The investment will help Parfin expand its onchain settlement tools and strengthen stablecoin infrastructure that is already driving institutional crypto use in LATAM. Tether has invested in Parfin, a London- and Rio de Janeiro-based digital asset platform, to push USDT deeper into Latin America’s institutional market and expand onchain settlement across the region. According to Tether, the investment underscores its push to position USDt (USDT) as an institutional settlement rail for high-value activities, including cross-border payments, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and credit markets tied to trade finance, commercial invoices and card receivables. Founded in 2019, Parfin builds infrastructure for institutions to custody, tokenize and transact digital assets. In October, the company secured official registration in Argentina as a virtual asset service provider and was recognized by the country’s financial regulator. It has been operating in Brazil since 2020. Read more
Aztec launched its Ignition mainnet with no centralized operators, opening community staking amid its major token sale and positioning itself as a fully decentralized L2. Ethereum layer-2 network Aztec launched its mainnet Wednesday — albeit with partial functionality — marking the launch of one of the few fully decentralized networks in the ecosystem. According to an Aztec email viewed by Cointelegraph, Aztec has launched its “Ignition” mainnet chain, a functional consensus-producing chain that generates blocks, but without the smart contract execution layer. According to L2Beat, only the trustless, optimistic rollup network Facet v1 and Aztec’s old decentralized finance (DeFi) anonymization project, Zk.Money are classed as a stage 2 system with full decentralization. Read more
21Shares, one of the largest crypto ETF issuers with $8 billion in assets, continues to introduce more investment products in Europe as an influx of new crypto ETFs hits the US. 21Shares, a major crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) provider, is expanding its offerings in Europe with the launch of six more funds on Sweden’s stock exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm. 21Shares on Thursday announced the cross-listing of six additional products on Nasdaq Stockholm, including ETPs for Aave (AAVE), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Polkadot (DOT) and two crypto basket products. With the expansion, 21shares now offers a total of 16 ETPs on Nasdaq Stockholm, which is just a fraction of multiple offerings available on other European exchanges like SIX Swiss Exchange, Deutsche Börse Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam and more. Read more
Metaplanet plans to raise $135 million through the issuance of new Class B perpetual preferred shares as part of a broader restructuring tied to its Bitcoin treasury strategy. Metaplanet is preparing another major capital raise through the issuance of its new Class B perpetual preferred shares to expand its Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy. According to filings submitted to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the firm plans to issue 23.6 million Class B shares at 900 yen ($5.71) each, bringing the total raise to 21.2 billion yen (roughly $135 million). The offering will be executed through a third-party allotment to overseas investors, pending approval at an extraordinary shareholder meeting set for Dec. 22, 2025. The new Class B shares come with a fixed annual dividend of 4.9% on a $6.34 notional amount, translating to $0.078 per quarter once regular payments begin. Holders will have the right to convert the preferred shares into common stock at a $6.34 conversion price. Read more