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According to the official announcement from JPYC, the yen stablecoin issuer JPYC has signed a memorandum of cooperation with South Korea's Shinhan Bank's Japan SBJ Bank and LINE NEXT, planning to conduct a proof of concept for direct top-ups of yen stablecoins to bank accounts and digital wallets.According to the division of labor, SBJ Bank provides bank accounts and payment infrastructure, LINE NEXT provides technology such as its Unifi wallet and Unifi Pay, and JPYC provides support for the issuance and redemption of yen stablecoins. JPYC is a regulated yen stablecoin issuer in Japan, with its tokens pegged 1:1 to the yen, supported by bank deposits and Japanese government bonds.

According to CoinDesk, Shinhan Card, a subsidiary of South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group, is collaborating with a subsidiary of Japan's SBI Holdings to explore the payment applications of a yen stablecoin between the two countries. Participants include the cryptocurrency exchange SBI VC Trade and the trade finance blockchain company SBI XDC Network APAC.The collaboration will study scenarios such as card-linked merchant payments for Japanese tourists visiting South Korea, wallet-to-wallet transfers, and cross-border trade settlements, and will include suspicious transaction monitoring and anti-money laundering compliance systems. Shinhan Card serves approximately 20 million cardholders and stated that it will connect this project with Shinhan Financial's broader digital asset strategy, which includes an agreement reached in August with Visa to explore stablecoin issuance, transfers, and card settlements.Currently, the project is still in its early stages, and the parties have not disclosed the types of stablecoins to be tested, nor have they set a timeline for testing or commercial rollout. SBI has previously issued the yen stablecoin JPYSC, launched by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and introduced in collaboration with Startale Group, which had a circulation of approximately 20.1 billion yen (about 127 million USD) as of September 7. JPYSC is currently only available for use in SBI VC Trade accounts and cannot be transferred to external wallets. Its circulation on the public chain depends on legal and tax clarity and regulatory approval, and the parties have not indicated whether JPYSC will be included in this test.

Ripple's brokerage business Ripple Prime (formerly Hidden Road) announced that institutional clients can now trade swap contracts linked to over 100 stocks, commodities, and foreign exchange markets around the clock, using the USD stablecoin RLUSD issued by Ripple as collateral. These swap contracts track perpetual futures listed on the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Hyperliquid by Trade.xyz, which have no expiration date and can be traded 24/7, allowing funds to build positions in assets like gold while traditional markets are closed. Ripple announced on October 15 that trading company Virtu is already using this service.HSBC's head of digital asset research, Daragh Maher, stated in a report sent to clients on Monday that this launch is "evolution rather than revolution." He wrote that it is a rapidly growing market but still far smaller than the traditional financial markets it tracks, and the product's appeal will be stronger only when the market has sufficient depth, allowing investors to express views and adjust risks while traditional markets are closed. HSBC expects early activity to focus on market makers, proprietary traders, and hedge funds seeking basis trading, rather than institutions looking for strategic hedging.The risks of weekend trading have already become apparent. Last Saturday, approximately $52 million in leveraged chip stock positions were forcibly liquidated within 10 minutes, with the sell-off spreading from Binance to Hyperliquid, while the underlying stocks were not trading, and the contracts lacked new stock market prices for reference. HSBC stated that Ripple's success depends on whether the service is cheaper, simpler, and can better utilize client collateral compared to existing brokers. The new swap business is offered under Ripple Prime's British Virgin Islands license, with plans to expand to more jurisdictions in the future.

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On October 16, SBI Holdings and Startale Group announced their participation in Open Standard to explore the interoperability of the dollar-pegged stablecoin OUSD and the yen-denominated trust-based stablecoin JPYSC. The article states that Open Standard will launch in June 2026, and the alliance already includes over 140 global companies, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, with OUSD already publicly launched on-chain. The announcement clarified that this only involves exploring a pilot project and does not represent the launch of new commercial services or the initiation of production environment settlements or trading activities.Yoshitaka Kitao, Representative Director, Chairman, President, and CEO of SBI Holdings, stated that cross-border transactions will become more common, and seamless conversion between yen and dollar stablecoins is crucial. Joining Open Standard and exploring related proof of concepts is an important step. He also mentioned that the SBI Group has been the first in Japan to offer dollar stablecoins USDC and RLUSD. Startale Group CEO Sota Watanabe stated that joining Open Standard reflects both parties' belief that the future of finance is on-chain, borderless, and interoperable, and that the pilot interoperability of JPYSC and OUSD is of significant importance.JPYSC is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and is positioned as an on-chain yen settlement infrastructure compliant with Japan's Payment Services Act and trust law framework. In July 2026, SBI Global Asset Management, DigiFT, and Startale announced a proof of concept for tokenized securities settlement and distribution payments, considering the future use of JPYSC. Open Standard claims it was established in 2026, with founding partners including Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa, and over 200 institutions have signed up to add OUSD to the platform.

