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The London-listed technology company The Smarter Web Company announced that since October 14, it has sold a total of 1,076,000 ordinary shares and 25 preferred shares through its ordinary share ATM facility and preferred share ATM facility, raising a total of approximately £592,679.Among them, the average selling price of ordinary shares was £0.55 per share, with net proceeds of approximately £579,850; the average selling price of preferred shares was £100 per share, with net proceeds of approximately £2,475.

Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase announced its participation in Tech Against Scams and is collaborating with the UK's National Crime Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice Scam Center Strike Force, and international law enforcement partners to launch a joint crackdown week in London from October 6 to 9, sharing intelligence in real-time and coordinating actions against West African criminal scam networks.Coinbase stated that the relevant scam networks operate across platforms, seeking potential victims through social media, establishing trust via instant messaging, and using digital infrastructure and financial services to transfer illicit funds. As law enforcement and the industry intensify their crackdown on Southeast Asian scam hubs, criminal networks are expanding to other regions, including West Africa. This operation is hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency, bringing together technology, telecommunications, and financial companies to target the infrastructure, accounts, and payment systems that support scams.Coinbase Vice President Leah Bressack: The earlier crackdown on Southeast Asian scam hubs this year proved that coordinated actions between the industry and law enforcement are effective; as criminal networks attempt to rebuild in Africa, Coinbase's global intelligence team is tracking funds, freezing assets, and sharing intelligence in real-time. The tactics targeted include fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scams, impersonating law enforcement officials, and using fake video calls to carry out "arrests" to pressure transfers. Coinbase stated it will continue to collaborate with Tech Against Scams and law enforcement partners.

According to The Block, the UK Bitcoin treasury company The Smarter Web Company is conditionally raising £10 million (approximately $13.2 million) through a preferred stock issuance. Of this, £4 million (approximately $5.3 million) in net proceeds will be used to increase its Bitcoin holdings.This batch of preferred shares is expected to start trading in London on October 14, with an initial annual dividend yield of 12%, paid weekly.

The Smarter Web Company announced that it has raised $13.25 million through the UK's first Bitcoin-backed preferred stock IPO, MORE. MORE will begin trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange this Wednesday, with the first weekly dividend scheduled to be paid on November 9.

According to Caixin, the asset investigation into the Prince Group of Cambodia, suspected of transnational online fraud and money laundering, is further unfolding in the UK. Following the freezing of multiple luxury properties in London belonging to the group's founder, Chen Zhi, and the individual identified as the "number two person," Hu Xiaowei, the 170 million yuan luxury property and luxury watches under the name of the group's financial officer, Li Tianming, have also been frozen by the UK.In October 2025, when the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the Prince Group and its affiliated individuals, Li Tianming was listed as a close associate of Chen Zhi, indicating that he effectively assumed the role of financial officer responsible for the illegal financial operations of the Prince Group, involving the management of illegal fund flows and large-scale cash smuggling.

According to the City of London Police report, 25-year-old London man Ajay Shinjin (also known as AJ Marley Cruz) was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the Inner London Crown Court for his involvement in a SIM swap fraud case. He pleaded guilty on September 28 to two charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and transferring criminal property. The case involved the theft of cryptocurrency worth nearly £200,000 (approximately $265,000).In early November 2021, British telecom operator BT discovered unauthorized activity in its systems, where customers' phone numbers were transferred to SIM cards controlled by criminals, who intercepted one-time verification codes sent by banks and cryptocurrency platforms. The police identified several suspects based on device data provided by BT, and Shinjin was linked to four of the devices. He profited over £44,000, which he used for a vacation in Dubai, a luxury apartment in Canary Wharf, and a gold-plated dental grill.Details of the case revealed that one victim lost approximately £40,000 in cryptocurrency on November 2, 2021, with about £27,000 flowing into Shinjin's personal crypto account; a second victim had approximately £17,000 entirely transferred to his wallet; he also assisted in stealing about £8,000 from a third victim's Coinbase account and around £130,000 from a fourth victim. Shinjin was first arrested at his residence in 2021 and was re-arrested at Heathrow Airport upon returning from Dubai in October 2023.

The London-listed technology company The Smarter Web Company has allocated 2,710,442 shares of common stock according to the terms of the subscription agreement.The total amount raised from this allocation is £1,891,933 (before expenses), equivalent to approximately £0.7 per share, and the company will receive about 98.25% of the funds as settlement. The remaining balance of common stock that has not been allocated under the subscription agreement is 41,213,788 shares.

