Financial Services

Tallinn, Estonia – October 06, 2026 -- Bringin has opened an invite-only beta of euro business accounts that allow companies to hold, accept and pay in Bitcoin and stablecoins while retaining full owner control of their coins. The accounts run SEPA payments from a virtual IBAN issued in the company's own name, extending a consumer platform that has already processed more than €15 million.

Fifteen businesses already test cross-border Bitcoin payments in the beta

The beta includes 15 companies spanning Lightning payment tool providers, mining-rig sellers and Bitcoin conference organizers, all using the service for cross-border payments and instant Bitcoin-to-euro conversion. Bringin for Business is available to companies across 30 European countries.

Zurich – October 06, 2026 -- The number of companies linked to greenwashing reached 1,594 in the year to June 2026, a 28% year-on-year increase, according to RepRisk's fifth annual Greenwashing Report. Over the five-year period, greenwashing risk incidents rose 112%, with the latest increase marking a second consecutive annual rise following a 12% decline in 2024.

Financial Services sees greenwashing links surge 40% as scrutiny intensifies

Financial Services ranked as the most exposed sector in 2026, with 305 companies linked to greenwashing, up 40% year on year. Banks recorded 86 linkages, a 23% increase. Together, Financial Services and Banks accounted for one-fifth of all sector linkages among greenwashing-linked companies, with exposure arising both from institutions' own activities and from the companies and projects they finance, invest in, or underwrite.

DUBAI – October 05, 2026 -- Caladan's Dubai entity, CLDN Broker Dealer FZE, has secured In-Principle Approval (IPA) from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for Broker-Dealer Services, under reference IPA/26/09/004, dated September 15, 2026.

VARA grants preliminary clearance, not a full license

The approval allows Caladan to proceed toward a full VARA license but does not yet authorize the firm to provide broker-dealer services in or from Dubai. Once licensed, CLDN Broker Dealer FZE will serve institutional clients exclusively, with no retail client access permitted.

New York – – October 05, 2026 -- Solana Foundation launched Solana DvP, an open-source delivery-versus-payment escrow program that compresses securities settlement from one to two days into a single atomic transaction settled in seconds.

Solana DvP replaces bespoke smart contracts with one standard settlement rail

Released under the MIT license, the API provides atomic settlement, isolated escrow, and enforced deadlines for institutional trades on Solana's public blockchain. Until now, institutional onchain trades relied on custom-built smart contracts rather than a shared standard.

New York – October 05, 2026 -- Rain, a stablecoin payments infrastructure provider, has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Rain National Trust Bank (RNTB), a proposed federally supervised trust bank headquartered in New York.

RNTB would consolidate custody, reserve management and stablecoin issuance under OCC oversight

If approved, the uninsured national trust bank will provide fiduciary custody of digital assets and US dollars, reserve management for permitted stablecoin issuers, and issuance and redemption of US dollar-backed stablecoins for institutional clients. The entity will not accept deposits, offer consumer accounts, or make commercial loans. Client assets would be segregated from the bank's own holdings and not treated as liabilities, with stablecoin reserves barred from being pledged, lent or reused.

Chicago – – October 05, 2026 -- Cboe Global Markets reported record third-quarter trading volumes across multiple flagship derivatives products, led by zero-days-to-expiry S&P 500 Index (SPX) options, which hit a quarterly average daily volume (ADV) of 3.2 million contracts.

Quarterly SPX 0DTE volume hits record 3.2 million contracts daily

Cboe's zero-days-to-expiry S&P 500 Index options reached a quarterly ADV record of 3.2 million contracts in the third quarter of 2026, with September alone setting a monthly record of 3.4 million contracts, the exchange operator disclosed in its Oct. 5 volume report.

Mini-SPX (XSP) contracts post record quarterly activity

XSP options also hit all-time highs, with quarterly ADV of 251,000 contracts and September volume reaching 274,000 contracts. XSP 0DTE trading set quarterly and monthly records of 146,000 and 165,000 contracts, respectively.

Baltimore – October 05, 2026 -- Transamerica's pooled retirement plan assets climbed nearly 61% over five years, rising from $21.3 billion in 2021 to $34.2 billion in 2025, as the insurer marks its 25th year in the pooled plan market.

Transamerica ranks No. 1 in PEP adopting employers for second consecutive year

According to PLANSPONSOR's 2026 Recordkeeping Survey, Transamerica topped the industry in Pooled Employer Plan (PEP) adopting employers and led in multiple other pooled plan metrics, including the most MEP and PEP contracts serviced and the most MEP participants serviced. The survey also credited the company with the highest year-over-year growth rates in both pooled plan assets and participants. The number of employers adopting Transamerica's pooled plans has grown nearly 40% over the same five-year period.

New York – October 05, 2026 -- The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield traded close to 5.3% as of 8 a.m. ET on Monday, with investors positioning ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve minutes release from the September meeting, according to the New York Stock Exchange's daily pre-market advisory delivered by Ashley Mastronardi from the trading floor.

Traders overwhelmingly bet on a Fed pause this month

About 80% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at its upcoming meeting, based on the latest data cited in the NYSE update. The Fed's September meeting minutes are scheduled for release Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, a release market participants will scrutinize for signals on the rate path into year-end.

Paris – October 05, 2026 -- Basware, the global leader in Invoice Lifecycle Management, has completed its acquisition of payment fraud prevention platform Trustpair, finalizing a deal first announced in August 2026.

Basware extends invoice oversight to the point of payment

The acquisition closes a gap in enterprise finance controls: an invoice can be authentic, accurate and fully approved, yet still result in a fraudulent payment if the associated supplier bank account is compromised. Basware's platform validates that an invoice obligation is legitimate and compliant; Trustpair now adds verification that the supplier is genuine, the bank account matches that supplier, and funds reach the intended destination.

Singapore – October 05, 2026 -- WasabiCard, a stablecoin-powered global payment infrastructure platform, will host its TOKEN2049 Singapore side event, "STABLECOIN & PAYMENTS: FUNDS FLOW," on October 6 at Raffles Singapore, with Lotus Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: LOT) confirmed as a participant.

Lotus Tech CFO joins panel with Visa, Circle, AWS and other finance and crypto leaders

Dr. Daxue Wang, Chief Financial Officer of Lotus Tech, will speak on the panel "Stablecoins Go Mainstream: From Settlement to Real-World Payments," alongside senior representatives from Visa, Circle, Nium, Plume, Safeheron, OSL, WIDTH and AWS. The discussion will examine how stablecoin liquidity can move beyond on-chain settlement into business operations and consumer payments.