settlement

The third-quarter report released by the stablecoin payment network Borderless.xyz shows that the median cost of sending a $200 remittance through stablecoin funding channels is 1%, or $2; whereas, according to World Bank data, the median cost of traditional remittance channels is 6.36%, or $12.72. In comparison, the cost of stablecoin remittances is approximately 84% lower. This comparison uses Borderless's pricing for the third quarter of 2026 and World Bank data for the same period in 2025.In emerging markets, the cost advantage is also evident. The cost of stablecoin remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa is 2.9%, while traditional transfers are 8.46%; in Latin America, the figures are 1.25% and 5.64%, respectively. In terms of corporate payments, a $10,000 stablecoin transfer to the Eurozone can cost as low as $26 when choosing the lowest-cost service provider, with the median service provider costing $52; traditional international bank wire transfers for the same amount require $135 to $150, including transfer fees and a 1% foreign exchange spread.Regarding settlement speed, the report states that stablecoin payments can reach the recipient's local bank account within minutes. The median settlement time for Brazil's PIX network in the third quarter is 2 minutes, Mexico's SPEI is 3 minutes, and Colombia's PSE is 2 minutes; traditional SWIFT transfers typically settle the next day, with the slowest 10% taking 3 business days. The success rate for receiving funds varies significantly: Mexico's SPEI is 98.6%, Brazil's PIX is 97.8%, Colombia's PSE is 79%, and Costa Rica's SINPE is only 73%. Standard Chartered Bank recently pointed out that although the total market capitalization of stablecoins has grown relatively slowly this year, transaction volumes are still rising, and it is expected that this market will reach $2 trillion by 2030, two years later than previously predicted.

According to market news, a U.S. court has officially approved the settlement between Movement Labs, the original founders, and the Movement Foundation, further resolving the previous legal disputes.In 2025, Movement faced controversy due to the market-making arrangements for the MOVE token, which subsequently led to personnel changes and disputes within the team.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange published a consultation summary document regarding the shortening of the settlement cycle for the Hong Kong stock cash market, showing broad support for the implementation of a T+1 settlement cycle in the Hong Kong securities market. After consolidating stakeholder opinions, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plans to complete the relevant transition in the second half of 2028, provided that the market is ready and regulatory approval is obtained.A total of 109 unique responses were received during this consultation, from market stakeholders including brokers, custodians, investment managers, industry associations, technology providers, and investors. Respondents agreed on Hong Kong adopting a T+1 settlement cycle and recognized that this move would help enhance market efficiency, reduce settlement risks, improve capital efficiency, and strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international financial center.

Federal District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York dismissed the joint application of Gemini and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to revoke the $5 million settlement agreement. Gemini and the CFTC had stated in May that the settlement agreement reached in January 2025 violated the fundamental principles of fair enforcement.The judge ruled that the aforementioned reasons were insufficient to support the revocation of the settlement and noted that Gemini voluntarily signed the agreement three weeks before the trial.

According to The Block, the developer of the tokenized asset settlement platform Multiliquid, Uniform Labs, has raised a total of $8 million in seed and pre-seed funding rounds, with the latest seed round led by Polychain, and participation from Strobe Ventures, CMT Digital, Metalayer Ventures, Generative Ventures, and Circle Ventures.Multiliquid supports institutions in converting between tokenized assets and stablecoins through single atomic transactions, and is currently deployed on Ethereum and Solana.

According to on-chain data analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, a whale or institution holding a long position worth 352 million dollars is facing liquidation risk, with an overall position loss of approximately 18.87 million dollars.Among them, 79,260 ETH long positions are valued at about 187 million dollars, with a liquidation price between 2290 and 2301 dollars, approximately 60 dollars away from liquidation. The address has 1,140 BTC long positions valued at about 92.6 million dollars, with a liquidation price between 72,268 and 74,449 dollars, which is currently not close to the liquidation price.

