TL;DR: DriveWealth plans to integrate Ripple’s stablecoin, payments and custody technology, initially focusing on European settlement.

Investors can trade US stocks through digital apps at almost any hour, but moving the cash needed to fund those trades still runs into banking cutoffs. A newly announced partnership between DriveWealth and Ripple aims to close that gap using stablecoin infrastructure.

On October 14 the companies set out plans for RLUSD settlement on the XRP Ledger, beginning in Europe with a prospective US expansion. DriveWealth is also integrating Ripple Payments for cross-border funding and exploring Ripple custody and prime-brokerage services. The release describes both integrations and areas still under exploration; it does not mean every customer can already settle in RLUSD.

This is a practical institutional use case. Even with US equity settlement operating at T+1, international transfers can hold up buying power and leave brokers managing cash buffers across markets. Funds that move more quickly could reduce some of that operational drag, though the conversion between stablecoins and bank money still requires reliable counterparties and controls.

DriveWealth supplies brokerage infrastructure to more than 100 partners. If the promised settlement improvements reach production, they could become visible inside familiar investing applications rather than as a standalone crypto product. The test will be whether stablecoin funding makes the end-to-end customer experience measurably better.

More from NewsBTC: Cryptocurrency news · Ethereum coverage · Crypto research and categories

TL;DR: BlackRock’s IBIT recorded roughly $665 million in net inflows on October 19, even as several other US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw investors take money out.

A strong day for Bitcoin ETFs wasn’t quite as broad-based as the headline number suggests. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust took in approximately $665.16 million on Monday, according to SoSoValue’s fund-flow figures, while the US spot Bitcoin ETF group recorded a combined inflow of about $526.6 million.

That difference is the story. Money going into IBIT more than offset withdrawals from competing funds. Fidelity’s FBTC registered roughly $83.6 million in outflows, while Grayscale’s GBTC shed about $54.9 million.

Rather than a uniform surge of demand for every Bitcoin product, Monday’s numbers point to a preference for the market’s biggest vehicle. IBIT has become the default choice for many investors seeking exchange-traded Bitcoin exposure, although a single day’s figures cannot establish why individual institutions moved money.

The reversal also follows a Friday session in which the group recorded net withdrawals. It underscores how quickly flows can shift around market volatility and broader risk sentiment.

Flows are useful evidence of ETF subscriptions and redemptions, but they shouldn’t be read as a direct measure of new cash buying Bitcoin at a particular hour. Fund mechanics and market-making activity complicate that picture.

The next question is whether demand spreads to other products or whether IBIT continues to absorb most of the market’s incremental interest.

Written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

TL;DR: BlackRock’s IBIT recorded roughly $665 million in net inflows on October 19, even as several other US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw investors take money out.

A strong day for Bitcoin ETFs wasn’t quite as broad-based as the headline number suggests. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust took in approximately $665.16 million on Monday, according to SoSoValue’s fund-flow figures, while the US spot Bitcoin ETF group recorded a combined inflow of about $526.6 million.

That difference is the story. Money going into IBIT more than offset withdrawals from competing funds. Fidelity’s FBTC registered roughly $83.6 million in outflows, while Grayscale’s GBTC shed about $54.9 million.

Rather than a uniform surge of demand for every Bitcoin product, Monday’s numbers point to a preference for the market’s biggest vehicle. IBIT has become the default choice for many investors seeking exchange-traded Bitcoin exposure, although a single day’s figures cannot establish why individual institutions moved money.

The reversal also follows a Friday session in which the group recorded net withdrawals. It underscores how quickly flows can shift around market volatility and broader risk sentiment.

Flows are useful evidence of ETF subscriptions and redemptions, but they shouldn’t be read as a direct measure of new cash buying Bitcoin at a particular hour. Fund mechanics and market-making activity complicate that picture.

The next question is whether demand spreads to other products or whether IBIT continues to absorb most of the market’s incremental interest.

