clients

ChianCatcher news, Circle's Senior Director of Strategy and Policy for the EU, Patrick Hansen, pointed out in a tweet that among the approximately 23 authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers in the EU, only 9 have been granted permission to provide crypto asset services (CASP). This means that only these 9 can offer custody and transfer services for the stablecoins they issue, while the remaining 14 can only mint or burn tokens directly to customer wallets and cannot hold or send stablecoins on behalf of customers. This greatly limits the range of services that issuers can provide.Hansen stated that Circle has obtained the necessary CASP approval through the MiCA Article 60 notification procedure to provide custody or payment services related to USDC and EURC for institutional clients. He expressed surprise that more EMT issuers have not taken this step. The 9 that can currently offer some crypto asset services include Circle, Société Générale - Forge, CACEIS Bank, Banking Circle, Bridge, Fiat Republic, Newrails, Blue EMI, and Stable Mint.

On May 13, 2026, the American financial services company Charles Schwab began to gradually open spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum to retail customers, with a transaction fee rate of 75 basis points. The company disclosed that customer assets reached $13.1 trillion, with 39.8 million brokerage accounts, and Paxos is responsible for execution and sub-custody.During the earnings call in July, Charles Schwab stated that the progress of the related business is on track and launched a pilot for cryptocurrency asset transfers, while also taking a stake in Paxos. Initially, only Bitcoin and Ethereum are supported, with no support for deposits and withdrawals, and no SIPC protection, except for New York and Louisiana. Charles Schwab customers hold approximately $25 billion in crypto ETP.Morgan Stanley's E*Trade launched Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading through Zerohash on July 16, with a fee rate of 50 basis points; Fidelity's rate is 1%, and Coinbase's consumer trading implied fee rate is about 1.75%.

Market news shows that Bank of America hedge fund clients continue to increase their positions in U.S. stocks, with weekly buying intensity reaching a new high since 2008.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Bitwise purchased 28,085.8 HYPE from Nonco for its ETF clients, valued at approximately 1.52 million USD, and transferred the tokens to its BHYP wallet (0x22B9...90b5).

According to the Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo plans to launch Tokenized Deposits services aimed at corporate clients, further exploring the application of blockchain technology in the traditional financial system.Wells Fargo stated that the tokenized deposit system will operate on its self-developed blockchain network and support interoperability with other blockchain networks.Tokenized deposits represent bank deposits in a digital form on the blockchain, allowing for faster and more transparent transfers of funds on-chain, while still being supported by the bank's deposit system.This move signifies that large banks are accelerating the construction of blockchain infrastructure and exploring on-chain financial applications in scenarios such as corporate payments, fund management, and inter-institutional settlements.

Bitwise CEO posted on the X platform that one of the world's largest wealth management companies has opened the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF BSOL to its advisors and clients.

RootData has integrated stock perpetual contract-related data into the API Professional Edition subscription system, covering core data such as stock perpetual contract trading pairs, market conditions, and liquidity.Currently, the RootData API has served over 220 institutional clients, covering not only mainstream trading platforms like Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Gate, but also widely adopted by market makers and quantitative institutions such as Amber Group and Presto Research. With continuously expanding data dimensions and stable real-time data service capabilities, RootData is gradually becoming an important provider of institutional-level crypto data infrastructure.

According to Bits.media, Russia's largest private bank, Alfa-Bank, has announced plans to become a digital custodian and provide cryptocurrency-related services, not only for its own clients but also for other legal entities. Dmitry Vitman, the bank's Chief Operating Officer, stated that the bank aims to create investment tools based on open blockchain to attract foreign investors and develop proprietary products and tools that can compete in the international market.He anticipates that after the government cryptocurrency regulatory bill comes into effect, Russia may see retail brokerage services emerge between the end of 2026 and early 2027, involving both Russian and foreign infrastructure, but large-scale liquidity is not expected until at least the end of 2027. Digital custodians are regulated entities responsible under Russian law for monitoring all client cryptocurrency transactions and freezing transfers to addresses not approved by the state.

