You can borrow against Bitcoin, stake it, trade it on-chain, post it as margin for perpetuals, supply it to a liquidity pool, convert it into stablecoins to pay someone, and use it to buy tokenised stocks. Two of those are worth doing for most holders, two are worth doing for a specific kind of trader, and three are worth skipping unless you have a reason. None of them happen on Bitcoin’s own chain, so every one of them starts with moving value somewhere else.
Bitcoin holds more value than anything else in crypto and does less with it than almost anything else in crypto. At roughly $78,482 per coin on 8 September 2026, its market capitalisation sits near $1.57 trillion — 57% to 59% of the entire asset class, depending on the tracker. It is the deepest and most widely held pool of capital in the industry.
Almost none of it is doing anything. Spark’s BTCFi research, published 29 May 2026, put Bitcoin’s DeFi footprint at 91,332 BTC — 0.46% of circulating supply, or about 0.8% counting every wrapped variant and all of Babylon’s staking. Threshold’s July 2026 follow-up measured roughly 91,000 BTC. The same research puts Ethereum’s DeFi penetration near 15% of ETH supply.
So the gap is roughly thirty-fold, and it is not a demand problem. Holders want liquidity without selling; the tax event and the lost position are both real costs. The gap exists because of where Bitcoin lives.
Bitcoin’s base chain has no lending markets, no perpetuals, no automated market makers and no stablecoins, and that is a design decision rather than a missing feature. Bitcoin Script can verify a signature, enforce a timelock and check a hash preimage. It cannot run the persistent, composable contract state a money market or an order book needs. Ten-minute blocks make anything price-sensitive slow, and there is no native dollar to price a loan in.
So every use case below has the same first step: value has to move to a chain that can execute it. That step is the part most guides skip, and it is where the real cost and the real risk live. Once value is there, you no longer hold Bitcoin. You hold a token that tracks its price, whose risk is the issuer’s or the bridge’s.
Borrowing against Bitcoin is the most used thing you can do with it, and the only one here that leaves your position intact. You deposit a Bitcoin-denominated token as collateral, borrow USDC or USDT against it, and repay later. No sale, so in most jurisdictions no disposal at the point of borrowing.
Aave is the biggest venue: over $14.6 billion in total value locked as of mid-2026, more than $3 billion of it in Bitcoin markets. It accepts WBTC and cbBTC, with WBTC carrying a 73% maximum loan-to-value and a 78% liquidation threshold. Morpho is second at over $1.5 billion in BTC vaults.
The honest part: this is a margin loan, and margin loans liquidate. Borrow at 50% LTV against a 78% threshold and your collateral only has to fall about 36% before the protocol sells it for you, at a price you did not pick. Bitcoin has produced that drawdown repeatedly.
Bitcoin staking pays a yield for locking BTC in a timelock script on the Bitcoin chain itself, without wrapping or bridging it anywhere. The coins stay under your keys; the stake secures other proof-of-stake networks, and those networks pay for it.
Babylon is the category, not just the leader: over $4 billion in TVL and roughly 57,000 BTC as of May 2026, close to 80% of everything counted as Bitcoin DeFi. Lombard, at about $1.5 billion, issues the liquid staking token most people use to keep the position tradeable.
The honest part: yields are low single digits, lockups are real, and the liquid staking wrapper reintroduces exactly the token risk native staking was meant to avoid. Solv Protocol, another large player in the category, was exploited in March 2026.
Once Bitcoin is on an EVM chain or Solana you can trade it against anything else on-chain, at any hour, without an account. Uniswap is the largest decentralised exchange by volume and the deepest venue for WBTC and cbBTC pairs against ETH and stablecoins.
The honest part: for the plain trade of Bitcoin into dollars, a centralised exchange is almost always cheaper. On-chain trading earns its keep when the thing you want is not listed anywhere else — a token on a rollup, a new asset, something that never reaches an exchange.
