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The cryptocurrency market maker Flowdesk, supported by Coinbase, has obtained a full brokerage license issued by Dubai VARA, allowing it to provide compliant services to local institutional investors.

According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed trading investment platform eToro has agreed to acquire the American online brokerage TradeZero, with a transaction value of up to $231 million. This acquisition is an important step for eToro to expand its presence in the U.S. market and strengthen its services for active traders. ReutersThe announcement of the acquisition was released simultaneously with eToro's financial report for the second quarter of 2026. The report shows that eToro continued to achieve profit growth in the second quarter, with net contribution increasing by 9% year-on-year to $229 million, mainly driven by enhanced stock trading activity.Founded in 2015, TradeZero primarily serves active traders in the U.S. and operates in Canada and other international markets. eToro stated that after acquiring TradeZero, it will further expand its retail customer base in the U.S. and gain a stronger brokerage infrastructure, accelerating the launch of new products in the U.S. market. ReutersIn recent years, eToro has continuously strengthened its layout in digital assets and on-chain finance. The company previously acquired the self-custody crypto wallet service provider Zengo to enhance its digital asset capabilities and explore the integration of traditional finance with the on-chain economy. eToro's acquisition of TradeZero reflects its strategic direction in building a comprehensive financial ecosystem between stock trading, crypto assets, and multi-asset investment platforms. It is reported that the TradeZero transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027.

According to GMGN data, the market value of the Robinhood Chain ecosystem project StonkBrokers (STONKBROKER) briefly surpassed $92 million, currently reported at approximately $91.43 million, with a daily increase of over 18%. StonkBrokers is an NFT + DeFi composite project launched by the Web3 team Clutch Labs, aimed at allowing NFTs to have independent on-chain wallets through ERC-6551 token binding account technology, and creating an on-chain "stock broker" combined with a tokenized stock reward mechanism.The project issues 4,444 pixel-style NFTs, each bound to an independent on-chain account, and can hold tokenized stock assets including Tesla, Amazon, Palantir, AMD, and others. After users activate the NFT, they can receive stock token rewards converted from protocol trading fees. The StonkBrokers ecosystem includes products such as Anvil NFT AMM, Stonk Launcher, and the planned Stonk Exchange, with the token STONKBROKER usable for NFT trading, activation, and future ecosystem governance.Market Reminder: Meme coins and emerging ecosystem tokens are highly volatile, and rapid increases or corrections may occur in a short time. Please pay attention to liquidity and holding risks.

JPMorgan Chase today officially raised its target level for the S&P 500 index at the end of 2026 from 7800 points to 8000 points, primarily due to a robust outlook for corporate earnings, while major tech companies are increasing their AI investments, which is expected to significantly accelerate revenue growth. This target level has about a 3% upside compared to the S&P 500's closing level last Friday.Currently, at least seven brokerage firms expect the S&P 500 to reach 8000 points by the end of 2026. JPMorgan analysts stated that as backlogged orders convert into actual revenue, the cloud computing business is expected to maintain strong growth, which will validate the rationale for AI capital expenditures and further alleviate market concerns about the return on invested capital. According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, among the 436 S&P 500 constituent companies that have disclosed their Q2 financial reports, 85.1% exceeded analysts' expectations, significantly higher than the long-term average of 68% since 1994. So far this year, driven by optimism related to AI, the S&P 500 index has risen by about 13%.

GMGN data shows that the market capitalization of the Robinhood ecosystem Meme coin StonkBroker briefly surpassed $95 million, reaching a historical high, and has now fallen back to $85.38 million.Meme coin prices are highly volatile, primarily driven by market sentiment and conceptual speculation, lacking clear practical application scenarios. Investors should be aware of the associated risks.

According to market news, Binance has started to open the stock asset transfer feature for US stocks. Some users can transfer US stock assets held by other brokerages into Binance, and they can also transfer US stock assets from their Binance accounts to other brokerages. Currently, this feature is in gray testing and is expected to be fully opened soon.

