Ant Group has filed to trademark “Antcoin” in Hong Kong through a Cayman Islands subsidiary while Beijing intensifies its crypto crackdown. Ant Group, the financial technology giant backed by Alibaba, has registered a trademark for “Antcoin” in Hong Kong, signaling a renewed push into blockchain-based finance even as Chinese regulators step up pressure on crypto activity. According to a Monday report by the Hong Kong Economic Times, Ant Group is “expanding into the fintech arena.” The outlet cites documents showing that the company applied in Hong Kong to register a series of trademarks related to virtual assets, stablecoins and blockchain. Trademark filings show “Antcoin” was registered on June 18, listing digital currency and blockchain services among its business categories. Domain dispute documents confirm the applicant is a subsidiary of Ant Group Co., establishing a direct link to the fintech powerhouse. Read more
Strategy posted one of its slowest months for buying BTC, with a total of 778 BTC purchased in October, down 78% from 3,526 BTC in September. Michael Saylor’s strategy, the world’s largest public Bitcoin holder, added to its BTC holdings last week amid rising momentum, but buying activity has slowed considerably since September. Strategy purchased 390 Bitcoin (BTC) for $43.3 million in its latest BTC acquisition last week, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. The purchases were made at an average price of $111,117 per BTC, with Bitcoin briefly rising past $113,000 on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko data. Read more
Trump-linked Bitcoin miner and treasury company American Bitcoin added 1,414 BTC to its holdings, bringing its total stash to 3,865 BTC. American Bitcoin, the mining and treasury company co-founded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., added more than 1,400 Bitcoin to its holdings. According to a Monday announcement, American Bitcoin acquired 1,414 Bitcoin (BTC) for about $163 million. This brought the total holdings to 3,865 BTC, worth almost $445 million. Eric Trump, who serves as chief strategy officer, said the company is focused on increasing its Bitcoin-per-share ratio, a metric it considers central to shareholder value. “We believe one of the most important measures of success for a Bitcoin accumulation platform is how much Bitcoin backs each share,” he said. Read more
A growing demand for stablecoin payments and tokenized real-world assets is creating more institutional interest in blockchain-based services, according to IBM. Technology giant IBM launched a cryptocurrency platform for US institutions, marking one of the company’s strongest pushes yet into digital assets and blockchain infrastructure. IBM’s platform will offer US businesses and governments crypto custody and payment services by the end of the year, aiming to simplify the integration of digital assets into the existing financial infrastructure. The new platform, called the “Digital Asset Haven,” will enable institutions to directly access onchain yield from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols across 40 public blockchain networks. It will also help meet the complex token compliance needs of institutions operating under the same platform. Read more
Corporate scale has become an innovation liability as bureaucracy stalls retail payment evolution. Fintech partnerships offer the only escape from irrelevance. Opinion by: Vitaliy Shtyrkin, chief product officer at B2BINPAY For years, large retailers invested heavily in their own fintech divisions, convinced they could develop payment solutions internally, overlook smaller players and innovate independently — and, for a while, they succeeded. Today, however, despite boasting vast resources and a global reach, corporations are realizing that money no longer guarantees innovation. Read more