Perpetual futures venues let you take leveraged directional positions, and the largest on-chain one is Hyperliquid, which processed $633 billion in volume in Q1 2026, holds roughly 70% of decentralised perp volume and about 6.2% of the global perps market including centralised exchanges.
The honest part, and it is the whole story: Hyperliquid margins in USDC, not in Bitcoin. Putting BTC to work there means converting it first, which is a disposal, after which you hold dollar collateral and a synthetic position that can be closed against your will. A legitimate trade, but not the trade of holding Bitcoin.
Supplying Bitcoin to an automated market maker earns a share of trading fees on the pair. Uniswap v3 and Curve are the two venues that matter.
The honest part: for most holders, this is the worst option on the list. Bitcoin pools are thin — the WBTC/cbBTC pool on Base showed roughly $270,000 of liquidity against $135,000 of daily volume in 2026. And a volatile pair carries impermanent loss, so a large BTC move can leave you with less than holding would have. Fee income on a thin pair rarely covers it.
If the goal is to send value rather than hold a position, Bitcoin has two working answers and neither is a DeFi protocol. Lightning settles small BTC payments in seconds for cents, and is the right tool when both sides want bitcoin. For paying someone who wants dollars, converting to USDC or USDT and sending on a cheap chain is the standard route.
The honest part: spending Bitcoin is selling Bitcoin. A card, a payment processor and a stablecoin conversion are all disposals, taxable in most jurisdictions, and a year of small ones is worse to account for than a single sale.
Tokenised equities are the newest destination, and Bitcoin is a legitimate funding source for them. On Solana, Kamino Lend handles 82.6% of tokenised stock lending — $31 million of the $53 million of tokenised stock collateral on the network as of late July 2026. Robinhood’s own chain is building in the same direction.
The honest part: $53 million across an entire chain is a small market. The rails work, the depth does not exist yet. Early rather than established.
Four routes exist, and they differ mainly in who holds your Bitcoin while you are using the token. Ask that first; the fee difference is usually smaller than the custody difference.
A centralised exchange: Deposit BTC, sell or convert, withdraw the destination asset. For common pairs — BTC to USDC, BTC to ETH — this is frequently the cheapest route available and worth checking before anything else. It costs you an account, KYC and the exchange holding your coins in between, and it fails outright for most rollups, which exchanges do not support as withdrawal networks.
Mint directly from the issuer: Coinbase issues cbBTC, BitGo WBTC, Kraken kBTC, Binance BTCB, and Circle launched cirBTC on Ethereum on 8 June 2026. You are trading Bitcoin for a claim on that institution’s reserves, which buys the deepest liquidity and the widest acceptance in lending markets. Threshold’s tBTC is the decentralised alternative: 51-of-100 threshold signers, about $5 billion of cumulative bridge volume, no losses in six years.
Cross-chain swap protocol: Garden Finance, THORChain, and Chainflip all move native BTC to other chains without an exchange account, and they differ more in coverage than in what they enable. THORChain reaches the most standalone L1s; Chainflip runs a short, deliberate asset list across six chains. Garden’s catalogue on 8 September 2026 listed 26 assets across 15 chains, including Lightning, Solana, Starknet, Spark, Ink and Hyperliquid, 13 of those entries a form of Bitcoin across seven tickers. In a nine-swap cost snapshot on 20 August 2026, Garden quoted lowest on all nine and Chainflip highest, the gap widest on $100 swaps.
Bitcoin-native layer 2: Spark and Stacks run BTC as the network’s own asset rather than a company’s token — less counterparty concentration, thinner liquidity, fewer applications waiting. Botanix, often named in this category, announced a full wind-down on 9 June 2026.
Check the token, not the ticker. WBTC on Starknet is a different token from WBTC on Ethereum, and cbBTC is three separate contracts across Ethereum, Base, and Solana.
Have gas on the destination. Arriving with a Bitcoin token and no ETH, SOL or STRK is the most common way a first attempt stalls.