According to GMGN market data, the market capitalization of the Robinhood chain meme coin STONKBROKER briefly surpassed $63 million this morning, setting a new historical high; it has now fallen back to $59.75 million, with a 24-hour increase of 32% and a 24-hour trading volume of $5.9 million.The Robinhood ecosystem project STONKBROKER recently launched several major updates, including a launchpad responsible for incubating ecosystem projects and the launch of a Broker Box feature that packages stock tokens into a card-drawing mechanism similar to FWA. These updates have garnered attention from KOLs and the community, including Ansem, driving the market capitalization to new highs. ChainCatcher reminds users that the related projects still carry significant uncertainty, with large price fluctuations, and users should invest cautiously.

According to the WSJ, Wintermute's U.S. subsidiary has registered as a broker-dealer, marking the company's official entry into the regulated U.S. financial market. This registration qualifies it to apply to become a designated market maker on securities exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, providing a foundation for its expansion into the traditional financial services sector. The report noted that Wintermute is competing with large market-making institutions such as Jane Street Capital and Citadel Securities.

ChianCatcher news, The Tie co-founder and CEO Joshua Frank announced the official launch of its wholly-owned subsidiary The Tie Capital.The company is a broker registered with the SEC in the United States and a member of FINRA, which will provide investment banking and capital market advisory services for crypto protocols, on-chain businesses, and digital asset service providers. The scope of services includes private financing, buy-side and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, agreement restructuring, token generation events (TGE), token-to-equity conversions, and other special situation transactions. This business is led by Boomer Saraga as Managing Director.The Tie was founded in 2017 and primarily provides services such as market intelligence, data APIs, conferences, enterprise access, and staking infrastructure. This launch aims to further serve institutional clients.

According to The Block, crypto infrastructure and capital markets company Keyrock has completed the acquisition of BlockFills' institutional trading and brokerage business. This transaction brings Keyrock BlockFills' trading technology, institutional client relationships, and a team of experienced derivatives traders.The announcement stated that this acquisition also expands Keyrock's regulatory footprint, establishing a CIMA-registered entity in the Cayman Islands and planning to obtain FCA authorization in the UK. Keyrock's announcement did not disclose the acquisition price. According to previous court documents and reports, Keyrock was selected for $3.25 million in BlockFills' bankruptcy restructuring process. Chicago-based BlockFills filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2026 after suffering significant losses due to the cryptocurrency market crash in February.

Interactive Brokers announced on Tuesday the expansion of its digital asset business, adding trading tokens such as Aave, Aptos, Canton, Lido DAO, Monad, NEAR Protocol, Plasma, Pax Gold, and Uniswap, and supporting 24/7 stablecoin wallet transfers via USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD.As of mid-2026, Interactive Brokers manages approximately $930.3 billion in client assets, with cryptocurrency trading commissions starting at 0.12% to 0.18% of the total transaction amount, with a minimum order fee of $1.75, and no additional spreads, markups, or custody fees. The company stated that accounts in the UK and Ireland cannot use stablecoin two-way deposits, and clients of the Irish affiliate cannot access the newly launched crypto assets.

According to Yicai, global chip stocks faced a Black Monday. On that day, during the Asian trading session, rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East suppressed risk appetite, with SK Hynix plunging over 15% on the Korean Exchange, marking the largest single-day drop in 18 years; the South Korean benchmark index KOSPI fell more than 9% in a single day, retreating 25% from its historical high on June 22.Data from the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea shows that the total amount of forced liquidations across the entire South Korean market reached 344.2 billion won in a single day, the largest scale of credit liquidation this year. Retail investors accounted for 92% of leveraged positions, referred to as "ant investors," who made full bets on memory chips and have very weak capacity to withstand volatility. As of Monday, over 1.2 million leveraged retail accounts in the entire South Korean market had reached the margin call line. Among them, approximately 320,000 to 360,000 accounts have been fully liquidated by brokerages, resulting in the loss of principal, with some accounts even owing debts to brokerages.Institutions believe that the short-term Gamma effect of leveraged shorts in South Korea cannot be eliminated, and the trillion-won level of leveraged selling pressure has not been fully cleared, with the risk of volatility still unresolved. However, this round of decline is not a reversal of the industry's fundamentals but rather a concentrated deleveraging event following macro shocks faced by crowded high-position leveraged trades.