According to The Block, brokerage service provider DriveWealth has partnered with Ripple to integrate its stablecoin settlement, cross-border payment, and digital asset custody services into its brokerage platform.The two parties will initially launch settlement operations in Europe and plan to expand the service scope to the United States. This integration will utilize the Ripple RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, allowing DriveWealth customers to use a stablecoin that can be converted to fiat currency almost in real-time for collateral account funding and management. Additionally, both parties are exploring opportunities for equity financing through Ripple Prime.

The stablecoin infrastructure platform Interlace announced a joint initiative with multiple industry partners, including OSL, AllScale, Stable, Hetu, Cregis, WIDTH, KEM, and KTX, to launch the white paper titled Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure: From On-Chain Settlement to Real-World Payments. As stablecoins evolve from crypto-native financial instruments into global financial infrastructure, stablecoin payment activity is also growing rapidly. In Q1 2026, stablecoin transaction volume exceeded $28 trillion, while stablecoin B2B payments reached $226 billion in 2025, representing a 733% year-over-year increase. However, as stablecoin payments expand into real-world commercial use cases, the industry still lacks a systematic framework for defining the capabilities covered by stablecoin payment infrastructure and how on-chain assets can be connected with real-world commerce. The white paper will focus on this gap, covering key topics such as stablecoin payment infrastructure, end-to-end costs, compliance and risk management, and enterprise-scale adoption. Drawing on industry data, practical experience, and real-world cases, it will further explore the development path of stablecoin payment infrastructure. The full white paper is expected to be officially released within the next 1-2 months.

The institutional settlement network Lynq, aimed at the digital asset market, and the stablecoin clearinghouse The Better Money Company (TBMC) announced the completion of a real-time proof of concept, demonstrating that institutional settlements can be completed in minutes. This proof of concept is part of the first phase of collaboration between the two parties, utilizing a pre-funded process to complete stablecoin settlements on Lynq.In the proof of concept, TBMC converted assets deposited by clients on Lynq into RLUSD, with settlements completed in minutes. The validation used real production accounts and real institutional counterparties, bypassing traditional banking windows during the settlement process. Interest continued to accrue on the assets during the settlement holding period, calculated using Tassat's Yield in Transit feature, determining accrued interest based on the duration of asset holdings.TBMC founder and CEO Sam Broner stated: "For stablecoins to become meaningful institutional infrastructure, they need to enter real settlement processes; this validation shows that stablecoin fragmentation can be handled through on-chain collateral transfer without relying on credit and traditional banking settlements for connection." Lynq CEO Jerald David remarked: "Institutions are not lacking in capital; what they lack is the ability to move funds to the right place in the right form when needed; this validation was intentionally kept small in scale, but it shows that digital dollars can settle between institutions in minutes, without substituting speed with credit convenience." Lynq stated that the platform's native stablecoin support is currently targeted for the end of 2026.

On October 13, 2026, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub released the second phase report of the Aurum project, themed "Exploring Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Digital Cash." This phase implements a privacy-protecting digital cash prototype based on the existing Aurum codebase, helping policymakers understand how relevant technologies can alleviate the dilemma between privacy and compliance in digital cash.The prototype adopts the principles of privacy by design and default privacy, demonstrating practices that lie between complete anonymity and complete transaction transparency, and achieving customizable features to meet business needs in compliance and operations. The project indicates that privacy can be embedded in the design of digital cash through technology, rather than solely relying on institutional guarantees, thereby reducing unnecessary exposure of personal and transaction data while maintaining compliance and system integrity.Privacy-protecting designs can assist central banks and policymakers in understanding the relevant considerations and trade-offs. The prototype's functionalities demonstrate policy flexibility between privacy, transparency, compliance, and other attributes, which can be calibrated according to different policy choices and risk preferences. In addition to digital cash, central banks can further explore privacy-enhancing technologies in more use cases, with the report listing several usage experiences.