Size to the destination’s liquidity, not to your balance. Caps exist on every route, and inside them the far side’s depth sets your slippage.
Assume the conversion is taxable. In most jurisdictions giving up BTC for a token is a disposal, and coming back is a second one.
Can I use Bitcoin in DeFi without wrapping it?
Yes, in one case. Babylon’s staking locks native BTC in a timelock script on the Bitcoin chain, so the coins never leave and are never wrapped. Every other use case here needs a representation of Bitcoin on another chain.
Is wrapped Bitcoin the same as Bitcoin?
No. It is a token on another chain representing BTC held elsewhere, and its risk is the issuer’s rather than Bitcoin’s. cbBTC is a claim on Coinbase, WBTC on BitGo, kBTC on Kraken.
What is the safest way to earn yield on Bitcoin?
Native staking through Babylon has the fewest moving parts, because the BTC stays on Bitcoin under your own keys. Lending on Aave is more liquid and adds smart-contract and wrapped-token risk on top.
How much Bitcoin is actually in DeFi?
About 91,000 BTC, or 0.46% of circulating supply, per Spark’s May 2026 research and Threshold’s July 2026 update — roughly 0.8% counting every wrapped variant and all Babylon staking.
Can I use Bitcoin in DeFi on Solana?
Yes. cbBTC is the main Bitcoin representation on Solana, and Kamino is the largest money market there at around $3.2 billion in TVL, with Jupiter Lend second.
Is a bridge cheaper than an exchange?
Often not, for common pairs. Exchanges usually win on BTC to USDC or BTC to ETH. Bridges win when the destination is a rollup the exchange does not support, which is most of them.
Why did Bitcoin DeFi shrink in 2026?
Layer-two and sidechain TVL fell 74% in Q1 2026, and the broader ecosystem about 10%, from 101,721 BTC to 91,332. Threshold’s read is that capital rotated toward verifiable custody and a dependable route back to native BTC.
Do I have to sell my Bitcoin to trade perps?
Effectively yes. The major perp venues, Hyperliquid included, margin in USDC rather than Bitcoin, so the conversion is unavoidable.
Bitcoin in DeFi: What Can You Actually Do With It in 2026 was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Bitcoin Magazine
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Clarity Act Will Pass — And That Bitcoin Bottom Is In
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said that bitcoin’s bottom is in and reiterated that the coin will hit $400,000 by 2030.
Speaking on CNBC Thursday, the head of America’s biggest crypto exchange said that he was confident the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act would pass next week.
Bitcoin was trading sluggishly throughout June and July but started surging in August, spurred on by positive regulatory news. Over a 30-day period, the largest cryptocurrency is currently up over 20%.
JUST IN: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tells CNBC the Bitcoin "bottom is in" and BTC hitting $400,000 by 2030 is a "reasonable target"
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 10, 2026
“[$400,000] is a reasonable target by 2030, and if you follow crypto, you know it typically goes through these four-year-ish cycles: there’ll be a run-up, some euphoria, there’ll be a down period,” Armstrong said.
“Most of the down periods last about a year, and we’ve actually just come across the one-year mark for this down period, so I personally believe that the bottom is in.”
Bitcoin was recently trading for close to $77,318 per coin. It hit a new all-time high of $126,080 in October.
Market observers have been paying attention to the long-awaited Clarity Act this year. The bill drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins. The crypto industry has long called for such rules to be in place.
Senators will vote on the long-awaited legislation next week after an August delay.
U.S. President Trump helped spur a surge in the bitcoin price when he hosted crypto executives and traditional finance bigwigs at the White House and urged lawmakers to move forward with the bill.
Armstrong said on Thursday that he was confident the bill would get through — and help unlock new capital as a result.
“We saw with the Genius Act that passed last year for stablecoins: in the wake of that legislation passing, we saw well over 150 large companies integrate stablecoins within just a three-month period,” he said.