After recently launching the financing trading feature, BIT today announced the official launch of the US stock margin trading (short selling) feature. Regarding this business upgrade, BIT brokerage head Elio Cui stated: "With the launch of margin trading, BIT brokerage has become one of the very few in the industry to support financing, margin trading, and options preparation on a trading platform under the real US stock framework. Our product planning has been aimed from the beginning at building a complete traditional brokerage investment experience. Within the same account, users can seamlessly connect long and short positions and risk hedging to respond to different market cycles with higher capital efficiency."After the launch of this feature, BIT margin account users who meet the initial margin requirements can short sell specified US stocks. The platform will dynamically update key risk control indicators such as margin rates, borrowing interest, and margin pool limits in real-time to ensure transparency and efficiency in trading.In conjunction with the new business launch, BIT brokerage is offering a limited-time "0 fee" promotional activity. The activity is subject to relevant terms and conditions; details can be found on the BIT US stock channel X platform.

According to The Block, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a circular requiring licensed virtual asset trading platforms and internet brokers to stop using one-time passwords (OTP) for user login and device binding within 12 months, and instead adopt stronger authentication methods such as passkeys and device binding.This move is due to the fact that in the 2025 Hong Kong cybersecurity incident, phishing attacks accounted for as much as 57%. The SFC also requires institutions to establish monitoring systems for suspicious logins, transactions, and withdrawals, and to promptly notify customers of any unusual account activities. Large brokers must implement the new authentication measures immediately. The SFC emphasizes that if internal controls are found to be deficient and result in customer losses, relevant responsibilities will be pursued.

According to PYMNTS, the new cryptocurrency tax in Illinois, USA, will take effect on January 1, 2027. The law firm Jones Day stated that any brokers with business exposure in Illinois should begin registration preparations as soon as possible and review existing record-keeping processes to meet the upcoming compliance requirements.

According to informed sources, U.S. regulators are investigating allegations made by Susquehanna International Group. The allegations claim that unknown insider traders profited $100 million through options bets before recent regulatory crackdowns on cross-border brokers Futu and Tiger Brokers in China. Susquehanna publicly disclosed these allegations in a lawsuit filed on June 29 in Manhattan federal court. Sources indicate that the U.S. SEC is reviewing the trades described in the market maker's complaint.Susquehanna claims in the lawsuit that it lost over $70 million as the counterparty to most of the alleged insider trading. The lawsuit states that traders purchased U.S. exchange-traded options from Chinese securities firms, which subsequently became targets of the regulatory crackdown on May 22. The scope and stage of the SEC investigation remain unclear. A U.S. judge approved Susquehanna's request to freeze related accounts on June 29. The Chinese government stated that Futu and Tiger Brokers provided unlicensed trading services to mainland residents. Following the announcement on May 22, the stock prices of both companies fell. Futu was fined 1.85 billion yuan in regulatory penalties, and founder Leaf Li's wealth decreased by $1.7 billion in a single day.

The cryptocurrency trading platform Gate officially launches the stock transfer in and out function, supporting the transfer of US and Hong Kong stock assets across brokers. Users can transfer positions from external brokers into Gate, and can also transfer assets from their Gate stock accounts to other brokers. Gate does not charge any transfer fees for in or out transactions. This service uses the FOP transfer method, with US stocks processed through the DTC system and Hong Kong stocks processed through the CCASS system. Users can experience this feature by updating the Gate App to version 8.26.0 or above. Currently, this function is being gradually rolled out, and users can pay attention to subsequent version update information.To celebrate the launch of the stock transfer function, Gate simultaneously launches the "Stock Transfer Benefits" event. Users who register between July 1, 2026, and July 7, 2026, and submit a transfer application during the event period, successfully transferring US or Hong Kong stocks held by external brokers into their Gate stock accounts, with a total asset market value of 3,000 USDT or equivalent, can participate in cash subsidies for valid transfer fee receipts from the original broker and VIP upgrade benefits; the maximum subsidy for US stocks is 15,000 USDT, for Hong Kong stocks it is 6,000 USDT, and the highest VIP level can be upgraded directly to VIP 9.