The cryptocurrency trading platform Gate officially launched a new wealth management service system, Gate Wealth, aimed at ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors worldwide, providing private banking-level comprehensive services that connect Web3 and traditional finance. Gate Wealth integrates digital assets, fiat currency systems, and real-world assets (RWA) into a unified allocation framework, covering a diverse range of asset classes including cryptocurrency liquidity management, RWA fixed income assets, structured products, global stocks, ETFs, foreign exchange, metals, commodities, U.S. Treasuries, and primary market opportunities.Relying on a multi-jurisdictional compliance framework, an institutional-level liquidity network, and a professional research team, Gate Wealth offers 24/7 exclusive services, supporting large transaction execution, asset allocation, portfolio optimization, and dynamic rebalancing. In terms of building global financial service capabilities, Gate's entities have obtained or completed financial, payment, and virtual asset-related licenses, authorizations, or registrations in multiple core jurisdictions, providing a compliant foundation for Gate Wealth's cross-border asset allocation and multi-asset services.

According to The Block, a survey by CoinShares of 261 wealth management professionals in Europe shows that 52% of UK wealth advisors indicate that most of their clients' crypto asset exposure is outside their management scope (with a management gap exceeding 50%), while the overall percentage in Europe is one-quarter.The report points out that this "management blind spot" is primarily driven by company policies rather than a lack of advisor knowledge or client demand. In companies with explicit restrictions or a lack of internal guidance, the proportion of advisors actively recommending crypto assets is only 1%, while the management gap reaches 34%; in contrast, in companies with clear support, the recommendation rate is 48%, and the management gap is only 4%.The survey also found that the changes advisors most want to see are regulatory recognition of digital assets as a mainstream asset class (45%) and access to exchange-traded products (ETPs) (43%), rather than purely educational training.Currently, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed allowing authorized funds to hold up to 10% in crypto ETPs, and the European regulatory environment is gradually shifting towards support, which may help narrow this management gap.

Thomas Eichenberger, Chief Strategy Officer of Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, stated on Thursday that institutional clients are no longer waiting for a single stablecoin to prevail, but are instead demanding the integration of tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins, and tokenized money market funds within the same infrastructure to achieve interoperability, allowing treasury departments to flexibly switch between permitted settlement, 24/7 cross-border flows, and on-demand liquidity yields.Sygnum has already launched a Swiss franc stablecoin testing project this year in collaboration with Swiss banking institutions such as UBS, PostFinance, Raiffeisen, and Zürcher Kantonalbank. At the infrastructure level, Eichenberger pointed out that most institutional discussions still default to using private chains, but actual operators are leaning towards a "public but permissioned" model, which combines public infrastructure with regulated access control.In addition, the Qivalis alliance, composed of 37 major banks from the European Union, plans to launch a digital euro by the end of this year, with the banking industry's autonomous push directly challenging European Central Bank President Lagarde's stance on central bank-led digital currencies.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Citigroup will launch a blockchain platform that allows wealthy and institutional clients to trade tokenized shares of private company equity, initially open only to overseas investors. Citigroup stated that it has negotiated with several large private companies for participation. As star private companies like SpaceX and Anthropic delay their IPOs, Wall Street's demand for private equity allocation is rising. Citigroup previously predicted that by 2030, the market size for tokenized securities could reach approximately $4 trillion, and has already piloted the tokenization of customer deposits for cross-border settlements through Token Services. Recently, it also joined a tokenized deposit network alliance led by JPMorgan, aiming to achieve year-round settlement of large client funds.