“And I think something similar could happen with the Clarity Act passing — it’s a regulatory checkbox, it’d be a big milestone certainly to unlock institutional capital and to bring things like tokenized equities and perks to the United States, which would be very good.”
This post Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Clarity Act Will Pass — And That Bitcoin Bottom Is In first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Bitcoin Magazine
Coinbase and Better Mortgage Announce General Availability of Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages
Coinbase and Nasdaq-listed Better Mortgage have announced the availability of Bitcoin-backed mortgages for Americans.
The crypto exchange and lender said Wednesday that the service was designed in accordance with the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae.
Coinbase and Better announced the funding of the first Bitcoin-backed mortgage in June. The service now hopes to cater to younger wannabe homeowners who have Bitcoin holdings.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 26, 2026
"Borrowers in the US can now use Bitcoin as collateral for a down payment – without having to sell it or face margin calls."
“In 2025, high interest rates, record home prices, and limited inventory pushed the median age of a first-time homebuyer to 40,” Chief Technology Officer at Better Mortgage, Ziggy Jonsson, said.
“Coinbase counts millions of monthly users worldwide, and by allowing Coinbase One members to pledge crypto as collateral without selling their holdings, we’re opening a new path toward homeownership for a generation of borrowers whose wealth increasingly lives onchain.”
Ben Shen, head of financial services and loyalty products at Coinbase, added: “By enabling borrowers to pledge their digital assets in the mortgage underwriting process, we are allowing crypto to be more useful and powerful in the real-world — expanding the pathways to homeownership while preserving long-term investment positions.”
The announcement added that Coinbase One members will be eligible for a rebate equal to 1% of the mortgage value, up to a maximum of $10,000.
The debut loan by Coinbase and Better was closed by a married Michigan couple, Joe and Amy, in June. The couple used their Bitcoin holdings as collateral to fund their down payment rather than liquidating their position, the companies said at the time.
Crypto-backed lender Milo said earlier this year that it had surpassed $100 million in digital asset mortgages, including a record $12 million loan, as more high-net-worth and institutional clients were using Bitcoin as collateral for home financing.
Bitcoin-backed loans are still a niche product but one of the biggest lenders in the space, Ledn, has released research claiming that the space could grow from its current size of $3 billion to $1 trillion in the next 10 years.
This post Coinbase and Better Mortgage Announce General Availability of Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
A federal judge has allowed parts of an investor class-action lawsuit against Coinbase and certain executives to proceed, keeping allegations over risk disclosures alive in court.
US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled on August 20 that some claims could move into discovery. The court dismissed several claims but allowed allegations that Coinbase misled investors by concealing potential bankruptcy risks and downplaying SEC scrutiny to proceed.
The ruling is procedural.
It does not mean Coinbase has been found liable. It does not prove wrongdoing. It means the plaintiffs cleared enough of an early legal hurdle for certain claims to continue.
Coinbase is one of the most important public companies in crypto.
Its disclosures, risk factors, regulatory statements, and investor communications are watched closely by both traditional markets and digital asset investors. A securities class action against the company therefore has broader relevance.
The case goes to a familiar question.
How much risk must crypto companies disclose, and how clearly must they explain regulatory uncertainty to investors?
That question has become more important as crypto firms operate in public markets, face agency scrutiny, and deal with fast-changing rules.
The surviving claims reportedly concern whether Coinbase adequately disclosed certain risks.
Investors say the company concealed or downplayed potential bankruptcy-related concerns and regulatory scrutiny. Coinbase can still defend itself, and the facts remain contested.
But the court’s decision means those claims can proceed into discovery.
Discovery matters because it can force production of documents, communications, internal analysis, and testimony. That process can be expensive and revealing, even if a company ultimately wins.
Private crypto firms can often operate with limited disclosure.
Public companies cannot. They must file risk factors, financial statements, management discussion, legal updates, and material event disclosures. Investors rely on those filings when buying shares.
