The filing with the US SEC seeks to eliminate contract caps on crypto ETF options, a change Nasdaq argues would address unequal treatment in derivatives markets. US exchange Nasdaq has filed a rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission to remove limits on options tied to spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds, in a move to align crypto ETF options with rules applied to other commodity-based funds. The proposal, filed on Jan. 7 and made effective on Wednesday, lifts the existing 25,000-contract limits on options linked to a range of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs listed on Nasdaq, including products from BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, Grayscale, ARK/21Shares and VanEck, according to the filing. The SEC waived its standard 30-day waiting period, allowing the rule change to take effect immediately, while retaining the authority to suspend the change within 60 days if it determines further review is warranted. Read more
The lawsuit was filed days after the president threatened on social media to sue the banking giant for debanking him weeks after his supporters attacked the US Capitol in 2021. US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit in Florida state court against JPMorgan, claiming that the banking giant terminated accounts connected to the president and his businesses “without warning or provocation.” According to a Thursday Bloomberg report, Trump filed a complaint in the Miami-Dade County state court, seeking $5 billion in damages from JPMorgan and its CEO, Jamie Dimon. The complaint was not available on the court’s public docket at the time of publication. The lawsuit accused JPMorgan of trade libel and breach of implied covenant of good faith, and Dimon of violating Florida’s deceptive trade practices law. A spokesperson for the bank said the lawsuit had no merit and JPMorgan “does not close accounts for political or religious reasons.” Read more
Institutional compliance costs and higher Treasury yields are reshaping stablecoin issuance as growth shifts from rapid expansion to balance-sheet discipline. After a period of rapid expansion, the global stablecoin market has largely stalled, signaling a consolidation phase as new regulation, liquidity constraints and higher real-world yields weigh on new issuance, according to Jimmy Xue, co-founder of quantitative yield protocol Axis. In a note shared with Cointelegraph, Xue said that while stablecoin regulation has advanced, tighter frameworks in the United States and Europe have forced institutional issuers to hold higher-quality reserves and absorb rising compliance costs, slowing the pace of net issuance. At the same time, elevated real yields on US Treasurys have increased the opportunity cost of holding stablecoins that offer no direct yield. That dynamic has dampened speculative minting and reinforced stablecoins’ role as infrastructure for payments, settlement and short-duration liquidity, rather th...