According to CoinGlass data, in the past 24 hours, 10 exchanges have liquidated approximately $803 million in leveraged positions, with long positions accounting for $694 million, representing 86%, affecting a total of 172,100 traders. About $595 million, nearly three-quarters of the total for the day, was liquidated in the last 12 hours, as the South Korean KOSPI index fell by more than 6%, and Bitcoin briefly dropped below $81,000. The largest single liquidation was a $9.65 million Bitcoin long position on Binance, which was forcibly closed at around $81,773, with Binance accounting for half of the total liquidation volume.Bitcoin topped the list with $181 million in liquidations, followed closely by Ethereum with $178 million, despite its market capitalization being much smaller than Bitcoin's; SOL positions lost $60 million, ZEC $24 million, and NEAR $22 million. Stock-related contracts then made the list, with perpetual contracts tracking U.S. storage chip manufacturer SanDisk liquidating $19.09 million, slightly above HYPE's $19.04 million and XRP's $18.78 million. These perpetual contracts allow traders to bet on stock prices without an expiration date on cryptocurrency exchanges, with contracts for SK Hynix, Micron, and the triple-leveraged U.S. semiconductor ETF SOXL also appearing on the heatmap, with SOXL liquidating $7.21 million.The aforementioned losses coincided with a sell-off in the Seoul market, where Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell by about 8%, as the market worried about AI-related valuations and competition from Chinese storage chip manufacturers.

A7 International, created by Bank PSB, will launch on October 13. This service is primarily aimed at foreign trade operators, but individuals can also use it, with a fixed fee of 0.3%.A7 International allows users to pay invoices in foreign currency to counterparties using USDT, and the funds are then transferred to the desired currency via standard SWIFT bank transfer. Petr Fradkov, Chairman of PJSC Bank PSB, and Ilan Shor, CEO of A7, will introduce the product on October 13 at 13:13.A7 states that the company focuses on international trade payments and settlements, established in 2024 with the participation of PSB Bank, and is building payment infrastructure in over 100 countries. Its products include international payments, digital financial assets, and promissory notes, serving 15,000 clients and processing about 2,000 transactions daily; by 2025, approximately 19% of Russian companies' cross-border trade settlements will be processed by A7, and in October of the same year, it received an AA(RU) credit rating with a stable outlook from ACRA.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing whether Binance Holdings Ltd. has violated the settlement agreement reached with the U.S. government in 2023, while also investigating whether activities on the platform may involve violations of Iran sanctions.Tysen Duva, head of the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice, stated in an interview this week that officials are reviewing Binance's compliance with the 2023 agreement. He declined to discuss details and did not indicate that Binance violated the settlement agreement. Under the agreement, Binance agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine, acknowledged violations of banking-related rules, and accepted enhanced compliance controls.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that a settlement has been reached regarding former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky's alleged fraud against investors, securing a maximum conditional compensation of $35 million and requiring him to permanently exit the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.Previously, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had also imposed industry bans on Mashinsky. Mashinsky is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. On the other hand, Celsius creditors have received over $3.4 billion in payments through the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

As the institutional market gradually develops towards the separation of custody and trading, Bitget is expanding its open custody and over-the-counter settlement infrastructure for institutional clients, providing more flexible asset custody, fund management, and trading access options.Currently, Bitget has partnered with institutions such as Copper ClearLoop, Cactus Custody Oasis, Fireblocks Off Exchange, OSL MirrorEX, Bitfire PrimeMirror, and Sygnum Protect to meet the differentiated needs of institutions in asset isolation, custody options, settlement efficiency, and liquidity access through diversified custody and settlement models.Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen stated that different types of institutions have varying needs for custody, settlement, and capital management. Bitget aims to allow institutions to choose solutions based on their operational models through open and compatible infrastructure, enhancing fund utilization efficiency and liquidity access capabilities while achieving asset risk isolation. This expansion is also an important part of Bitget's UEX strategy, with institutional services continuing to be a strategic focus to further enhance capital utilization efficiency and accelerate the integration of crypto assets with tokenized traditional financial infrastructure.