According to Aastocks, Futu Securities has officially announced the approval of its service upgrade for license No. 1 (Securities Trading) by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, launching virtual asset trading financing services for eligible clients in Hong Kong. It is understood that the collateral for this service must be traditional securities, and the credit limit obtained by clients through traditional securities financing cannot be used for cryptocurrency trading, which is currently relaxed to be usable for cryptocurrency trading.As for using virtual assets directly as collateral for "margin trading," although the circular issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in February relaxed the use of virtual assets as collateral, it also mentioned that before the revision of capital regulations, virtual asset collateral will be subject to a 100% deduction according to the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules, which is expected to pose certain challenges to the industry's capital efficiency in actual operations.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission further interpreted the circular issued on May 22. The frequently asked questions (Question 9) in the circular mentioned that licensed companies in Hong Kong can continue to open new accounts for investors from mainland China (i.e., investors using Chinese resident identity cards and/or Chinese passports as identification documents), but must comply with all account opening regulations.The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that licensed companies in Hong Kong can continue to provide services to existing clients from mainland China, provided that such services are not offered within mainland China and that they have complied with all relevant laws and regulatory requirements of Hong Kong and applicable jurisdictions. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission also noted that it is aware of the notice jointly issued by the mainland authorities on May 22, 2026, and that the relevant requirements also apply to financial institutions in other jurisdictions (not limited to Hong Kong) when providing services to investors from mainland China.

According to Barron's, Morgan Stanley's wealth management division has partnered with Galaxy Digital, allowing high-net-worth clients holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana to convert their direct holdings into a spot crypto ETF.The converted ETF can be used as collateral for financing, with a minimum trading threshold of $5 million. In July 2025, the SEC approved a physical conversion mechanism between directly held crypto assets and spot crypto ETFs, laying the regulatory foundation for this collaboration.

According to an official announcement from Coinbase, Coinbase Financial Markets has become the first and only futures commission merchant (FCM) regulated by the CFTC in the United States, officially providing U.S. institutional clients with access to the global cryptocurrency derivatives market.Previously, U.S. users lacked compliant channels to access the global cryptocurrency derivatives market (which accounts for about 80% of global cryptocurrency trading volume). Currently, the open interest in Deribit Bitcoin options has exceeded $31 billion.With this launch, institutional clients can access international platforms such as Deribit through a single compliant channel, without the need to establish offshore entities. Retail user access services will also be launched soon.

WasabiCard announced that the number of corporate clients has officially surpassed 500, further accelerating the global stablecoin payment infrastructure layout. As a global payment infrastructure platform based on stablecoins, WasabiCard continues to provide services such as card issuance, payments, subscriptions, remittances, payroll, and cross-border fund distribution to global enterprises and users, centered around two core product systems: global card issuance and global remittance.In the past year, WasabiCard has issued over 500,000 cards, covering more than 100 countries and regions, with a total transaction volume exceeding 1 billion dollars. The service scenarios span multiple fields, including AI & SaaS subscriptions, advertising placements, cross-border payroll, Web3 payments, and global fund settlement.WasabiCard stated that as stablecoins gradually enter real commercial scenarios, the demand from enterprises for more efficient, flexible, and programmable global payment infrastructure is continuously growing. The company will continue to strengthen its efforts in stablecoin payments, global fund circulation, and the construction of programmable financial infrastructure in the future.

Bit Digital, a Nasdaq-listed company, CEO Sam Tabar posted on X that he has bought more ETH.Sam Tabar explained, "Many people, after seeing ETH's price performance over the past two years, concluded that it is finished. But I believe they have identified the wrong catalyst. The repricing of ETH should never have been based on retail narratives. For an asset supported by such a vast infrastructure, that narrative is inherently too fragile. The real catalyst is institutional demand. And the rhythm of institutional demand never operates according to the emotions on social media. It only occurs when conditions are ripe, such as when the compliance framework is ready, the custody system is established, and the regulatory environment is stable enough for CFOs to sign off. That moment is actually closer than what the market price reflects."He added, "I hold ETH because I have a fiduciary obligation to make smart capital allocation decisions. And based on the price at which I bought, ETH meets that standard."

On May 22, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission respectively issued announcements to update guidelines regarding the cross-border securities and futures fund operations of mainland investors. Futu stated that these guidelines and regulations provide unified requirements for the entire industry and that they will steadily advance related compliance work in strict accordance with regulatory agency requirements.Futu emphasized that it had previously completely stopped opening accounts for mainland identity applicants and has been continuously working to combat fraudulent account openings, rejecting tens of thousands of non-compliant account applications over the past two years. Futu has always actively communicated with regulatory agencies and followed their rectification requirements. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, the proportion of asset clients from mainland China accounted for only 13% of the total asset clients of the entire group.