for both institutional and retail participants,” he says.The biggest constraint is not technology—it is aligning legal finality, accounting treatment, and regulatory clarity across jurisdictions so institutions can commit balance sheets at scale, says Chia. Liquidity is another hurdle, because tokenised assets must plug into existing distribution and collateral frameworks rather than operate in isolated pools. Operationally, firms need robust custody, lifecycle servicing, and risk controls that mirror traditional markets.Ankur Kanwar, head of transaction banking & cash management, Singapore and ASEAN, and global head of cash structured solutions development, Standard Chartered, agrees that the challenges are less about the availability of the technology and more about institutional and structural factors.“Variations in regulatory frameworks, the high friction across settlement infrastructures, and limited adoption of digital trade solutions and standards can all affect the scalability of tokenisation,” he says. “As tokenisation scales, cybersecurity risks and operational resilience will also become increasingly important considerations, and the long-term risks need to be carefully managed.”Market Awareness and EducationClient adoption, demand, and uptake by traditional incumbents are not fully there yet, and education and awareness are also not fully at scale, as cryptocurrencies, virtual native assets, and tokenised products are all lumped into one definition, in some cases preventing meaningful mass adoption and understanding, reckons Karkhanis.Risk Management in Tokenised MarketsAs more lifecycle logic, margining, and settlement migrate into smart contracts reliant on external data feeds, the system also inherits new points of failure, warns Trenholme.“Traditional markets are slow, but latency often functions as a circuit breaker,” he explains. “In tokenised markets, an inaccurate oracle print or flawed contract can propagate instantly—so building resilience through standards, safeguards, and fail‑safe architecture is as important as improving efficiency.”Interoperability is another constraint. Markets will ultimately require ‘write once, run anywhere’ infrastructure so assets can move seamlessly across public and permissioned networks.Christopher notes that tokenised assets must plug seamlessly into custody, administration, compliance, and reporting frameworks, and that institutions will not compromise on governance, auditability, or investor protection.“Without established connectivity between issuers and distributors, tokenised products remain niche,” he adds. “Real adoption requires infrastructure allowing assets to move safely and efficiently across established and digital-native venues.”Kiat cautions that scaling tokenisation remains complex, and while the underlying technology can enhance settlement efficiency and programmability, adoption depends on more than just technical capability.“Interoperability across platforms, liquidity depth, custody arrangements, and cross-border regulatory alignment all need to evolve in parallel,” he concludes. “Secondary market readiness will also be critical, as tokenised assets require reliable distribution channels and consistent two-way liquidity for investors to enter and exit with confidence.” This article was written by Paul Golden at www.financemagnates.com.