The perpetual contract trading platform Extended announced that it will migrate its settlement network to Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain built for financial markets by Circle. The migration is scheduled to take place during the week of October 19, 2026, with specific timing to be announced closer to the date, and trading will continue during the migration. Accounts, sub-accounts, positions, orders, transaction history, points, and keys will remain unchanged.If any sub-account holds USDT or wBTC valued over 1 USD, users must convert or withdraw by 12:00 UTC on October 21, 2026, as these two assets will not exist on Arc. In-app conversion to USDC or cirBTC will be available at a 1:1 ratio, with Extended covering a 0.50% premium and no exchange fees; the premium will be credited within 8 hours after migration. Recharge for these two assets has been closed since 16:00 UTC on the announcement date. ETH will be automatically converted to wETH on Arc at a 1:1 ratio, and USDC will migrate as native USDC.Recharge and withdrawal are expected to be paused for no more than approximately 2 hours during the migration, while transfers between sub-accounts will remain available. If the relevant assets exceed 1 USD and the deadline is missed, the entire account will be restricted during processing, and the relevant sub-account positions will be liquidated at the mark price at the time of processing without any fees. The Arc mainnet will go live on September 16, 2026, with institutions such as BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Visa, and Mastercard as its founding validators.

On October 8, blockchain software company Consensys and post-trade infrastructure company ClearToken announced a collaboration aimed at enabling banks to transfer tokenized assets and cash through 24/7 infrastructure. The two parties plan to connect Consensys's blockchain system with ClearToken's regulated post-trade entities for the settlement of eligible securities using fiat currency, tokenized bank deposits, or stablecoins.The announcement did not put a new public blockchain or settlement venue into production but outlined how the two parties plan to connect tokenization, wallets, distribution, cash flow, and the legal finality of securities settlement. Consensys will provide cryptographic finality, which is the technical certainty that on-chain transactions are immutable; ClearToken is responsible for settlement finality, which is the legal certainty that the transfer of funds or securities is final and irrevocable. ClearToken's securities custody has passed Gate 2 of the Bank of England's Digital Securities Sandbox, and its independent clearing entity still requires authorization from the Bank of England.ClearToken CSD Limited plans to convert eligible securities held by different banks into interchangeable tokenized instruments, using the same ISIN as the corresponding traditional securities. At launch, the custody plan will support FTSE 350 stocks, GBP government bonds, GBP corporate bonds, and non-GBP corporate bonds. The sandbox custody limits are set at £600 million for government bonds, £900 million for GBP corporate bonds, and £1.8 billion for non-GBP corporate bonds. The announcement did not name participating banks, networks, wallet products, or the date of the first transaction.

AnchorageDigital announced the acquisition of the B2B payment platform Routable, with the transaction amount undisclosed. Routable helps businesses complete onboarding and verification of payees through a developer-first API, automating tax and compliance processes while facilitating bulk payments to creators, contractors, sellers, and others in over 220 countries, supporting both fiat and stablecoin payments.AnchorageDigital stated that its clients will expand from crypto-native companies to traditional financial institutions entering the digital asset space, as well as large tech companies and Fortune 500 firms with significant payment needs. Routable will operate under a new brand, with stablecoin and tokenized deposit products expected to launch in the coming quarters.

Nine Japanese institutions, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Daiwa Securities, SBI Securities, Progmat, and Datachain, announced the completion of the second phase verification of "Project Trinity." The project aims to eliminate settlement synchronization risks through "Delivery versus Payment" (DvP).In the tests, Daiwa Securities and SBI Securities simulated the START market of the Osaka Digital Exchange (ODX), using corporate bonds issued by ST Company through SBI VC Trade and trust-type stablecoins issued by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, successfully completing two cross-chain synchronized settlements, thereby verifying the feasibility of the T+2 settlement cycle in phases.

According to The Block, Kraken's parent company Payward has partnered with Singapore Gulf Bank to provide 24/7 settlement services for institutional digital asset clients.Payward stated that it has connected to the bank's real-time multi-currency clearing network SGB Net. Initially, this settlement service will offer USD transaction settlements to select clients, with plans to expand to more currencies in the future.