According to Bloomberg, the UK digital bank Revolut launched the UK's first facial recognition checkout system "Pay with Smile" on September 23, allowing customers to complete payments in-store through facial recognition.This feature operates on the Revolut Register terminal, where users can complete facial identity verification by clicking "Pay with Smile" on the screen during checkout, a process similar to unlocking a smartphone or accessing a banking app. Facial data is end-to-end encrypted, merchants do not store personal data, and users must actively choose to opt-in in the Revolut app settings, with the ability to withdraw consent at any time. Revolut charges a 0% processing fee for Pay with Smile transactions to alleviate the burden on independent merchants.The pilot will take place from September 24 to 26 at three Kiss the Hippo cafes in Bloomsbury, Chelsea, and Soho in London, with plans to roll out the feature to all 12 locations later this year. Sales promotion for the Revolut Register terminal will be launched at the appropriate time.

Ethereum Institutional announces the relaunch of the Ethereum Institutional Forum, a curated series of closed-door events aimed at senior institutional participants and leading voices in the Ethereum ecosystem. The forum was initially launched during the Ethereum Foundation and has been held in Hong Kong and New York. It returns as a dedicated series designed to provide a trustworthy and neutral environment to understand the direction of Ethereum technology and its commercial implications.EIF III will be held on November 12 in London, bringing together banks, asset management companies, market infrastructure, and ecosystem leaders including Ethereum researcher Justin Drake. Topics include the Ethereum technology roadmap, post-quantum security, native issuance, and the role of Ethereum as on-chain financial infrastructure.

According to Bitcoin News, The Smarter Web Company plans to issue perpetual preferred shares under the stock code MORE, with a fundraising target of £15 million to £25 million, and a minimum fundraising scale of £10 million, with listing access requiring support from three market makers.Holders will receive cumulative weekly dividends and liquidation priority, but will not have voting rights, and the company may redeem shares. As of mid-2026, SWC holds 2,878 bitcoins; after the High Court approves the capital reduction, the company will have £132.5 million in distributable reserves for payments.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform that CoinCorner has partnered with AnchorWatch to launch Vault, providing multi-institution Bitcoin custody services for UK customers, insured by Lloyd's of London.CoinCorner and AnchorWatch each hold keys, and neither party can independently transfer customers' Bitcoin. All Bitcoin deposits are insured.

The parent company of Kraken, Payward, announced a partnership with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to tokenize the stocks of the 100 largest companies listed on the LSE into xStocks, which are backed 1:1. The first London-listed xStocks are expected to be launched on Kraken and other platforms supporting the xStocks Alliance in the coming weeks, available to investors in over 110 countries, but not yet open to UK investors.Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE plans to list and support xStocks trading on its newly launched extended trading hours, LSE 24. LSE CEO Julia Hoggett stated that by collaborating with Payward and continuously working with the market infrastructure ecosystem, they are exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new access methods while maintaining the standards that underpin the public market. In addition to tokenizing existing stocks, both parties will also explore the issuance of native equity tokens through LSE infrastructure, which have the same rights as traditional stocks and are fully interchangeable.Payward's tokenized stock framework was launched in June 2025 and acquired by Payward in December, having processed over $40 billion in total trading volume, covering more than 200,000 holders, with nearly $20 billion settled on-chain. According to RWA.xyz data, there are currently approximately $2.53 billion in existing tokenized stocks, with xStocks tokenizing about $606.6 million, making it the second-largest issuer after Ondo.

The London Stock Exchange (LSEG) and Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, announced a partnership to bring stocks of the largest listed companies in the UK onto the blockchain. In the coming weeks, the stocks of the top 100 companies listed on the LSE will be available on Payward's xStocks tokenized stock framework. These xStocks are tokens that correspond one-to-one with the underlying stocks, allowing for 24/7 trading on centralized exchanges, self-custody wallets, and on-chain applications.This initiative continues the rapidly expanding framework of Payward. Over the past year, the cumulative trading volume of xStocks has exceeded $40 billion, with nearly $20 billion settled on-chain, and more than 200,000 product holders. Through the blockchain channel, UK-listed stocks will be able to reach investor groups in over 110 countries, although xStocks are currently not available to domestic UK investors.Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE plans to list and support xStocks trading on its newly launched 24-hour trading platform, LSE 24, and will gradually cover tokenized stocks and more asset classes in the US, EU, UK, and Hong Kong. Both parties also stated that they will explore stock tokens issued natively by the LSE, allowing LSE members to issue and service stocks directly on-chain, with the same full interchangeability and rights as traditional stocks. Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that for years, people have assumed that crypto and traditional finance must collide and one side would lose, but that has never been the real story;

