bank

Belarus High-Tech Park (HTP) has registered the country's first two cryptocurrency banks. The two institutions first obtained HTP resident enterprise status and then need to be certified by the National Bank of Belarus and included in the cryptocurrency bank registry, with the specific names of the institutions not yet disclosed.According to the relevant decrees issued by Belarus this year, cryptocurrency banks can combine digital token operations with banking, payment, and other related financial services.

According to Crowdfund Insider, digital bank Revolut announced that it has received approval from the Central Bank of Argentina to acquire Banco Cetelem Argentina, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas.After the transaction is completed, the institution will be renamed Revolut Bank Argentina S.A.U. and will operate as a licensed bank, but initially will not offer products or services to the public. It will officially launch local operations after completing the remaining regulatory and operational requirements.Revolut stated that there are currently over 150,000 people on the waiting list for its operations in Argentina.

According to official news, the cryptocurrency enterprise banking platform Limited announced the completion of a $18.5 million seed round financing, led by Third Prime, North Island Ventures (NIV), The House Fund, and Collab+Currency, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Pharsalus Capital, Digital Currency Group (DCG), 1982 Ventures, Onigiri Capital, and others.It is reported that Limited is a global financial platform aimed at multinational enterprises, integrating local business accounts, Visa cards, payment, treasury and expense management, and cryptocurrency infrastructure. Enterprises can make and receive payments through local channels such as ACH, SEPA, Pix, and SWIFT, and it also supports the receipt and payment of cryptocurrency assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDC.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Citigroup has reached a partnership with Coinbase, allowing Citigroup's institutional clients (including large multinational corporations) to accept customer stablecoin payments through Citigroup's merchant acquiring services. Coinbase will provide the stablecoin payment channel and underlying blockchain technology, automatically converting stablecoins into fiat currency, with Citigroup acting as the custodian bank to complete the funds settlement.At the same time, Coinbase's payment clients can leverage Citigroup's banking capabilities to receive, hold, and make payments using tools similar to bank accounts. The cash received will automatically be converted into stablecoins and stored in Coinbase, currently earning an annualized reward of 3.75% in interest-like benefits.

Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz shares the judgment of Apollo's chief economist: agents may trigger bank runs by aggregating household cash.The chief economist stated that agents could transfer household cash from accounts with a national average interest rate of 0.1% to accounts paying 3% to 5%, causing banks to lose a significant portion of their cheap deposits.

Israel will implement a "complete blockade" on the West Bank until next Saturday.

Blockchain interoperability company Quant announced a collaboration with The Clearing House (TCH) to introduce programmable money in the United States, providing an interoperability layer for tokenized deposits within the regulated banking system, allowing tokenized deposits to circulate within the banking system.Quant stated that this collaboration continues its related work in the UK, Europe, and other regions. The company mentioned the On-Chain Money Initiative in the announcement and released a press release and blog explaining the details of the collaboration.

Michael Saylor published a long article titled "Prescriptions for Prosperity in the Digital Economy," stating that artificial intelligence will significantly enhance the productivity of individuals and businesses, thus necessitating a more free environment for creating, financing, owning, and trading assets. He suggests establishing a "Digital Bill of Rights" for digital assets, which centers on granting individuals and businesses the rights to create, issue, custody, transfer, and use digital assets, while providing fundamental protections in financial privacy, asset ownership, and market access.Saylor believes that digital intelligence will drive the birth of a large number of new enterprises, and financing costs, complexity, and time costs should be reduced, while improving capital formation efficiency through means such as digital tokens. He proposes a goal of enabling 10 million new enterprises to secure financing, while also establishing clear issuance rules and risk-matched disclosure requirements.Regarding the digital dollar, Saylor advocates for allowing banks, fintech companies, and technology platforms to compete more fully in the digital dollar product space and for issuers to compete around yields. He believes that the U.S. can further expand the global reach of the dollar by allowing companies to develop more competitive dollar digital products.For Bitcoin, Saylor defines it as "digital capital," advocating for allowing banks to custody Bitcoin under clear rules and use it as collateral for providing credit, while also establishing a viable path for insurance companies to incorporate digital capital into their balance sheets and product designs.He specifically mentions that the Basel Accord applies a 1250% risk weight to certain crypto asset exposures, arguing that regulators should reassess the relevant capital requirements based on the actual risks of digital assets and specific business activities.

According to Bloomberg, informed sources say that contracts betting on the collapse of institutions such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America on the prediction market platform Polymarket have raised concerns among FDIC officials and members of Congress. Some individuals worry that the expansion of such contracts could fuel real-world bank runs.After internal discussions, the FDIC believes that the current ethical guidelines are sufficient to prohibit insiders from participating in trading. Currently, the trading volume of these contracts is relatively small, with recent bets on bank collapses before the end of the year amounting to approximately $76,000.