That creates legal exposure.
If plaintiffs believe a company misrepresented risks or omitted material information, they may bring securities claims. Courts then decide which claims are strong enough to proceed.
Coinbase is not alone in facing this type of scrutiny, but its position makes the case especially visible.
The caution is essential.
A motion-stage ruling is not a verdict. The court did not conclude that Coinbase misled investors. It only allowed certain allegations to continue.
Many class actions narrow over time.
Claims can be dismissed later, settled, or defeated after discovery. Coinbase can still challenge the allegations and defend its disclosures.
Markets should not treat the ruling as proof of wrongdoing.
The case also shows how regulatory uncertainty can become a securities-law issue.
If a crypto company’s business depends heavily on regulatory treatment, investors may argue that regulatory risk is material. Companies then need to describe that risk clearly enough that investors understand the potential impact.
That is difficult in crypto because rules can shift quickly.
SEC scrutiny, exchange registration questions, custody concerns, staking services, token listings, and bankruptcy treatment can all affect business models.
Coinbase operates directly inside that uncertainty.
The case now moves forward on the surviving claims.
Discovery will determine what evidence the plaintiffs can obtain and how Coinbase responds. The company may later seek dismissal, summary judgment, settlement, or trial depending on how the case develops.
For now, the key takeaway is narrow but important.
Coinbase has not been found liable, but it must continue defending parts of an investor lawsuit over risk disclosures.
That keeps public-company crypto disclosure standards in the spotlight.
This article is based on filings and court materials from the Southern District of New York.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.
Bitcoin Magazine
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Bitcoin Will Likely Hit $400,000 By 2030
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said that it’s “very likely” Bitcoin will hit between $300,000 to $400,000 by 2030.
Speaking on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. show Thursday, the crypto entrepreneur also said that the U.S. was moving in the right direction with crypto legislation following a meeting at the White House.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted crypto executives and traditional finance bigwigs at the White House and urged for lawmakers to move forward with the Clarity Act. Bitcoin surged following the news and was recently up 10% over the past day after blowing past $72,000 per coin.
JUST IN: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tells FOX Business: "I think over the next couple of years, say 2030, I think it's very likely we'll see a $300,000 and $400,000 Bitcoin"
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 20, 2026
“I think over the next couple of years — if I say 2030 — I think it’s very likely we’ll see $300,000 and $400,000 Bitcoin and we’ll see how it goes,” Armstrong said.
He added: “Just yesterday, we had this meeting with the president and the top regulators at the SEC and CFTC and that was the big topic of conversation — there was a big sense of urgency from this administration: let’s get Clarity done, let’s get it over the line.”
A number of lawmakers were hoping to vote on the Clarity Act in August but after a delay, a vote will now go ahead in September.
The long-awaited bill will establish a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or payment stablecoins — legislation that the crypto industry has long called for.
Trump on Wednesday called for lawmakers to get the bill over the line, calling it a “very, very powerful” piece of legislation.
The Clarity Act has been in deadlock for much of 2026 as the banking lobby clashed with crypto executives over the topic of stablecoin yield. Some banks warned that they could lose their deposit base if crypto companies pay their clients too generous rewards on the stablecoins they hold.
But Armstrong shrugged off concerns banks may have, and said that a number of banks had praised the legislation.
“There’s actually a number of banks who’ve come out and endorsed the Clarity Act,” he said. “Most banks recognize that it gives them new powers that allow them to grow their business with this new technology, which is great. There’s still a few holdout banks, I would say, that are against it.”
The above video and transcripts are courtesy of FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co.
This post Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Bitcoin Will Likely Hit $400,000 By 2030 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse reportedly met privately with Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s Commerce Secretary nominee, to discuss regulatory hurdles tied to the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act.
The meeting has been widely reported, but public details remain limited. That means the story needs careful framing.
