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Bitget has launched perpetual contracts for 4 popular stocks: CSTOCK (Citibank), MDT (Medtronic), BP (British Petroleum), and VLO (Valero Energy). The above contracts are settled in USDT, supporting up to 20 times leverage and 24/7 trading. As of now, Bitget supports a total of 368 stock perpetual contract underlying assets.

On October 12, 2026, Bulgarian bank Fibank (First Investment Bank) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Austrian licensed cryptocurrency service provider Bitpanda GmbH. The cooperation will allow Fibank customers to directly access cryptocurrency asset service technology provided by Bitpanda through the My Fibank mobile application. The article states that Fibank thus becomes the first bank in Bulgaria to offer integrated cryptocurrency trading access to its customers.Customers can apply and, once approved, use the related services through the embedded Bitpanda interface in My Fibank around the clock, with a minimum investment threshold of 1 euro. The cryptocurrency asset services are provided by Bitpanda, and access depends on Bitpanda's acceptance of potential customers and its applicable terms and standards. The article explains that these digital products are different from traditional deposits and financial instruments, and do not come with guarantees or compensation plans.Fibank CEO Nikola Bakalov stated that the cooperation with Bitpanda is the next step for My Fibank to expand financial services as a digital platform, emphasizing collaboration with European technology partners and compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Bitpanda Enterprise's global head Nadeem Ladki stated that the two parties will bring cryptocurrency services to over 1 million customers in Bulgaria. Fibank claims to be the largest bank in Bulgaria by capital holdings, with core operations in Bulgaria and branches in Cyprus and a subsidiary in Albania.

Citi announced the launch of its enterprise-grade tokenized deposit service, Citi Token Services, in Japan and the UAE. Japanese customers can transfer funds almost instantly to accounts in regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore that have been activated; the service supports US dollars in Japan, and cross-border transfers can be conducted year-round, 24/7.This service is backed by bank deposits and processed on a permissioned blockchain managed by Citi, requiring no new accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. The covered markets have expanded to seven, including the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the UAE.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Citigroup has reached a partnership with Coinbase, allowing Citigroup's institutional clients (including large multinational corporations) to accept customer stablecoin payments through Citigroup's merchant acquiring services. Coinbase will provide the stablecoin payment channel and underlying blockchain technology, automatically converting stablecoins into fiat currency, with Citigroup acting as the custodian bank to complete the funds settlement.At the same time, Coinbase's payment clients can leverage Citigroup's banking capabilities to receive, hold, and make payments using tools similar to bank accounts. The cash received will automatically be converted into stablecoins and stored in Coinbase, currently earning an annualized reward of 3.75% in interest-like benefits.

According to CoinDesk, the stablecoin issuer Tether stated that its assets held in the licensed digital bank EQIBank in Dominica account for less than 0.034% of the group's total assets. Based on Tether's disclosed total group assets of $18.775 billion in June, its related exposure is approximately $64 million, but Tether did not disclose the specific amount.It was reported that EQIBank processes customer funds through the U.S. payment processor Capstone, which utilizes accounts at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan for fund transfers. U.S. prosecutors have seized funds related to Capstone's accounts and filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit, accusing it of making false representations about its business to the bank. EQIBank stated that approximately $89 million in funds have been seized, equivalent to about 80% of its monetary assets, which may expose it to liquidation risks.Previously, EQIBank provided banking services to Tether, including processing wire transfers related to the purchase and redemption of USDT. Tether stated that it is not aware of the actions related to Capstone as alleged by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to a report by The Information, Tether has some funds trapped at one of its offshore banking partners, which is facing liquidation risk after asset seizures in the United States.Tether stated that the assets it holds at the bank EQIBank are limited, accounting for less than 0.034% of its total assets.

Due to the severe fluctuations in the interest rate market, Citibank has closed the emerging market arbitrage basket.

According to CoinDesk, Citibank will launch an international transfer service based on tokenized deposits for Japanese companies by the end of the year, enabling 24/7 instant cross-border payments between five countries, becoming the first foreign bank to offer this service in Japan.

DBS and Citibank's New York office completed a cross-border payment in US dollars between Singapore and the United States on September 5 using tokenized deposits through the Swift Digital Ledger. The transaction was executed over the weekend and took only a few minutes, while traditional cross-border payments typically take up to two business days, allowing businesses to avoid losing time due to time zone differences and weekend gaps. This is the second confirmed real-time application of the ledger, following HSBC and Standard Chartered's completion of the first real-time tokenized deposit cross-border transaction in August. Swift announced the ledger's preliminary availability on July 9, with 17 banks ready to pilot it, and DBS is the only bank headquartered in Asia among the 12 core design group members. DBS Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Chew stated that the Swift Digital Ledger is connecting traditional banking infrastructure with emerging digital networks to drive the practical application of tokenized currency from experimentation. Citibank's Head of South Asia Services Mridula Iyer noted that weekend real-time transactions prove that around-the-clock cross-border payments have become a reality. DBS will launch DBS Token Services in 2024, offering 24/7 programmable instant value transfer services.