Michael Roberts, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking at HSBC Holdings, stated that as AI infrastructure development progresses, banks and investors are becoming more cautious in providing financing and are demanding higher investment returns. Global stock markets faced a sell-off due to falling stock prices of chip manufacturers, intensifying concerns about financing challenges. PwC estimates that by 2050, related investment spending in the Asia region alone could reach $8.2 trillion.

The Central Bank of Russia has included Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, in the registry of institutions authorized to trade digital currencies, allowing it to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in its own name and with its own funds. Six days ago, Sberbank was listed among digital custodians.Sberbank plans to launch its first cryptocurrency products on December 1 through SberBank Online, SberInvestments, and SberBusiness, initially supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT issued by Tether. The specific launch time depends on the decisions of the Central Bank of Russia and the preparation of supporting regulations. According to relevant laws, retail investors can trade up to 300,000 rubles per year through a single intermediary and must pass a knowledge test; using cryptocurrencies to pay for goods within Russia remains illegal.

The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has submitted a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting to overturn his fraud conviction and revoke the $11 billion forfeiture order. According to CNN, the petition was filed on September 10 local time, led by Alexandra A.E. Shapiro from the law firm Shapiro, Arato, Bach. SBF is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.The petition raises two core legal issues: first, when can the trial court admit evidence showing whether victims suffered losses, in cases where the prosecution uses a "fraudulent inducement" theory, meaning that it is irrelevant whether the victims suffered economic losses; second, does the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allow for forfeiture or other criminal fines that destroy the defendant's future livelihood prospects? The defense argues that the trial court allowed the prosecution to imply that clients suffered massive losses while prohibiting the defense from presenting evidence that clients have been compensated, which constitutes an error.The defense claims that although FTX and Alameda faced liquidity issues at one point, they always held sufficient assets to ultimately pay back investors and clients, and clients have now been repaid with both principal and interest. In 2023, SBF was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and money laundering, and in 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. In June of this year, a panel of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original ruling. The Supreme Court is expected to decide later this year whether to hear the case.

According to CoinDesk, Russia's largest bank Sberbank has received approval from the Central Bank of Russia to conduct cryptocurrency trading. According to Interfax, the Central Bank of Russia has included Sberbank in the registry of cryptocurrency trading service providers. The bank has also entered the registry of digital asset custodians, qualifying it to record customers' cryptocurrency holdings.Sberbank plans to launch cryptocurrency trading services to users through its existing client portal starting December 1. It is currently testing trading functions for assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDT within the app, and the final list of tokens supported for trading will be determined by the Central Bank of Russia. This approval signifies a further shift towards compliance in the regulation of the Russian cryptocurrency market. In 2022, the Central Bank of Russia proposed a ban on domestic cryptocurrency trading platforms and financial institutions participating in cryptocurrency activities, but new regulations that took effect in September of this year began to establish a regulated market involving banks, brokers, trading platforms, and digital asset custodians.Currently, there are 9 institutions on the Central Bank of Russia's registry of cryptocurrency trading service providers, including VTB and T-Invest Lab. However, the use of cryptocurrencies for payments remains prohibited within Russia. The Central Bank of Russia stated that starting in July next year, cryptocurrency trading must be conducted through registered intermediaries, and peer-to-peer transactions conducted through bank accounts may be subject to restrictions.

According to The Block, KB Kookmin Card has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's SBI Holdings to test AI agent-based identity verification and explore cross-border cryptocurrency payments.The two parties will study ways for Japanese tourists to pay Korean merchants using cryptocurrency assets, including stablecoins. KB Kookmin Card is a credit card company under KB Financial Group, and SBI Holdings is a Japanese financial holding group.

According to Cointelegraph, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) warned in a document submitted to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors that cross-border regulation of stablecoins, crisis management mechanisms, and AI-related cybersecurity risks still need further improvement.FSB Chair Andrew Bailey stated that the current cross-border regulation of stablecoins and crisis management mechanisms "are still immature or have not yet been established."

