Institutional crypto infrastructure expanded as SoFi partnered with Kraken, and Standard Chartered launched spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for institutions in the UAE. Exchange competition and market offerings grew with Gate launching a white-label prediction market tool, Fomo acquiring Mobula's on-chain tech, and LSE partnering with Payward to tokenize major UK stocks. Meanwhile, Mantle added the USDG stablecoin, and the CFTC sought to dismiss CME's lawsuit regarding crypto perpetual futures.
01Company specific
SoFi and Kraken Partner on Stablecoins and 24/7 Settlement
Linking a bank-issued stablecoin directly to an exchange's institutional settlement network bridges crypto liquidity with regulated depository banking, reducing off-hours counterparty risk for fiat clearing.
SoFi and Kraken parent Payward formed a partnership that brings SoFiUSD to the exchange and connects Kraken to SoFi's 24/7 dollar settlement network. Under the agreement, SoFi will use Kraken Prime as an additional source of digital for trades made inside its app, which serves 15.8 million members. Meanwhile, Payward joins the SoFi Exchange Network, giving its institutional and business clients round-the-clock US dollar settlement and access to business banking services. SoFiUSD is a dollar-backed issued by SoFi Bank with reserves held in cash and short-term US Treasurys. The companies stated that qualified custody services could be added as the partnership expands.
Fomo Acquires Mobula Technology to In-House On-Chain Infrastructure
Verticalizing data aggregation converts Fomo's primary variable infrastructure cost into fixed internal engineering overhead, preserving unit economics as trading volumes scale.
Trading platform Fomo acquired proprietary software and intellectual property from on-chain data aggregator Mobula to bring its infrastructure in-house. The transaction also brings Mobula founder Sacha Marcus, CTO Sacha Delhoux, and Head of Infrastructure Cyril Conan onto Fomo's engineering team. The deal follows a surge in user adoption that pushed Fomo's user base past 1.9 million since July, with daily sign-ups exceeding 30,000. That activity propelled monthly trading volume from $500 million in June to $1.5 billion in July, with August pacing toward $2.8 billion in volume and $17 million in monthly . By absorbing Mobula's technology, Fomo replaces an external set of infrastructure providers with proprietary systems designed to support its annualized revenue run rate of over $200 million.
CFTC Asks Judge to Dismiss CME Lawsuit Over Crypto Futures
Dismissing CME's lawsuit would cement perpetual contracts as standard futures, opening established US derivatives exchanges to direct competition from retail-focused prediction markets offering flexible crypto leverage.
coindesk.com reports that the U.S. Trading Commission has asked a federal judge to dismiss CME Group's lawsuit challenging the approval of perpetual futures. The regulator argued in a motion filed Wednesday that the exchange lacks constitutional standing because it has not suffered concrete financial harm. CME sued the regulator in June after the CFTC approved Kalshi's BTCPERP contract, arguing that products without expiration dates meet the legal definition of swaps rather than futures. The CFTC countered that the challenged order allows any designated contract market, including CME, to list similar products, making any competitive injury self-inflicted since CME's own customers have not demanded the contracts. Furthermore, the agency noted that reclassifying the products as swaps would not remove competing offerings from Kalshi and other exchanges. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected the CFTC's request to withhold the administrative record last week and ordered both parties to propose a combined briefing schedule by September 4.
Gate Exchange Launches Prediction Market Builder for Businesses
Fortune.com reports that exchange Gate has launched a white-label prediction market builder called Event Contracts Builder. The infrastructure tool allows brokers, Web3 applications, and trading platforms to integrate forecasting features directly into their own products without building the underlying technology. The service operates as part of Gate's decentralized-exchange infrastructure platform, Gate DexBuilder. Alongside the product launch, Gate introduced a $3 million grant program funded entirely by the company to cover development costs and provide technical and marketing support for builders. Gate previously partnered with Polymarket as the first exchange to integrate Polymarket Builder before developing its competing offering.
Mantle Adopts Paxos USDG Stablecoin, Joining Global Dollar Network
Rewarding network partners with the yield on underlying reserves turns stablecoins into revenue-sharing assets, directly competing with zero-yield issuers for layer-two liquidity.
Cointelegraph.com reports that Ethereum layer-2 network Mantle integrated Paxos-issued USDG and joined the Global Dollar Network as a partner. The integration gives Mantle access to USDG reward-sharing alongside more than 150 existing partners such as Kraken and Robinhood. USDG holds a of about $3.18 billion. Mantle deployed the stablecoin for applications and institutional allocation across its ecosystem. Meanwhile, the network recorded $234.2 million in distributed tokenized real-world as of Wednesday, marking a 19% increase over 30 days.
London Stock Exchange Partners with Payward to Bring UK Equities Onchain
Traditional stock exchanges lending their listings to offshore, unregulated token issuers risks fragmenting domestic liquidity while surrendering secondary-market trading fees to crypto venues.
The London Stock Exchange Group is partnering with Kraken parent Payward to bring the 100 largest UK-listed companies onto rails as tokenized . Under the agreement, Payward will issue the UK through its xStocks framework, which backs each digital token one-to-one with an underlying security held in custody. The first batch of tokenized UK stocks is scheduled to launch within weeks for eligible investors across more than 110 countries. However, UK-based investors are currently excluded from purchasing the products due to regulatory constraints. Beyond the initial tokenization rollout, the London bourse plans to integrate xStocks into LSE 24, its upcoming extended-hours trading venue slated for 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The two companies also intend to explore natively issued equity tokens that would allow exchange members to issue and service shares directly onchain. Payward's xStocks framework has already generated more than $40 billion in total trading volume, with nearly $20 billion settled directly onchain across more than 200,000 holders.
xStocks Volume Metrics ($B)
Total trading volume has reached over $40 billion with nearly $20 billion onchain.
Standard Chartered Launches Spot Crypto Trading in UAE
Routing deliverable spot crypto through established FX channels allows a global systemically important bank to internalize digital asset liquidity within existing institutional balance sheet frameworks.
Standard Chartered launched spot and Ether trading for institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates through its Dubai International Financial Centre entity. The bank became the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer deliverable spot trading in the region. Institutional clients access the service through electronic trading channels integrated into existing platforms like interfaces. The rollout builds on the bank's digital custody services introduced in the region in September 2024. Standard Chartered previously rolled out similar institutional spot trading through its UK branch in July 2025.
Traditional financial giants and exchanges are rapidly bringing crypto infrastructure, tokenization, and settlement in-house. However, it is unresolved whether regulators like the CFTC will allow incumbent exchanges to block offshore perpetual futures products from domestic markets.
This, every morning.
SuMarket writes Cryptocurrency and Blockchain every morning, along with every other section of the market and the companies and topics you follow. Free to read.