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Swift Lines Up 17 Banks For Tokenised Deposit Ledger Tests

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Rollout Meets White House Denial After Clearance Account

Capital & Policy

129 articles

Swift Lines Up 17 Banks For Tokenised Deposit Ledger Tests

Swift said 17 banks are preparing to test live transactions on a blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenised deposits. The system is meant to support round-the-clock cross-border payments, while final settlement remains tied to existing payment systems.

#Swift #tokenised deposits #blockchain payments

July 10, 2026Read More →

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Rollout Meets White House Denial After Clearance Account

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Rollout Meets White House Denial After Clearance Account

A Commerce Department clearance account put OpenAI's GPT-5.6 on track for broader release, but the White House told CNBC it had not given any approval or green light and OpenAI has not announced a general-availability date.

#OpenAI GPT 5.6 #frontier AI regulation #U.S. Commerce Department

July 10, 2026Read More →

Bitcoin Suisse Wins ADGM Licence For Institutional Crypto Services

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

Bitcoin Suisse Wins ADGM Licence For Institutional Crypto Services

Bitcoin Suisse has received an ADGM Financial Services Permission for its Abu Dhabi subsidiary BTCS (Middle East) Ltd., allowing custody, approved virtual-asset trading and portfolio management for institutional and professional investors. The firm cited $3.7 billion in crypto assets under custody, but the announcement did not name UAE clients, launch volumes or retail availability.

#Bitcoin Suisse #ADGM #crypto custody

July 9, 2026Read More →

Open USD Stablecoin Draws 140 Backers But Launch Timing Stays Open

Fintech & Digital PaymentsNews

MARKET SIGNAL:

Open USD Stablecoin Draws 140 Backers But Launch Timing Stays Open

Open Standard launched Open USD with backing from banks, card networks and fintech firms, while the consortium said the stablecoin will go live later this year without naming commercial volumes or merchant adoption targets.

#stablecoins #digital payments #Open USD

July 9, 2026Read More →

Fed Proposes Risk-Based AML Rule For Banks With 60-Day Comment Window

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

Fed Proposes Risk-Based AML Rule For Banks With 60-Day Comment Window

The Federal Reserve Board said its proposed risk-based AML/CFT requirements would apply to supervised banks, with comments due 60 days after Federal Register publication and no final implementation date yet.

#Federal Reserve Board #AML/CFT #FinCEN

July 9, 2026Read More →

PitchBook Says AI Took $355.9 Billion Of US Venture Deals In First Half

Capital & PolicyFunding

FUNDING GAP:

PitchBook Says AI Took $355.9 Billion Of US Venture Deals In First Half

The PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor put US venture deal value at $412.7 billion in the first half of 2026 and said AI companies took $355.9 billion of that total. The report also warned that returns could narrow if AI growth or returns disappoint.

#AI venture funding #Anthropic #SpaceX

July 9, 2026Read More →

UAE AI Infrastructure Draws 29 Percent Of Greenfield FDI Capital Spending

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

UAE AI Infrastructure Draws 29 Percent Of Greenfield FDI Capital Spending

UAE Investment Minister Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi said communications projects including data centres and AI infrastructure accounted for 29 percent of greenfield FDI capital expenditure in 2025. The ministry report also put inward FDI at $48.3 billion, while named cloud operators, project-level financing and delivery dates were not disclosed.

#UAE FDI #AI infrastructure #data centres

July 9, 2026Read More →

AscendEX Shuts Down With User Payouts Unclear

Fintech & Digital PaymentsNews

MARKET SIGNAL:

AscendEX Shuts Down With User Payouts Unclear

AscendEX said it ceased operations on July 1 after MiCA authorisation, liquidity and operational pressures, with account access limited to offboarding. The exchange said it could not give assurances on withdrawal timing or amounts, while ZachXBT had flagged nearly empty hot wallets.

#AscendEX #crypto exchange shutdown #MiCA

July 9, 2026Read More →

Meta Faces Backlash Over AI Images From Public Instagram Photos

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

Meta Faces Backlash Over AI Images From Public Instagram Photos

Meta is facing criticism after BBC reported that Muse Image can generate AI pictures using public Instagram profile photos for US users. Meta said public-account holders can opt out, while campaigners warned that the setting is separate from normal account privacy controls.

#Meta Muse Image #Instagram profile photos #AI image generation

July 9, 2026Read More →

Sony Wins OCC Conditional Trust Charter For Stablecoin Unit

Fintech & Digital PaymentsPolicy

REGULATION WATCH:

Sony Wins OCC Conditional Trust Charter For Stablecoin Unit

Sony disclosed that the OCC has conditionally approved a U.S. national trust bank for Connectia Trust, a Sony Financial Group subsidiary that would issue and manage dollar-denominated stablecoins. Sony said the unit will be capitalised at $40 million, while trade groups and consumer advocates objected to the charter path.

#Sony Financial Group #Connectia Trust #OCC trust charter

July 9, 2026Read More →

Kraken Targets European Banking Licence In 10-Year Licence Push

Fintech & Digital PaymentsPolicy

REGULATION WATCH:

Kraken Targets European Banking Licence In 10-Year Licence Push

Kraken is pursuing a full European banking licence with Lithuania as the focus jurisdiction, according to a person familiar with the plans. CEO Arjun Sethi said Kraken’s parent company aims to acquire licences over the next 10 years, while Kraken declined to comment and Lithuania’s central bank said licensing processes are confidential.

#Kraken #European banking licence #Bank of Lithuania

July 8, 2026Read More →

Meta Muse Image Uses Public Instagram Posts Unless Users Opt Out

Capital & PolicyFunding

REGULATION WATCH:

Meta Muse Image Uses Public Instagram Posts Unless Users Opt Out

Meta has launched Muse Image with Instagram integration that allows public profile photos and videos to be used in AI image generations by default. Users can switch off sharing in Instagram settings, but Meta says existing AI images made with their content will not be deleted and users will not be notified when someone creates them.

#Meta Muse Image #Instagram AI opt out #public Instagram accounts

July 8, 2026Read More →