HSBC and Ant Group tested a system that allows AI agents to access digital services and complete small payments using tokenized bank deposits, with transactions settled in real-time on a blockchain test network. This test combined HSBC's tokenized deposit service, Ant Group's Anvita Flow network, and the layer two blockchain testing environment Jovay Testnet. HSBC provided settlement capabilities and real-time risk checks, while Ant Group's network coordinated service access and payments. In the demonstration, an AI agent selected a digital service and completed the payment, with both parties referring to such transactions as small payments, typically defined as being under $2. Both companies stated that this test was limited to technical validation and does not represent a commercial release or actual services for customers.Currently, several banks are testing AI agents to initiate financial transactions on behalf of clients. In March, Spain's Santander Bank completed AI agent-initiated payments in a controlled test using Mastercard's Agent Pay infrastructure, involving the bank's real-time payment system. In May, Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum tested AI agent-driven transactions on the main blockchain network, requiring client approval and signature for each transaction. Spain's CaixaBank also completed AI agent-initiated card transactions using Visa Intelligent Commerce with existing merchant payment systems. However, Augustus Bank CEO Ferdinand Dabitz believes that traditional clearing banks rely on systems designed for manual operations decades ago, making it difficult to adapt to the demands of automated, round-the-clock transactions.

Netflix released a trailer for an eight-episode series that tells the story of the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, focusing on former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his colleague and girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, head of FTX's sister company Alameda Research. The series will premiere on November 19, with Anthony Boyle portraying Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner portraying Ellison.The trailer emphasizes that "going all in on math is the optimal strategy," seemingly pointing to FTX's use of user funds for high-risk investments. Ellison, played by Garner, says in the trailer, "Lying isn't bad for a good cause," echoing Ellison's testimony during the 2023 trial, where she stated that Bankman-Fried believed the rules against lying and stealing did not necessarily apply to effective altruism, a philosophy that advocates doing good whenever possible, including through accumulating wealth to donate to charitable causes.After the collapse and bankruptcy of FTX, Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and related individuals were indicted in December 2022. Ellison pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors to testify, while Bankman-Fried chose to stand trial, was convicted on seven counts of fraud, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. As of October, he remains incarcerated in federal prison and has requested a pardon from President Trump and for the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction; Ellison was released in January.

According to TASS, Kirill Tsarev, the First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, stated that the bank has noticed a significant interest from a large number of customers in cryptocurrencies, which have become an indispensable part of the global market.

The International Monetary Fund has completed the second and third reviews of the $1.4 billion financing mechanism for El Salvador, disbursing $139 million and granting exemptions after the country violated Bitcoin holding limits.The International Monetary Fund currently expects that, aside from documented donations, the El Salvador government will not purchase more Bitcoin and will increase the transparency of public Bitcoin holdings.

Russia has registered the first batch of cryptocurrency exchange operators and digital asset custodians based on the new regulations that took effect on September 1. The Bank of Russia announced the list of the first authorized operators, which includes 4 exchange operators and 5 custodians.Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, has been included in the list of custodians, alongside Atomyze, Voltari, and Cloud Infrastructure. Sberbank stated that it has applied for the qualification of a digital asset custodian and plans to launch its first cryptocurrency products on December 1 through the SberBank Online, SberInvestments, and SberBusiness platforms, initially supporting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USDt (USDT).T-Invest Lab, Zefir, and Sistema-Crypto have been included in the list of exchange operators, with VTB Bank appearing on both lists. The relevant registration is based on the cryptocurrency bill signed by President Vladimir Putin in August, which brings exchanges, custodians, brokers, and investors under the supervision of the Bank of Russia and maintains the prohibition on using cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services.

According to a report by The New York Times, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng stated in a recent interview that he was assigned to the low-security prison Lompoc II in California, which had also previously housed FTX founder SBF.Before reporting to prison, Zhao Changpeng assembled a team of advisors who taught him the various subtle rules of prison cell block politics. One of the advisors even communicated with other inmates, who agreed to help Zhao Changpeng adapt to life in prison.In August 2024, Zhao Changpeng left Lompoc prison and moved to a halfway house. However, due to issues with his immigration status, he had to spend the last two weeks in a local jail, passing the time doing push-ups and sit-ups in his cell. On the day of his release, it took only 26 minutes from Zhao Changpeng being released from custody to his private jet taking off.

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According to a report by Reuters, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a disbursement of $139 million to El Salvador, following the organization's exemption regarding the Salvadoran government's violation of conditions limiting further accumulation of Bitcoin. The IMF Executive Board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador's $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), allowing for the immediate release of these funds.The IMF stated that El Salvador's economic performance has exceeded expectations, benefiting from improved security conditions and increased investor confidence. The IMF noted that some program performance standards were not met, including indicators related to Bitcoin holdings. However, after El Salvador took strong corrective measures and recommitted, the IMF approved the relevant exemptions.In September, IMF staff indicated that documents provided by El Salvador showed that the increase in Bitcoin following the initial review came from private donations rather than public funds. The IMF also stated that El Salvador has made progress in anti-money laundering measures, fiscal transparency, and transferring majority ownership and control of the state-owned digital wallet Chivo to private operators.