Exness Team Pro welcomes Oscar Carbera to its roster, adding one of LATAM’s most distinctive trading educators to its global network of elite traders and mentors. The self-taught trader and content creator started his trading journey with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in 2018. Since then, he has become known for sharing the realities of trading through live trades, market commentary, and content that includes both successes and losses. Oscar is one of the region’s fastest-growing trading educators, with a message shaped by experience rather than unrealistic promises. His content challenges the lifestyle-focused image of the trading industry by showing what trading involves in practice: timing, risk, emotional control, losses, and the discipline needed to stay consistent over time. This approach makes Oscar a natural fit for Exness Team Pro, a program built around credible trading voices who combine market experience with education, discipline, and community impact. Through his own journey, he encourages traders to avoid common mistakes, protect their capital, and think about trading as a skill that can support long-term wealth building when approached with care and professionalism. “Oscar represents exactly the kind of voice Exness Team Pro was created to support,” said Dildora Djalolova, Exness Head of Social Media. “He has built his community by showing the full trading process, including the moments that are usually left out: risk, losses, waiting, and emotional control. That kind of transparency is exactly what makes trading education more useful, and it is why Oscar is such a strong fit for Exness Team Pro.” Speaking about joining Exness Team Pro, Oscar said, “For me, joining Exness Team Pro is a responsibility. Trust matters in trading, especially when people look to you for guidance. I would not speak about a broker unless I believed in the platform myself.” He added, “Before partnering with Exness, I looked at the trading environment, reliable platform, and favorable conditions. I wanted the decision to be based on real experience. What matters to me is that traders can focus on their process while knowing the broker behind them is reliable. That is why this partnership makes sense.” Oscar’s addition to Exness Team Pro strengthens Exness’ connection with the LATAM trading community and reinforces its commitment to supporting credible trading voices who help traders build realistic expectations, stronger habits, and a more responsible approach to the markets. About Exness Founded in 2008, Exness is a global multi-asset broker focused on creating a better trading experience through technology, transparency, and long-term partnership. Exness continues to support traders with reliable trading conditions and an environment designed to help them participate in financial markets with greater Confidence.    The post Exness Team Pro strengthens its LATAM roster with trading star Oscar Carbera first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Revolut said Wednesday that it has received in-principle approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for its Virtual Assets Service Provider Licence. The approval allows the firm to offer broker-dealer, management and investment, and exchange services in the UAE. The approval is another step in Revolut’s expansion strategy, following earlier approval this year from the Central Bank of the UAE for its payments activities, reinforcing the company’s intent to build a locally regulated, end-to-end financial ecosystem in the country. Subject to obtaining final regulatory approvals, Revolut intends to offer the virtual asset services covered by the approval through its retail app and standalone exchange, Revolut X.  This would allow eligible customers in the UAE to buy, sell and hold digital assets within a regulated framework. Joseph Khair, Head of Revolut Digital Assets FZE, UAE, commented: “The UAE continues to demonstrate global leadership in establishing a robust and transparent framework for virtual assets, and we are proud to align with that vision.”  He added that the approval “lays the foundation for Revolut to introduce its trusted virtual asset services within a regulated environment, supporting VARA’s goal of fostering a safe, transparent, and innovation-driven virtual assets ecosystem.” Revolut, which serves more than 75 million customers worldwide, said it is aiming to become the go-to financial app for the Web3 community globally.  The company currently serves more than 16 million crypto customers and offers crypto trading services in the UK and the European Economic Area, with the UAE set to follow pending final approvals.The post Revolut Secures In-Principle Approval for Crypto Services in UAE first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) said Wednesday that it has successfully converted assets held at The Depository Trust Company (DTC) into tokens used in real production trades, marking what it called the largest tokenisation production initiative in breadth of use cases, asset classes and number of participants. The tokenised trades were processed on 15 July and set the stage for the DTCC Tokenization Service to launch in October 2026.  