According to Cointelegraph, DBS Bank has partnered with Citibank to utilize a blockchain-based ledger from Swift to achieve instant, round-the-clock cross-border dollar payments through tokenized deposits.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has effectively banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading nationwide, threatening to prosecute traders and related businesses. More than 20 crypto shops in Herat have closed, and at least 13 traders have reportedly been arrested. Monthly inflows of cryptocurrency in Afghanistan have dropped from a peak of over $150 million to less than $80,000.After Afghanistan was largely cut off from the global banking system, Bitcoin and stablecoins had become important tools for savings and remittances. Taliban officials claim that digital assets are fraudulent and believe that cryptocurrency speculation is akin to gambling under Islamic law. Although the related actions have compressed the visible cryptocurrency market in Afghanistan, Bitcoin can still be traded via the internet, private keys, and counterparties.

On August 21, 3D storage-computing integrated chip company Qianhe Yibang announced that its self-developed global first 4-layer 3D DRAM stacked storage-computing integrated chip successfully returned to the wafer and was powered on, marking the transition of this technology from validation to the engineering implementation stage. This chip adopts a three-dimensional integrated native computing architecture, with data access and storage bandwidth improved by an order of magnitude compared to traditional solutions, while access and storage power consumption, latency, and single data processing costs have all decreased by an order of magnitude.Qianhe Yibang was established in January 2024, incubated by NetEase, and recently completed over 2 billion yuan in Series B financing.

According to Business Wire, Citi Investor Services has launched Custody+, a modular solution designed for near real-time and real-time custody needs, aimed at adapting to the operational demands brought about by continuous trading markets, settlement cycle compression, and technological changes.Citi stated that its U.S. market has completed the deployment of patented Single Event Processing (SEP) technology, with over 80% of the total events processed in real time.

According to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice has seized a cloud computing account used by Huione Group, which is accused of laundering billions of dollars in cryptocurrency scam proceeds. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva stated that the account constituted technical support, enabling the transfer and concealment of scam funds through Southeast Asian scam centers. This action is part of "Operation Choke Point," under which the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network had previously identified Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern.The statement claims that Huione's subsidiaries are suspected of assisting criminals in transferring funds from investment scams, cyber theft, and other illegal blockchain activities, ultimately injecting them into the legitimate banking system, with a significant amount of theft reportedly linked to North Korea. Huione's "Huione Guarantee" had previously posted advertisements for stolen credit cards, identity information, malware profits, and human trafficking services on Telegram channels. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic pointed out that Huione launched the stablecoin USDH under financial pressure last year and developed a proprietary product line that includes a decentralized exchange, wallets, and "Huione Chain" (Xone).

According to the official announcement, Bitget has launched a total of 45 US stock and popular ETF spot tokens including rIBM (IBM), rGS (Goldman Sachs), rC (Citigroup), rAXP (American Express), and rJNJ (Johnson & Johnson).

A report released by Citibank indicates that Bitcoin could reach $165,000 this year. The bank manages assets totaling $25 trillion.

Due to Citigroup analysts lowering their price forecasts for Bitcoin and Ethereum, the stock of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini (GEMI) fell more than 16% on Wednesday. Citigroup downgraded Gemini's rating from "Neutral" to "Sell," and significantly cut its target price from $13 to $5.5, citing that the exchange may take years to achieve profitability.Analysts indicated that as the U.S. midterm elections approach, the likelihood of significant cryptocurrency legislation passing this year is decreasing. Currently, Gemini has planned to exit the markets in the UK, EU, and Australia, and is laying off 25% of its workforce to reduce operating expenses and accelerate its path to profitability.

Citigroup has lowered its 12-month price target for Bitcoin from $143,000 to $112,000, and for Ethereum from $4,304 to $3,175.The bank pointed out that factors such as the stalled progress of U.S. cryptocurrency legislation, declining expectations for ETF fund inflows, and weak on-chain activity are the main reasons for this adjustment in forecasts. The current market trend remains highly dependent on U.S. regulatory developments. Although the CLARITY Act has passed in the House of Representatives, its progress in the Senate has been stalled, and legislative uncertainty continues to restrict institutional capital entry.Citigroup also stated that despite the recent resilience of ETF fund inflows, it has lowered its 12-month fund inflow expectations for Bitcoin and Ethereum to $10 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. However, Citigroup indicated that in an optimistic scenario, Bitcoin could still reach $165,000 and Ethereum $4,488.