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has listed Star Bridge Capital, Star Bridge Capital Group, SBCFX, Star Bridge Capital Group, Star Bridge Capital Pty Limited, and Topical Wealth International Ltd as unlicensed companies, prohibiting them from engaging in any regulated activities in Hong Kong or actively promoting their services to the public in Hong Kong (whether within or outside Hong Kong).Previously, it was reported that Star Bridge Capital experienced an abnormal liquidation incident in London gold trading, and after the incident, the Hong Kong office of the platform was empty. Due to some funds being deposited through USDT stablecoin, tracking the funds has become more difficult. The Hong Kong police have accepted the case and temporarily classified it as fraud, but no arrests have been made yet.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is exploring how tokenized gold can be incorporated into the wholesale market, including whether it can be used as collateral. The discussions involve regulatory approaches aimed at the institutional market, with relevant rules expected to be announced in the coming months.This regulatory discussion comes as London seeks to solidify its position as a global gold trading hub. Data from the World Gold Council shows that London currently accounts for about 70% of global gold trading volume, while Shanghai and Hong Kong are vying for a larger share of wholesale business. HSBC launched a tokenized gold product for retail investors in Hong Kong over two years ago and reported that the cumulative trading volume has exceeded $2.2 billion, with more than 276,000 transactions. The FCA does not directly regulate physical gold trading but oversees gold derivatives and publicly traded products in the market.

According to The Block, the London Stock Exchange is planning to launch an overnight trading platform independent of the main market to extend trading hours and meet investors' demand for longer market access. The platform is expected to go live in the first half of 2027, while the regular trading hours of the main market will remain unchanged from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. The new platform is proposed to operate from 5:00 PM to 7:50 AM the next morning, with a 30-minute pause from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM for end-of-day processing.The report states that the platform will initially focus on trading exchange-traded products (ETPs), including funds that track the UK and US stock markets. Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, stated that this move is primarily aimed at meeting the needs of retail investors, especially international investors; the London Stock Exchange hopes to extend trading coverage to over 2,600 ETPs listed in the future.

According to Reuters, nearly 1,700 British investors are suing the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in the High Court of London, seeking at least £150 million (approximately $200 million) in damages.The plaintiffs accuse Binance of selling high-risk and complex cryptocurrency derivatives, such as leveraged products, to UK retail investors without regulatory authorization since the end of 2019, and violating the UK's Financial Services and Markets Act in related promotions. Some plaintiffs claim they have suffered losses of tens of thousands of pounds as a result. It is reported that the defendants in this lawsuit include Binance Holdings, registered in the Cayman Islands, Nest Exchange, registered in the UAE, Changpeng Zhao, and other unknown operators of the Binance trading platform.In response to these allegations, a Binance spokesperson declined to comment specifically on the ongoing litigation but stated that the company would actively defend itself and emphasized that Binance is always committed to fulfilling its obligations to users and operating within the applicable legal framework. Background information shows that the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) explicitly prohibited cryptocurrency firms from offering derivative services to retail customers in 2021.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the event "Valorant: Paper Rex vs Leviatán Esports - VCT Masters London Playoffs" on the prediction market Polymarket, the "Paper Rex" option in the sub-market "Map 4 Winner" has experienced a drastic fluctuation in win rate, plummeting from 55.5% an hour ago to the current 11% (a fluctuation of 44.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market Polymarket for the event "Valorant: Team Vitality vs FUT Esports - VCT Masters London Playoffs," the "Map 3 Total Rounds: Over/Under 22.5" sub-market's "Over" option win rate has experienced a sharp fluctuation, dropping from 70.5% an hour ago to the current 50% (a fluctuation of 20.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market Polymarket for the event "Valorant: Global Esports Match XLG Gaming - VCT London Masters Group Stage," the option "XLG Gaming" in the sub-market "Map 2 Round Spread: XLG Gaming (-2.5) vs Global Esports (+2.5)" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in win probability, soaring from 50% an hour ago to the current 95% (a fluctuation of 45%). Please note the impact of relevant breaking news.