Written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Bitcoin Magazine

EDX Markets and VerifiedX Partner to Bring Verified Bitcoin (vBTC) to Institutional Markets

VerifiedX (verifiedx.io), a programmable layer for Bitcoin and other crypto assets, and EDX Markets (“EDX”), a Chicago-based digital asset technology firm that combines an institution-only trading venue with a central clearinghouse, announced a strategic partnership to bring Verified Bitcoin (vBTC), a tokenized form of Bitcoin, to EDX for institutional spot trading.

vBTC, VerifiedX’s flagship product, is designed to be a programmable, one-to-one backed Bitcoin asset, enabled by their layer-two protocol. As part of the partnership, EDX will join the VerifiedX network as a validator, providing EDX with direct participation in network validation and governance. The partnership will extend the relationship beyond asset trading into the underlying infrastructure supporting vBTC, while unlocking the asset for institutional traders and investors, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. 

“Bitcoin has become a globally recognized institutional asset, yet much of its financial utility remains fragmented across exchanges, custodians, wrappers, bridges and application-layer protocols,” they wrote. The press release explained how VerifiedX works to address that fragmentation by making the bitcoin backing vBTC verifiable on-chain at a more granular level, avoiding the pooling of funds and using more advanced Bitcoin technologies than other alternatives. In turn, this makes the asset easier to program for trading, payments, treasury management, lending, and other financial applications.

The partnership is expected to support a range of institutional strategies, including:

• Bitcoin trading and price discovery through institutional spot markets;
• Cross-market arbitrage and liquidity strategies between BTC and vBTC markets;
• Treasury and balance-sheet mobility, allowing Bitcoin capital to move between trading and programmable environments;
• Borrowing, lending and yield strategies built around Bitcoin-backed capital;
• On-chain liquidity and financial applications native to VerifiedX;
• EVM composability through vBTC.b, the canonical representation of vBTC for supported EVM environments, allowing Bitcoin capital to participate in broader decentralized financial markets while preserving a direct redemption path to underlying Bitcoin.

Through EDX, market participants will gain a new venue for trading vBTC within an institutional market structure designed around aggregated liquidity, central clearing and capital-efficient settlement.

“Bitcoin does not need another financial abstraction. It needs infrastructure that allows the asset itself to do more,” said Jay Pollak, Head of Strategy at the VerifiedX Foundation. “Bringing vBTC to EDX is important because it connects programmable Bitcoin capital with market infrastructure purpose-built for sophisticated institutions. An allocator should be able to trade Bitcoin, deploy it, move it across financial environments, and ultimately redeem back to Bitcoin without losing the fundamental ownership characteristics that made Bitcoin valuable in the first place.” 

“EDX joining as a validator makes this partnership even more meaningful. This is not simply about adding another trading pair. It connects institutional trading infrastructure directly with the network infrastructure underneath the asset,” Pollak added. As a validator, EDX gets maximum sovereignty over the signing and governance of the vBTC they are responsible for, while also becoming a node in Bitcoin and the VerifiedX layer. 

Aside from their home page at VerifiedX.io, the company has a dedicated block explorer as well as a Discord, X profile, and GitHub repo. They can also be contacted via email at info@verifiedx.io.

Bitcoin Magazine has a financial relationship with VerifiedX. This article was not commissioned or reviewed by VerifiedX and reflects the independent judgment of the author.

This post EDX Markets and VerifiedX Partner to Bring Verified Bitcoin (vBTC) to Institutional Markets first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

TL;DR: BitGo and HashKey Cloud have expanded an earlier staking relationship into a broader Asia-Pacific partnership covering staking, trading, custody and real-world asset tokenization. HashKey will support validator services for eligible BitGo clients, initially across Ethereum and Solana.

BitGo and HashKey are turning an existing staking relationship into a wider institutional crypto infrastructure partnership across Asia.

The companies signed an expanded agreement in Singapore covering four areas: staking, trading, custody and real-world asset tokenization.

HashKey Cloud will become a validator partner on BitGo’s platform, initially supporting Ethereum and Solana staking for eligible institutional customers.

The two firms also plan to cooperate on institutional trading flows.

On the custody side, BitGo will make its infrastructure available to HashKey Capital and associated funds, subject to onboarding and individual agreements.

BitGo is also set to become a custody partner for HashKey’s real-world asset tokenization initiatives.

Taken together, those pieces form something closer to a full institutional asset stack than a single product partnership.

A fund entering crypto increasingly needs more than somewhere to store tokens.

It may need staking infrastructure for proof-of-stake assets, trading liquidity, regulated custody and systems capable of handling tokenized traditional assets.

Providing those services through connected partners can reduce some of the fragmentation that institutions face when entering digital markets.