More than 30 firms spanning traditional financial institutions and digital market participants took part, with digital conversions occurring on Hyperledger Besu, DTCC’s private network, and Canton, a public network, as part of the firm’s multi-chain strategy. Frank La Salla, President and CEO of DTCC, stated that the firm “demonstrated that we can apply the same institutional rigor to tokenization as we do for traditional assets while continuing to safeguard the integrity and resiliency of the global financial markets.” The event featured transactions across asset classes, including collateral pledges, security lending, U.S. Treasury and repo delivery-versus-payment trades, equity DVP and DVD trades, equity token transfers, and central counterparty margin workflows. Brian Steele, President of Clearing & Securities Services at DTCC, said the initiative showcased how tokenisation “can enable real-time collateral mobility, enhance liquidity and capital efficiency, reduce counterparty risk and support interoperability.” Participants included BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, State Street Investment Management and Vanguard, among others. The post DTCC Processes Real-World Trades Using Tokenised Assets first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

TradingView, the widely used charting and market analysis platform, has announced a new partnership with NOWNodes, a multi-chain blockchain infrastructure provider, to strengthen the delivery of onchain market data to its global user base. Under the agreement, TradingView will source blockchain data through NOWNodes across several major networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and PulseChain. The move is designed to ensure that pricing information tied to onchain markets remains fast, stable, and accurate for traders and analysts who rely on the platform daily. TradingView noted that maintaining reliable access to multiple blockchain networks is a complex task, one that requires infrastructure specifically built for multi-chain operations. By partnering with NOWNodes, the company said it can now rely on a system tailored for this purpose, rather than building and managing such infrastructure internally. Founded in 2019, NOWNodes has grown into a prominent multi-chain RPC provider, offering access to more than 120 blockchain networks through a single unified platform. Its infrastructure supports a variety of network architectures, including UTXO-based chains, EVM-compatible chains, and Tendermint-based systems. The company offers both shared and dedicated nodes, archive data access, and multiple API options, including RPC, WebSocket, and Blockbook interfaces. For TradingView, the partnership means dependable, consistent access to the blockchain data underpinning its supported onchain markets, without the operational burden of running that infrastructure directly. As demand for onchain and decentralized market data continues to grow, partnerships like this highlight the increasing importance of robust, scalable infrastructure providers in supporting mainstream trading platforms.The post TradingView Partners With NOWNodes to Power Blockchain Data Infrastructure first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW) has announced a multi-year partnership with professional golfer James Nicholas, tying the electronic trading giant’s brand to an emerging talent on the PGA circuit. The announcement coincides with Nicholas’s debut this week at The Open Championship, commonly known as the British Open, one of golf’s four major men’s championships. Nicholas will compete wearing the Tradeweb logo throughout the tournament. A two-time Ivy League Player of the Year during his time at Yale University, Nicholas has built significant momentum in recent months. He secured his first Korn Ferry Tour victory earlier this year and went on to compete in his second consecutive U.S. Open in June 2026. Tradeweb said the partnership was grounded in shared values around discipline, preparation, and transparency. The company pointed to Nicholas’s analytical approach to competition and his willingness to share behind-the-scenes insight into his preparation as qualities that align with its own approach to innovation in financial markets. Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb, said the company was drawn to Nicholas’s “ambitious and disciplined commitment to improving every single day,” adding that success in golf and in financial markets alike depends on preparation and consistent execution. Nicholas said Tradeweb’s forward-looking mindset resonated with his own approach to the game, noting that both golf and technology-driven markets require continuous learning and adaptation. Founded in 1996, Tradeweb operates electronic marketplaces spanning rates, credit, equities, and money markets, serving more than 3,000 clients across over 85 countries, with average daily notional trading volume exceeding $2.8 trillion over the past four quarters.The post Tradeweb Partners with Professional Golfer James Nicholas Ahead of British Open Debut first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Euroclear has appointed Usman Ahmad as Head of Digital Assets, a newly created role that takes effect immediately, the Brussels-based post-trade services provider announced on July 15, 2026. In his new position, Ahmad will lead Euroclear’s digital assets strategy, with the aim of reinforcing the group’s standing as both an innovator and a reliable market infrastructure provider in a sector that continues to expand. Ahmad joins Euroclear from Zodia Markets, where he served as co-founding Chief Executive Officer and built out the institutional digital asset brokerage. Before that, he held a key role in the growth of OSL, one of the first regulated digital asset market participants globally. Earlier in his career, Ahmad spent more than 17 years in senior capital markets technology leadership positions at HSBC and Merrill Lynch, gaining experience across all major asset classes, functions and geographies. Sebastien Danloy, Chief Business Officer at Euroclear, welcomed the appointment, noting that Ahmad’s background spanning traditional finance and digital assets would prove valuable as the company advances its digital capabilities and supports clients navigating a fast-changing market. Ahmad said he was joining Euroclear at a pivotal moment and looks forward to working with colleagues, clients and market participants to build solutions that create lasting value. The appointment comes as Euroclear continues to pursue opportunities in digital issuance, tokenisation and new settlement models, building on efforts such as digitising the Eurobond issuance process and its partnership with Banque de France on the NEU CP project.The post Euroclear Names Usman Ahmad as Head of Digital Assets first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

