Private Markets Sector
Regulators approved a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Trust Company to issue its USD1 stablecoin directly, while Universal Health Services acquired Talkspace for $835 million to boost behavioral health services. Meanwhile, Bitmine expanded its Ethereum reserves to $11 billion and Austrian authorities issued their first MiCA disclosure fine against Bitpanda.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter to World Liberty Trust Company, an affiliate of the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial. The approval authorizes the entity to directly issue and redeem the USD1 stablecoin in-house, cutting out current partner BitGo Bank and Trust. The charter is limited, prohibiting the institution from taking deposits, making loans, or seeking a Federal Reserve master account, but it requires a minimum capital of $20 million alongside a qualified internal audit manager. World Liberty Financial is approximately 38% owned by an entity tied to Donald Trump Jr. and other family members, prompting Senator Elizabeth Warren to introduce the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act to block banking applications involving top elected officials and their families.
The U.S. dollar fell to its lowest level since early June as soft economic data forced traders to scale back expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike. U.S. retail sales dropped 0.6 percent in July following an unrevised 0.2 percent gain in June, marking the first decline in nine months. Concurrently, consumer and producer price inflation readings came in softer than anticipated, driving the headline annual inflation rate down to 3.4 percent. Traders are now pricing in just a 30.6 percent probability of a rate increase at the central bank's September meeting, down sharply from roughly 52.2 percent a week earlier. Lower rate expectations depressed Treasury yields, with the two-year yield easing to 4.154 percent and the ten-year yield slipping to 4.688 percent. The dollar's retreat propelled the euro to a two-month high around $1.1614 and lifted sterling to multi-month highs near $1.3561. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen strengthened to around 159.15 per dollar, supported by residual caution following prior joint interventions by U.S. and Japanese authorities to stem the currency's weakness. Markets now look toward the upcoming Jackson Hole symposium for further policy clues.
Austria’s Financial Market Authority fined Bitpanda 70,000 euros in the regulator's first published enforcement case under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. The penalty stems from the crypto broker failing to submit a mandatory cryptocurrency white paper at least 20 working days before its publication, alongside circulating marketing communications prematurely. Additional infractions included omitting required disclosures stating that regulators had not reviewed or approved the document, as well as leaving out necessary contact details. Bitpanda stated the violations involved only timing and formal specifications, noting that it resolved the issues after the regulator raised them and accepted an expedited, consensual conclusion. The Vienna-based firm ended 2025 with 7.4 million registered users and 371 million euros in adjusted revenue.