The geographic focus matters too.

HashKey has built a substantial presence in Hong Kong and the broader Asia-Pacific crypto market, while BitGo has spent years developing regulated custody and institutional infrastructure.

BitGo’s Abel Seow said institutions in Asia increasingly want infrastructure covering the full lifecycle of an asset rather than isolated services.

The agreement attempts to provide exactly that.

The two companies had already been working together around staking before broadening the relationship.

The latest deal therefore looks less like a speculative memorandum and more like an expansion of an existing integration.

Asia has become one of the most competitive regions for institutional digital-asset infrastructure.

Hong Kong, Singapore and other financial centers have been building regulatory frameworks intended to let established financial firms engage with crypto without relying on the looser models that defined the industry’s early years.

That creates demand for providers able to combine regulated custody with blockchain-native services.

BitGo and HashKey are betting that the winning institutional platforms will need both.

In a major development confirmed on SEPTEMBER 30, 2026, Confirmed announcement/filing for BlackRock BUIDL Fund Expands Multi-Chain Liquidity Infrastructure. This operational move highlights expanding activity across the digital asset ecosystem and underscores key developments for market participants.

Key Operational Milestones & Context

According to primary regulatory and corporate filings verified on SEPTEMBER 30, 2026, this development introduces crucial infrastructure enhancements. Industry leaders note that maintaining robust compliance, security, and market liquidity remains essential as digital asset services integrate into broader institutional frameworks.

The transition reflects a strategic pivot toward scalable, transparent operations. Analysts emphasize that ongoing technological upgrades will play a central role in sustaining user confidence and market stability over the coming quarter.

Market Outlook and Industry Impact

As institutional participation accelerates across global markets, this landmark event sets a notable precedent. Traders and investors are closely evaluating liquidity signals and collateral flows following the announcement.

For complete details and primary verification, the official release is accessible via the primary source link: BlackRock BUIDL Fund Expands Multi-Chain Liquidity Infrastructure Official Disclosure.

TL;DR

• Bybit and Franklin Templeton have launched an off-exchange collateral program for eligible institutional clients.
• Tokenized money-market fund shares issued through Franklin Templeton’s Benji platform can be pledged while clients trade on Bybit.
• The structure lets institutions keep collateral in regulated custody rather than moving the assets directly onto the exchange.

Bybit is giving institutional traders a way to use tokenized fund shares as collateral without depositing those assets directly onto the exchange.

The crypto platform announced a strategic collaboration with Franklin Templeton on September 28, starting with an off-exchange collateral program built around tokenized money-market fund shares issued through Franklin Templeton’s Benji platform.

Collateral Can Stay Outside The Exchange

The structure is aimed at eligible institutional clients.

Rather than transferring all of their collateral into an exchange account, participants can hold qualifying tokenized fund shares through the supported custody structure and pledge them against trading activity on Bybit.

That is important for large investors.

Keeping assets off an exchange can reduce counterparty exposure and allow collateral to continue generating the yield associated with the underlying money-market fund.

Bybit gains access to the collateral value without needing the institution to turn the entire position into cash or stablecoins first.

Franklin Templeton’s Benji platform provides the blockchain-integrated recordkeeping and transfer infrastructure for the tokenized fund shares.

Tokenized Funds Are Becoming Trading Infrastructure

Tokenized money-market funds initially attracted attention as a way to hold Treasury-like assets onchain.

Their next use may be more consequential.

They can become collateral.

A fund share that earns yield while sitting idle is useful.

A fund share that can simultaneously support a trading position becomes part of market infrastructure.

That is the direction several crypto and traditional-finance companies are now pursuing.

The Bybit integration also shows why off-exchange collateral has become increasingly important after a series of large exchange failures and security incidents.

Institutional traders want access to liquidity and derivatives markets.

They do not necessarily want every dollar of collateral sitting inside the trading venue itself.

Separating custody from execution can reduce that concentration of risk.

The collaboration extends beyond the initial collateral program.

Bybit and Franklin Templeton say they also plan to explore additional tokenized investment and yield products for wallet-based users.

Those future products should not be confused with what is live today.

The concrete first step is narrower and more institutional.

Eligible clients can use tokenized money-market fund shares as off-exchange collateral while trading on Bybit.

That turns tokenization from something investors merely hold into something they can actively finance against.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.