R25, an on-chain vault infrastructure protocol, has announced its integration with Binance Wallet, introducing what it describes as the first tokenized emerging-market consumer-credit vault available through Binance Wallet DeFi. The launch was unveiled on July 15, 2026. The debut product, Axil Prime Credit (APC), is a three-month USDC vault curated by Axil and built on the R25 Protocol, deployed on Pharos Mainnet. It targets an approximate 14.3% Gross APY, generated through a diversified portfolio of emerging-market consumer loans. According to R25, consumer credit represents one of the largest real-world asset classes globally, though it has historically been accessible mainly to institutional investors. APC aims to extend tokenization into this space, moving beyond the US Treasuries and gold products that currently dominate on-chain real-world assets. With the integration, R25’s DApp is now natively embedded within Binance Wallet, giving its large user base direct access to curated, on-chain yield strategies. To mark the launch, R25 is rolling out the first phase of a long-term incentive program, starting with a $300,000 campaign offering yield boosts to early APC subscribers. R25’s infrastructure is built on Ethereum vault standards, including ERC-4626, ERC-7540 and ERC-7575, separating custody, issuance, valuation, fees, redemptions and execution into modular components. This design allows the protocol to support varied asset types, from crypto and RWAs to perpetual contracts, including slower-settling assets like consumer loans. Sean Chung, VP of Global Business Development at R25, said the integration brings expert-curated yield to a much wider audience, calling Axil Prime Credit the first product to demonstrate the platform’s broader capabilities.The post R25 Brings Emerging-Market Consumer Credit Vault to Binance Wallet DeFi, Launches $300,000 Incentive Campaign first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Every system works. The gaps between them are what is costing you. Ask most brokers how their technology is performing and the answer is usually positive. The trading platform is stable. The CRM manages leads. The IB portal tracks commissions. The risk dashboard shows positions. Nothing is broken. And yet operations feel harder than they should. Reconciliation takes longer than expected. Client retention campaigns underperform. Partner commission disputes come up more often than they should. Bonus campaigns run over budget. A risk event arrives before the desk has time to respond properly. The month end finance report surfaces costs that were not visible during the month. The systems themselves are not the problem. The gaps between them are. This article examines four specific areas where disconnected brokerage infrastructure creates compounding costs, and what it looks like when those connections are finally in place. The Gap Between Your CRM and Your Trading Infrastructure Your CRM knows a great deal about your clients. It knows when they registered, what documents they submitted, which campaigns they received, and what their support history looks like. What it almost certainly does not know is what they are trading right now, how their equity is performing this week, or what their risk profile looks like based on recent trading behaviour. That information lives in your trading platform. And in most brokerages, the two systems do not communicate with each other automatically. The commercial consequence of this is that the retention and reactivation work your team does is based on an incomplete picture. You might be sending a reactivation offer to a client who has open positions your CRM cannot see. You might be missing the signal that a high value client is about to disengage because the trading data that would have flagged it lives somewhere your CRM team never looks. You might be offering the same campaign to a client who is actively trading at high volume and one who has not logged in for sixty days, because the segmentation layer cannot distinguish between them without the trading data. Client retention is one of the highest margin activities in a brokerage. The economics of keeping a good client are significantly better than the economics of acquiring a new one. A CRM that is structurally disconnected from trading reality cannot protect that margin effectively, regardless of how well the team uses it. What Manual MAM and PAMM Operations Actually Cost Managed account structures are operationally demanding in ways that are easy to underestimate when you are setting them up and expensive to discover once you are running them at scale. When a portfolio manager runs a strategy across 40 sub accounts, every trade requires an allocation calculation. Lot sizes need to be split proportionally across accounts. Rounding differences create marginal