According to CoinDesk, the stablecoin issuer Tether stated that its assets held in the licensed digital bank EQIBank in Dominica account for less than 0.034% of the group's total assets. Based on Tether's disclosed total group assets of $18.775 billion in June, its related exposure is approximately $64 million, but Tether did not disclose the specific amount.It was reported that EQIBank processes customer funds through the U.S. payment processor Capstone, which utilizes accounts at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan for fund transfers. U.S. prosecutors have seized funds related to Capstone's accounts and filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit, accusing it of making false representations about its business to the bank. EQIBank stated that approximately $89 million in funds have been seized, equivalent to about 80% of its monetary assets, which may expose it to liquidation risks.Previously, EQIBank provided banking services to Tether, including processing wire transfers related to the purchase and redemption of USDT. Tether stated that it is not aware of the actions related to Capstone as alleged by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to Crowdfund Insider, SoFi Bank announced that it has used its own stablecoin SoFiUSD for transaction settlement across the entire Mastercard card business network, claiming to be the first national bank in the United States to achieve this model. SoFi previously estimated that after migrating all its debit and credit card operations to stablecoin settlement, the annual transaction volume would exceed $25 billion.SoFi launched SoFiUSD in December 2025 and opened it to users in the SoFi app in May of this year; the two parties announced their partnership in March of this year. RS2 CEO Radi El Haj stated that stablecoin settlement has moved from the previous pilot phase to actual operational phase covering the entire Mastercard network, with related settlements occurring at the underlying level of the existing card payment system, requiring no changes to the current payment methods for consumers and merchants.

According to a Reuters report, sources say that the Federal Reserve plans to raise the regulatory thresholds for banks.

According to CoinDesk, Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, and Santander have completed the world's first interbank tokenized pound deposit customer transaction through the UK's tokenized deposit scheme.Among them, Lloyds, NatWest, and Barclays completed two remortgage transactions, with funds automatically released upon completion after being locked; three banks, including HSBC, completed peer-to-peer payments simulating online shopping.The platform was built by Quant, with EY responsible for project management, and Yearn Finance drafting the rules. The project plans to establish a company and create a rulebook, intending to issue three digital bonds that can be traded using tokenized deposits in the first quarter of 2027.

According to a report by The Information, Tether has some funds trapped at one of its offshore banking partners, which is facing liquidation risk after asset seizures in the United States.Tether stated that the assets it holds at the bank EQIBank are limited, accounting for less than 0.034% of its total assets.

The Central Bank of Brazil issued resolutions No. 588 and No. 589, requiring virtual asset service providers (VASP) to report self-custody wallet transactions that amount to or exceed $10,000, and to strengthen anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.Resolution No. 588 stipulates that relevant transaction data will be submitted to the Financial Activities Control Council (COAF). This agency may compile transactions based on this data and establish a self-custody address database to record the asset status of Brazilian users holding cryptocurrencies through authorized centralized exchanges. Resolution No. 589 prohibits conducting business with virtual asset service institutions or entities operating in Brazil without authorization. The new regulations will take effect on October 1, 2026, and currently, only 5 VASPs have applied for licenses to operate in Brazil.

The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) plans to establish rules for payment stablecoins issued by banks, requiring that each $1 token be backed by at least $1 in approved reserve assets and generally completed customer redemptions within two business days. If the issuer consistently falls below the minimum capital requirements, they may be required to liquidate reserve assets and redeem all tokens.Reserve assets may include U.S. dollars, Federal Reserve bank balances, certain bank deposits, U.S. Treasury securities with a remaining maturity of no more than 93 days, qualified repurchase agreements, and qualified investment funds, with some tokenized forms of assets potentially included. If reserves are insufficient, the issuer must notify the Fed and restore adequate backing; otherwise, they must liquidate reserves and redeem tokens pegged to the dollar. The Fed intends to require issuers to hold standardized capital against operational and certain credit risks, with a capital charge of 2% for the first $20 billion of issued stablecoin and 1% for amounts exceeding $50 billion.Another proposal allows state member banks that hold deposits to apply to establish subsidiaries for issuing payment stablecoins. The "GENIUS Act" stipulates that once the application is substantively complete, the Fed must make a decision within 120 days. Fed Governor Michael Barr stated that stablecoins should be reliably and promptly redeemable at par in various market conditions and when issuers encounter problems, and he called for the final rules to clarify universal redemption rights. He also expressed concern about the threshold for triggering regulatory or enforcement actions for anti-money laundering deficiencies needing to reach "significant or systemic" levels. The public comment period will be 60 days following the publication in the Federal Register.

The cryptocurrency payment card service Gnosis Pay announced that it will close its card business on December 20 and shift its focus to a B2B model.Gnosis Pay stated that funds in users' Safe accounts will still be accessible after the service ends, but if users wish to continue using a card for spending, they will need to open a partner account and switch to a new card.

The Central Bank of Russia has established market access procedures for digital custodians, cryptocurrency trading platforms, and digital rights information system operators, requiring relevant participants to be included in the corresponding registries.The regulations specify the qualification requirements for members of relevant regulatory bodies and specific officials, the list of application documents, and the registration procedures, while providing simplified access rules for existing market participants. The relevant regulations have been registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia and will come into effect on October 5, 2026.

Due to the severe fluctuations in the interest rate market, Citibank has closed the emerging market arbitrage basket.