Opinion

October 15, 2025 @ 10:53 am By JD Alois  |  

  Concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hype will outpace reality have grown louder of late. While predictions of profound transformation across all industries abound, AI investment and valuations continue to grow.  Some are drawing parallels to the Dot Com Bomb of the early 2000s, when… Read More

October 15, 2025 @ 10:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Two weeks into the shutdown of the federal government, and there is no end in sight as the Democrat minority digs its heels in, demanding an additional $1.5 trillion added to certain government programs. While the Republican majority wants to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to… Read More

October 15, 2025 @ 10:06 am By JD Alois  |  

This week, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a statement on tokenization or turning investible assets into digital assets. Digital securities have long been recognized as the future of markets. Today, with the advent of global regulatory changes supporting digital transformation, broader acceptance of… Read More

October 14, 2025 @ 12:30 pm By Blake Jeong  |  

The crypto discussion remains pinpoint-focused on U.S. enforcement squabbles and city-state experimentation, but no one seems to notice what’s going on in Japan and South Korea. Both of these countries have been building predictable rules, institutional-grade foundations, and establishing consumers who already spend on digital… Read More

October 13, 2025 @ 8:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Paxos has noted that stablecoins are becoming core infrastructure for the global financial sector. They aim to enable faster settlement, economical cross-border payments as well as efficient on- and off-ramps between traditional and digital markets. Paxos pointed out that as adoption accelerates, so do the… Read More

October 12, 2025 @ 4:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino recently stated that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may potentially turn money into a tool of government surveillance. Tether is the issuer of the world’s most popular stablecoin by market cap, USDT. During the recent TOKEN2049 in Singapore, Ardoino noted that… Read More

October 11, 2025 @ 3:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with George Kailas, CEO & Founder of Prospero, a Fintech startup with a mission to democratize access to financial markets for retail traders and investors. Prospero explains that it simplifies institutional trading behavior into more meaningful and “actionable” data-driven insights that… Read More

October 9, 2025 @ 10:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

India’s regulatory ecosystem for digital currencies remains a study in contrasts. While the country claims the world’s highest grassroots cryptocurrency adoption rate, as highlighted in Chainalysis‘ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, policymakers continue to favor Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) like the digital rupee (e₹)… Read More

October 9, 2025 @ 3:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

QED Investors, a VC firm focused on investing in high-potential financial services firms in the US, has looked into why 2025 appears to have been the year of the bank charter. Since January of this year, there have been 20 filings for de novo charters,… Read More

October 9, 2025 @ 8:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mike Cagney, Co-founder and current Executive Chairman of Figure (NASDAQ:FIGR), which aims to transform capital markets by leveraging blockchain technology, predicts that the era of megabank stablecoin is coming. Cagney noted that the GENIUS Act will usher in JP Coin, and it will “suck the liabilities (deposits) out… Read More

October 8, 2025 @ 4:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto and DeFi markets are surging again with fresh new momentum as we enter the final quarter of 2025. As a result of this renewed investor enthusiasm, following a slight crypto market dip in September, Bitcoin mining stocks (including those of Riot Platforms and Hive,… Read More

October 7, 2025 @ 10:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

October 7, 2025 marks the first year since the UK’s Payment System Regulator or PSR introduced mandatory APP fraud reimbursement rules. Although 88% (£112m) of losses under the policy have reportedly been returned to victims, the total value of claims increased from Q1 to Q2… Read More

October 7, 2025 @ 8:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Kourosh Khanloo, director of corporate strategy at Jefferies-owned Tradu, has shared his perspective with CI on the UK lifting the ban on crypto ETNs for retail investors on October 8, 2025. Kourosh says that he welcomes the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) decision to lift… Read More

October 6, 2025 @ 4:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

While the United States has turned away from the concept of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), other jurisdictions, such as Europe and China, have embraced it. As has been reported, a digital Euro is in the works with the European Central Bank (ECB)… Read More

October 5, 2025 @ 3:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In an increasingly uncertain socioeconomic environment including growing tensions in the Middle East due to the Israeli conflict as well as the recent US government shutdown, global financial markets including Bitcoin have rallied to yet another all-time high of $125K right after the global stablecoins… Read More

October 3, 2025 @ 4:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Reacting to comments from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey that stablecoins could cut reliance on bank lending, a CryptoUK spokesperson said that the organization now welcomes these seemingly positive views from Bailey on the role of stablecoins and crypto-assets more broadly within the United… Read More

October 3, 2025 @ 9:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey‘s change in stance towards stablecoins has not gone unnoticed by industry professionals. Zumo‘s Founder and CEO Nick Jones said this latest move suggests the Bank of England’s long-held skepticism towards digital assets is beginning to dissipate, and it’s a… Read More

October 2, 2025 @ 8:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev recently noted during a professional gathering at Token2049 in Singapore that there should be a proper framework for asset tokenization in the world’s biggest markets, and it could be rolled out within the next 5 years. Tenev said that… Read More

September 29, 2025 @ 2:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The financial services sector is undergoing a transformation as blockchain technology and digital assets reshape how investors access yield, liquidity, and diversification. Franklin Templeton, a global asset manager overseeing over $1.6 trillion in assets, is focused on being at the center of this shift, leveraging… Read More

September 29, 2025 @ 11:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Union is charging forward to offer a digital Euro. A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is in the queue to be in use by 2026. Currently, both institutional use and consumer access are anticipated. This contrasts with the US, where a CBDC or… Read More