discrepancies in entry prices and P&L between accounts. Performance fees need to be calculated accurately and communicated transparently to investors. And when an investor disputes the high water mark calculation used to determine their fee, someone on your operations team needs to respond. That response requires manually reconstructing the trade by trade P&L history for the account in question, producing documentation that demonstrates the fee calculation is correct, and managing the client relationship through what can be a weeks long process. The direct cost in staff time is significant. The indirect cost in investor relationship damage and reputation within the money manager’s network is often larger. This cost does not appear on your technology budget. It appears on your operational cost line, spread across staff time and occasionally direct compensation, where it is rarely attributed to the infrastructure gap that caused it. At a small scale it is manageable. At scale it becomes a structural drain on your operations team and a consistent source of investor attrition that compounds over time. IB Commission Errors: Small Numbers, Large Consequences Partners are acutely aware of what they are owed. An overpayment is a direct cost to the broker. An underpayment is a relationship problem, and relationship problems with your best introducing brokers tend to be disproportionately expensive relative to the actual amount involved. A partner who believes they have been underpaid does not just raise the issue quietly. They raise it repeatedly, they raise it with other partners in their network, and they become less motivated to refer new clients while the issue is unresolved. When IB commission structures become complex, as they always do as networks grow to include sub IBs, different rebate models for different partner tiers, and volume-based incentives that require accurate trade data to calculate correctly, manual calculation becomes unreliable. The errors may not be large individually. But they are consistent enough that your partners notice them, and consistent enough that your finance team spends meaningful time investigating and correcting them every month. The operational overhead of managing this manually does not scale. The work required to calculate, verify, and pay commissions accurately grows proportionally with the size of the partner network, unless the infrastructure handling those calculations is automated. Bonus Campaign Costs That Appear After the Fact A campaign launches on a Monday. The terms look reasonable: a deposit bonus with a minimum volume condition and a 30 day expiry. Marketing reviews registrations. Finance reviews costs at month end. In between those two data points, a great deal can go wrong without anyone noticing. By the end of the first week, a group of accounts may already be meeting the volume condition through trades that generate minimal spread revenue for the broker. Hedged positions. Minimum threshold activity designed to satisfy the technical condition without generating meaningful net exposure. The condition is technically met. The bonus becomes payable. The pattern repeats as more accounts follow the same approach. Nobody identifies this during the campaign because the campaign platform knows about the registrations and the trading platform knows about the trades, but no one is watching both simultaneously with the ability to act on what they see together. By the time the month-end finance review surfaces the cost, the campaign has been running for three or four weeks and the cumulative bonus liability has already accumulated significantly beyond what was projected. The information needed to catch this pattern early has always been available in the trading data. It simply needs to be monitored in real time against the campaign terms, which requires the two systems to be connected in a way that prevents the gap from forming in the first place. The Compounding Effect of Multiple Disconnections Each of these four disconnections is manageable in isolation. A good operations team can absorb the friction of a CRM that does not connect to trading data. A careful finance function can catch commission errors before they become disputes. An alert marketing team can review bonus campaign performance frequently enough to catch overruns early. The problem is that these are not isolated. They compete simultaneously for the same operational capacity. The same ops team that is manually reconciling IB commissions this week is also handling the MAM dispute that arrived yesterday and trying to understand why last month’s retention campaign underperformed. The dealing desk that is manually adjusting margin settings during a market move is also monitoring copy trade exposure and responding to risk alerts from a system that is one step behind reality. The result is not one large, visible problem. It is many small, persistent ones that collectively limit what the team can accomplish and what the business can grow into. Connecting the systems does not solve every operational challenge. But it removes the structural friction that makes every challenge harder to manage than it needs to be. What Brokers Are Experiencing When They Connect These Systems The brokers who have moved from a fragmented stack to a connected operational environment describe consistent early changes. The operations team stops spending significant time on reconciliation and starts spending it on decisions that require judgment. Partner relationships improve because commissions are accurate, transparent, and paid on time. Retention campaigns perform better because they are informed by actual