This is not proof that a policy agreement has been reached. It is not proof that the CLARITY Act is guaranteed to pass. It is a sign that major crypto executives are continuing to engage with policymakers around market-structure rules at a sensitive stage in the legislative process.
That alone matters.
Crypto regulation is no longer happening only through enforcement actions and court fights. It is increasingly moving through direct engagement between industry leaders, lawmakers, and administration officials.
The CLARITY Act is important because crypto markets still need a clearer US framework for digital asset classification, trading, custody, disclosures, and oversight.
For years, the industry has complained that US rules were being shaped through enforcement rather than legislation. The result has been uncertainty for exchanges, token issuers, developers, investors, and institutions.
A market-structure bill could change that.
It could define where the SEC and CFTC fit, how digital assets are categorized, how trading platforms operate, and what compliance path issuers can follow.
That is why Coinbase and Ripple have a strong interest in the outcome.
Coinbase wants clearer rules for exchange operations, listings, custody, staking, and institutional services.
Ripple wants clearer treatment of XRP-related activity, payments infrastructure, token usage, and broader digital asset markets. Both companies have spent years dealing with regulatory uncertainty, though in different ways.
A meeting involving both CEOs suggests the conversation was not about one company’s narrow complaint.
It was likely about broader market structure.
That does not mean they agree on every policy detail, but they share an interest in rules that allow US crypto businesses to operate without constant legal ambiguity.
Howard Lutnick’s involvement matters because commerce policy, capital markets, innovation, and digital assets are increasingly linked in Washington.
If confirmed or influential inside the administration’s economic agenda, Lutnick could become part of the policy conversation around how the US treats crypto businesses, token markets, and blockchain infrastructure.
Still, one meeting does not equal policy.
The legislative process remains separate, and any bill must move through Congress. Procedural votes, ethics concerns, committee negotiations, amendments, and political timing can all affect the outcome.
Crypto markets often react quickly to political access.
A meeting headline can become a bullish narrative before anything has changed in law. That is risky.
There is no public evidence here of final agreement, legislative passage, agency implementation, or a binding policy commitment. The clean read is that major crypto executives are lobbying and discussing regulatory hurdles with a key political figure.
That is meaningful, but not final.
Even without a confirmed outcome, the meeting shows that crypto’s largest US players remain deeply involved in shaping market-structure debate.
That is a shift from the industry’s earlier defensive posture. Instead of only responding to lawsuits, firms like Coinbase and Ripple are pushing for rulemaking and legislation that could define the next phase of US crypto markets.
For investors, the question is whether those conversations turn into actual statutory clarity.
The meeting may not settle anything today, but it shows where the fight is moving.
Crypto regulation is becoming a boardroom, congressional, and administration-level issue — not just a courtroom issue.
This article is based on public reporting and available information regarding the CLARITY Act meeting.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.
Bitcoin Magazine
President Trump To Host Crypto Execs at White House
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host crypto bigwigs at the White House Wednesday.
The meeting — first reported last week by POLITICO — will see executives from the prediction market and digital asset space meet to discuss regulation.
According to reports, some of the big names due to meet include executives from Coinbase, Kraken parent company Payward, and Blockchain.com.
It hasn’t been reported which prediction markets executives will be at the meeting.
Despite the long-awaited crypto market structure bill — the Clarity Act — being delayed, regulators are moving ahead with digital asset initiatives.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday proposed its own framework for crypto asset offerings, pressing ahead while the landmark legislation stalls.
Pro-crypto lawmakers had hoped that the Clarity Act passed before Congress departed for August recess. A vote will now go ahead in September.
Lawmakers started mulling over a new draft of the bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives last year, in July. The text tackled the issue of ethics, banning government officials from promoting or making money from crypto.
Some Democrats have criticized the president for alleged conflicts of interest as the Trump family has made money from crypto ventures. President Trump and the White House have always denied any wrongdoing.
President Trump campaigned on a ticket to help America become the crypto capital of the world, and received backing from major players in the space.
