Topic: #finance
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Hong Kong to pilot tokenized Exchange Fund Bills by end of 2026
Hong Kong's Chief Executive confirmed the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will tokenize over HK$1.3 trillion in Exchange Fund Bills for operational testing by 2026, marking a significant step in the city's digital finance strategy.
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BlackRock's IBIT leads $999M in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows
US spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs drew $1.269 billion in net inflows on September 21, with BlackRock's IBIT capturing $618 million. Cumulative inflows since January 2024 have reached $55.8 billion as institutional adoption accelerates.
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Prosecutors target $61M in crypto tied to Iranian oil laundering via Binance
Manhattan federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint on September 14 seeking to seize approximately $61 million in cryptocurrency allegedly funneled through Binance accounts operated by Hong Kong entities and linked to black-market Iranian oil sales and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Chainlink's Project Pangea enables T+0 FX settlement, eliminating business-day delays
Chainlink unveiled Project Pangea, a consortium of 50+ banks across 16 countries, to test instant T+0 settlement for cross-border foreign exchange trades using blockchain infrastructure and regulated stablecoins. The initiative targets the EUR-KRW corridor and aims to execute live transactions within 12 months.
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Pendle launches NGI+ market for institutional infrastructure yields
Pendle launched a fixed-yield market around the NGI+ token on September 17-18, offering approximately 19% returns on tokenized private infrastructure assets from Partners Group. The market introduces both opportunities and risks including smart contract vulnerabilities.
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Hyperliquid tops 2026 revenue rankings with $429M, burns tokens at scale
Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange, generated $429 million in revenue between January and September 2026, leading all crypto projects. The platform routes 99% of eligible trading fees into a buyback mechanism that has removed 48.7 million HYPE tokens from circulation.
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Strategy Inc. tops Nasdaq-100 with 48% gain as Bitcoin rally accelerates
Strategy Inc., the publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, surged 48% over the past month to become the Nasdaq-100's best performer, outpacing Meta's 21.9% gain as institutional demand for crypto exposure through equities intensifies.
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Bybit taker buy/sell ratio spikes above 25 as traders aggressively long Bitcoin
Bybit's taker buy/sell ratio surged above 25, signaling extreme bullish sentiment in Bitcoin perpetual futures. Analysts warn that such one-sided positioning has historically preceded sharp price reversals and cascading liquidations.
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PEPE hits $40M trading volume on Solana via Sunrise in one day
PEPE, an Ethereum-native meme token, crossed $40 million in trading volume on Solana within a day of its debut via Sunrise, an asset orchestration layer. The rapid uptake highlights meme token migration to faster, lower-cost networks.
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Fixed income ETFs hit record $446B inflows as Treasury yields rise
Fixed income ETFs have drawn $446 billion in year-to-date inflows through September, surpassing all prior full-year records as higher Treasury yields attract investors seeking safer returns.
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Morgan Stanley Limits Redemptions at $7B Private Credit Fund for Third Quarter
Morgan Stanley capped withdrawals at its $7 billion North Haven Private Income Fund to 5% in Q3 2026, the third consecutive quarter of redemption restrictions. Investor requests exceeded 11.4% of shares, signaling broader stress in the private credit market.
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Smarter Web surges 36% on Bitcoin-backed preferred shares plan
Smarter Web Company PLC, a UK-listed digital services provider, announced plans for Bitcoin-backed preferred shares called MORE, triggering a 36% stock surge. The company targets £15–25 million to expand its 2,878 BTC treasury, the largest among UK-listed firms.
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TradingView launches AI agent integration via MCP server in public beta
TradingView opened a public beta of its Model Context Protocol server on September 16, enabling paid subscribers to connect AI assistants like Claude directly to their accounts for natural-language market analysis, watchlist management, and real-time data access—though delayed market data may limit split-second trading decisions.
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Abra expands Fireblocks partnership for regulated strategy token custody
Abra deepened its partnership with Fireblocks on September 17, 2026, to route newly issued strategy tokens directly into a regulated custody framework, removing manual handoffs and keeping digital assets within a regulatory perimeter at all times.
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SEC Grants Five-Year Innovation Exemption for Tokenized Stock Trading
The SEC issued a temporary Innovation Exemption on September 17 allowing qualified venues to trade tokenized National Market System stocks on public blockchains through permissioned AMM pools, with strict safeguards requiring tokens to convey full shareholder rights and liquidity providers to be US entities.
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Amundi acquires 9.9% stake in ICG for €620M, gains board seat
Amundi, Europe's largest asset manager, finalized a €620 million (approximately $711 million) acquisition of a 9.9% economic stake in UK-based ICG on September 17, 2026, securing a 10-year exclusive distribution agreement for private market products to wealth clients worldwide.
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Orlen loses $400M in Venezuelan oil scheme routed through crypto
Poland's state oil refiner Orlen lost approximately $400 million in a failed crude purchase from Venezuela, with money converted to cryptocurrency and routed through Dubai intermediaries. Three former executives face charges of negligent supervision.
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Dollar Holds Steady as Yen Climbs on BOJ Rate-Hike Bets
The dollar index remains near 99.15 while the yen approaches a seven-month high against the greenback, driven by market expectations for a Bank of Japan rate increase and shifting geopolitical pressures on oil prices and carry trades.
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Spot Bitcoin ETFs see $462.7M outflows as Fed rate decision nears
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their worst week in months with $462.7 million in net outflows between September 8 and 11, as markets price in an 87% probability of a Fed rate hike on September 16.
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Strategy's $200M Bitcoin sales signal market maturity, not distress
Strategy sold over $200 million in Bitcoin without triggering a price decline, suggesting institutional demand has matured enough to absorb large supply without panic. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argues the sales reflect deliberate capital management, not forced liquidation.
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Solana generates 16.9x more daily dApp revenue than Base
Solana's decentralized applications generated $5.14 million in daily revenue compared to Base's $304,000, a 16.9-to-1 ratio, with Solana's monthly revenue climbing 57% from May to August 2026.
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Revolut phishing attack bypasses email security, exposes customer data
A spoofed government email passed all standard authentication checks and tricked Revolut into exposing customer identity documents, transaction histories, and Bitcoin activity. No passwords, PINs, or funds were compromised.
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Tokenized ETF deposits into DeFi surge 19-fold to $68M on Solana
Tokenized equity and ETF deposits into DeFi protocols have grown roughly 19 times, reaching $67.6 million, with Solana capturing the majority at $68.2 million as of August 2026, according to Token Terminal data.
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Federal Reserve reverse repo facility shrinks to $4.7B from $2.5T peak
The Federal Reserve's overnight reverse repo facility accepted just $4.7 billion in its latest operation, down from over $2.5 trillion in late 2022. The dramatic decline reflects successful liquidity drainage but leaves policymakers with less cushion for future tightening.