client trading behaviour rather than registration data alone. Bonus campaign costs become predictable because the monitoring is continuous rather than periodic. Over twelve months they compound into a measurably more efficient operation, stronger margins on the same revenue base, and the operational foundation to scale the business without the overhead growing at the same rate. If the patterns described in this article are familiar from your own operations, the PLUGIT team would like to show you how YOONIT Trading Solution looks like for your specific setup. We have worked with brokers of all sizes to identify the specific disconnections limiting performance and design the right operational solution. The conversation is practical, direct, and without obligation. Assess your current brokerage infrastructure and identify operational gaps with the PLUGIT team.The post The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Brokerage Systems. The YOONIT Broker Technology Solution by PLUGIT first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) revealed on Tuesday that its North American Financial Natural Gas futures and options markets reached record open interest of 13.4 million contracts on 1 July 2026, up 9% year-on-year. ICE’s North American Financial Natural Gas contracts price the differential between each regional hub and the U.S. natural gas benchmark Henry Hub.  Hubs that have seen strong open interest growth this year include Alberta NIT basis futures, up 13%, Houston Ship Channel basis futures, up 16%, Waha basis futures, up 15%, and NGPL TexOk basis futures, up 51%.  Cleared physical Canadian natural gas volumes are up 9% year-on-year at ICE NGX, which offers clearing for physical natural gas delivered at hubs across North America. Brian Lewis, VP of North American Natural Gas and Power at ICE, stated that natural gas markets have “entered a structurally more complex era,” with the U.S. simultaneously the world’s largest LNG exporter while infrastructure investments, surging power demand and a strengthening El Niño pull supply and demand in different directions across the country. Lewis added that new pipeline capacity is beginning to “debottleneck some of the most constrained production regions, reshaping basis relationships that participants have traded around for years,” with ICE’s markets spanning more than 70 hubs. ICE’s Henry Hub futures offer deep liquidity for managing long-term exposure to U.S. benchmark natural gas prices, with open interest up 8% year-on-year at 25.7 million contracts. ICE’s global power futures markets also hit record open interest of 3.6 million contracts on 1 July, up 7% year-on-year.The post ICE’s North American Financial Natural Gas Markets Hit Record Open Interest first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

TradingView said Tuesday that it has expanded its data coverage to include options from Borsa Istanbul (BIST) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), broadening access to derivatives data across Turkish and Australian markets. BIST, founded in 2012, serves as the umbrella organisation for Turkey’s capital markets, bringing the country’s major exchanges together under one roof. It operates as Turkey’s primary securities exchange and lists hundreds of companies. The ASX, formed in 2006 through the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange, plays a similarly central role in Australia’s financial markets and operates across multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives and commodities. With the integration, TradingView users will gain access to options on more than 150 underlying assets, including those on the Borsa Istanbul 30 Index, one of Turkey’s leading equity benchmarks tracking 30 of the country’s largest listed companies, and the S&P/ASX 200 Index, which tracks 200 of Australia’s largest publicly traded companies and represents approximately 72% of the total market capitalisation of all stocks listed on the ASX. TradingView said the additions will help users strengthen options analysis, refine trading strategies and gain deeper insight into investor sentiment across both markets.The post TradingView Adds Options Data from Borsa Istanbul and ASX first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Virtu Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VIRT) has released preliminary estimated results for the second quarter of 2026, revealing solid financial performance as the global market maker and financial services technology provider moves to raise additional debt financing. The New York based firm expects net income of $285 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, with Normalized Adjusted Net Income of $292 million. Basic and diluted earnings per share are estimated at $1.63, while Normalized Adjusted EPS is projected at $1.82. Trading income, net, is expected to reach $857 million, with Adjusted Net Trading Income estimated at $718 million. Average daily Adjusted NTI came in at $11.6 million, while Adjusted EBITDA is projected at $437 million. The preliminary figures were disclosed in connection with Virtu’s commencement of marketing for incremental term loans totalling $400 million. If completed, the additional borrowing would bring the company’s total term loan balance under its senior secured credit facility to $1,930 million. Virtu cautioned that the estimates are preliminary and have not been reviewed or audited by its independent registered public accounting firm. The company noted that final results could differ materially once its normal quarterly closing procedures are complete. Actual second quarter results are scheduled