Since taking office, the president has passed a number of pro-crypto pieces of legislation. High-profile lawsuits against crypto companies have also been scrapped, and the SEC has taken a more friendly approach to watchdogging the space.
President Trump has reported over $1.4 billion in income from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
This post President Trump To Host Crypto Execs at White House first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Bitcoin Magazine
OCC Says It’s ‘Open for Business’ as Crypto Firms Line Up for Bank Charters
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says it will keep pushing to revive de novo bank chartering, a campaign that has already opened a federal on-ramp for some of the largest companies in crypto.
In a statement Tuesday, the regulator said reinvigorating new bank formation remains a priority and commended the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for its own recent efforts on the issue.
“De novo chartering is a sign of a healthy banking system,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould, adding that the FDIC’s new process for reviewing deposit insurance applications aligns with the OCC’s work to reverse the decline in new charters.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 12, 2026
"America and the OCC are once again open for business." pic.twitter.com/p6ig74pLYD
Over the past 15 years, de novo chartering fell significantly, the OCC said. From 2011 through 2014, the OCC received an average of fewer than four charter applications per year, and in some years it received none at all.
“For more than a decade, regulators signaled that those seeking a federal bank charter and federal deposit insurance need not apply,” Gould said. “Entities that engage in legally permissible activities, including those involving digital assets and other novel technologies, should have a path to becoming a national bank. America and the OCC are once again open for business.”
The numbers have turned. The OCC has received 40 de novo applications in the last 18 months, including applications for national trust banks — a charter type it has granted for decades. In many cases it has ruled within 120 days of receiving a complete application. For the first time in five years, a full-service national bank has received final approval and opened its doors: Erebor Bank, N.A., backed by Palmer Luckey, Joe Lonsdale and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
A number of top crypto companies have received conditional approval, including Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and Paxos. Donald Trump-backed decentralised finance platform World Liberty Financial has also applied, hoping to get institutions on board with using its native stablecoin, USD1.
The appeal is structural: the charter lets crypto companies hold client assets and handle trade settlement inside a federally regulated framework. For an exchange like Coinbase, whose application remains under review, it would mean serving as a crypto custodian on a federal basis, managing assets for larger entities.
Not everyone is happy about it, though. The Independent Community Bankers of America in December urged the OCC to reject Coinbase’s application for a national trust bank charter, arguing the exchange has “demonstrably flawed risk and control functions” and operates under governance that “prevents independent oversight.”
And in February, the American Bankers Association — the country’s largest banking lobby — urged the OCC to slow its review of crypto companies’ charter applications.
Underneath the procedural objections is a turf war. One of the biggest gripes from traditional banks comes down to stablecoins: companies like Coinbase want to pay users rewards for holding the tokens, which banks say is unfair and could erode their deposit base.
The OCC, for its part, says it will continue to encourage the formation of new banks and strengthen the resilience of the federal banking system.
This post OCC Says It’s ‘Open for Business’ as Crypto Firms Line Up for Bank Charters first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Coinbase has launched futures, options, and perpetuals for professional clients in the United Kingdom, expanding its derivatives offering through its MiFID authorization.
The rollout is not for UK retail users. Eligibility is limited to users classified as Professional Clients, which means they must meet criteria tied to trading activity, portfolio size, or relevant professional experience.
That is the most important detail.
Crypto derivatives can offer hedging, leverage, and more sophisticated trading strategies, but regulators draw a clear line between professional and retail access. Coinbase’s UK expansion gives qualifying clients more tools, while keeping retail users outside the product set.
For more details, visit the official Coinbase platform.
The UK has a complicated relationship with crypto derivatives.
Retail access has been heavily restricted, but professional and institutional markets continue to develop through regulated structures. Coinbase’s move fits into that gap: more advanced products for clients who meet professional standards.
For qualifying users, derivatives can be useful.
They allow traders to hedge spot exposure, manage risk, express views without holding the underlying asset, or structure more complex strategies around volatility and timing.
For Coinbase, the offering helps deepen its institutional and professional trading business in a major financial market.
The eligibility criteria matter because “professional” is not just marketing language.
Elective professional status typically requires users to meet certain thresholds. These can include trading frequency, portfolio size above €500,000, or relevant professional experience in financial markets.
That means a casual UK crypto user should not expect access.
This distinction protects the accuracy of the story and the regulatory framing. Coinbase is not reopening crypto derivatives to everyone in the UK. It is expanding access within a defined professional-client framework.
That may still be commercially meaningful, but it is not a retail mass-market launch.
Spot trading is only one part of a mature market.
Derivatives are where many professional traders manage exposure. Futures and options can support hedging, basis trades, volatility strategies, and risk transfer. Perpetuals, while crypto-native, are also central to liquidity and price discovery in digital assets.
Offering these products to UK professionals gives Coinbase a more complete trading stack.
It also helps the exchange compete with other venues serving institutional and sophisticated crypto clients.
The more regulated venues offer derivatives, the more professional flow may move away from purely offshore platforms.
The announcement may be especially relevant for larger assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, because professional derivatives demand usually starts with the most liquid markets.
Institutions are more likely to trade products where spreads are tight, liquidity is deep, and risk models are mature. That tends to favor BTC and ETH first, before moving further into altcoins.
Over time, derivatives access can help build more efficient markets around major crypto assets.
But efficiency cuts both ways. Leverage can support liquidity, but it can also amplify volatility when positioning gets crowded.
Coinbase’s expansion is another sign that the UK crypto market is becoming more segmented.
Retail users face one set of rules. Professional clients face another. Regulated firms are building inside those boundaries rather than waiting for a single open market.
That may frustrate some users, but it is likely how crypto integrates into traditional finance.
The immediate takeaway is clear: Coinbase is giving UK professional clients access to a broader derivatives suite, but ordinary retail investors are not included.
Crypto derivatives are expanding in the UK, but only through the professional lane.
This article is based on Coinbase’s official UK derivatives announcement.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
This report is based on information released by Coinbase. at Coinbase
Bitcoin Magazine
Younger Democrats Understand Clarity Act And Bill Should Pass, Says Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer
The Clarity Act will likely get through despite some — older — Democrats holding it back, according to Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad.
Speaking on The Hill’s morning Rising show Friday, Shirzad said that crypto was “maybe the most bipartisan issue in Washington.”
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""We've got ethics nailed down, we've got nominations nailed down, we've got a bipartisan bill on the substance, we should be good to go"
He added that while some lawmakers were holding back the long-awaited legislation, younger Democrats got it.
“A lot of the opposition is generational — so it is Democrats who oppose it — but I think younger members who understand the technology, understand that money is transforming how we should engage financially, how we need to adapt, and so it’s really a generational shift,” he said.
“I think we’ll be on the winning end of that because right now there are about 67 million Americans who own crypto,” Shirzad added. “We’ve got ethics nailed down, we’ve got nominations nailed down, we’ve got a bipartisan bill on the substance, we should be good to go.”
Lawmakers are currently mulling over the latest draft of the Clarity Act, which aims to set in stone digital asset regulation. The latest draft bans officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
A new draft started circulating this month, banning officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto — something opposition lawmakers previously had issue with.
But some Democrats are still unhappy with the bill in its current form. A group of Democrats last week said in a statement that the bill in its current form falls short.
The bill has been in a deadlock this year, partially because banking chiefs raised concerns over stablecoin yield and ethics concerns.
Banking lobbyists have said that if crypto exchanges pay attractive yields to customers, banks could lose their deposit base.
Shirzad previously said in an interview that the bill was an “extraordinarily bipartisan” piece of work.
If approved, the bill would set in stone crypto regulation in the world’s largest economy.
This post Younger Democrats Understand Clarity Act And Bill Should Pass, Says Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
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