to be reported on July 30, 2026, with full financial statements to follow in the company’s Form 10-Q filing, due on or before August 10, 2026. Virtu operates as a leading market maker and technology provider, offering execution, liquidity sourcing and analytics services across global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, fixed income, cryptocurrency and other asset classes in more than 50 countries.The post Virtu Financial Announces Strong Preliminary Q2 2026 Results Ahead of $400 Million Loan Offering first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Barclays has announced the appointment of Peter Luck as Chairman of UK Investment Banking, strengthening its leadership team in the bank’s core domestic market. Luck joins from Bank of America, where he served as Head of UK Investment Banking and Head of EMEA Corporate Broking. Before that, he spent 13 years at UBS, building a career centred on advisory work, equity capital markets and corporate broking. His track record includes several landmark M&A transactions, among them Comcast’s £30bn acquisition of Sky, Just Eat’s £9bn combination with Takeaway.com, GSK’s $25bn Haleon share sale and HSBC’s $15bn privatisation of Hang Seng. He has also played a role in major Government share disposals in Lloyds and NatWest. Luck has been involved in some of the UK’s most notable IPOs in recent years, including Rightmove, Auto Trader, Helios Towers and Baltic Classifieds Group, and has advised on significant equity raisings, including for Severn Trent. The appointment follows a string of high-profile deals for Barclays this year, including Rosebank’s $3.05bn acquisition of Components and CPM and Nuveen’s acquisition of Schroders. Luck is expected to start later this year, with a focus on deepening engagement with large-cap corporates and financial sponsors while supporting further integration across the Investment Bank. Tom Johnson, Barclays’ Co-Head of Investment Banking EMEA, said Luck brings “extensive experience in advisory, equity capital markets and corporate broking, particularly in complex, high-value transactions,” adding that his appointment would reinforce Barclays’ standing with both domestic and global clients in the UK.The post Barclays Appoints Peter Luck as Chairman of UK Investment Banking first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR) announced an expansion of its cryptocurrency trading capabilities on Tuesday, adding nine new tokens through zerohash and three additional tokens through Paxos, while also introducing the ability to transfer funds to external wallets via stablecoin. The new zerohash additions include Aave, Aptos, Canton, Lido DAO, Monad, NEAR Protocol, Plasma, Pax Gold and Uniswap. Aave, Uniswap and Pax Gold are also now available through Paxos Trust Company. Clients can now withdraw USD from their IBKR accounts via automatic conversion to USDC, PYUSD or RLUSD, building on stablecoin deposit functionality already in place. According to the company, funding and external transfers process near instantly, 24/7, including weekends and holidays. “We believe digital assets should be integrated into a client’s broader financial experience, not treated separately,” said Milan Galik, CEO of Interactive Brokers. He added that the firm remains focused on giving clients access to digital assets alongside its wider range of products and markets. Interactive Brokers says its crypto offering is built on four pillars: competitive pricing, stablecoin funding flexibility, full crypto transfer capability between custodial and non-custodial wallets, and a unified multi-asset platform. The broker charges crypto commissions starting between 0.12% and 0.18% of trade value, with a $1.75 minimum per order and no added spreads or custody fees, a rate it claims undercuts many competitors by up to 85%. Stablecoin funding is not available to clients of Interactive Brokers UK or Ireland, and the new tokens are excluded for Irish clients. Availability varies by affiliate and jurisdiction.The post Interactive Brokers Expands Crypto Offering with New Tokens and Stablecoin Transfers first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

On Tuesday, Visa announced the launch of an AI Financial Assistant designed to help cardholders manage spending and reach their financial goals directly through their banking apps. The tool allows users to chat with an AI assistant about their card activity, receive personalized savings recommendations, and learn about offers from their financial institution, all without leaving their existing app. Michele Herron, head of North America value-added services at Visa, stated that the assistant offers a familiar, conversational experience while being fully integrated into a user’s account. Rather than requiring cardholders to manually input income or spending details, the assistant pulls data directly from banking records to generate tailored suggestions and benchmark users against similar consumers. The assistant will support monthly spending summaries, category-level breakdowns, and goal tracking for things like large purchases. It can also help with account actions such as locking a card or setting spending alerts. Financial institutions will be able to upload their own data so users can get insights on rewards, offers, and other banking products. A key differentiator, Herron noted, is security. Because the assistant operates within an issuer’s own app, cardholders avoid linking their bank information to third party platforms. Visa’s AI Financial Assistant will be available to U.S. financial institutions for piloting starting in August. The launch comes as AI adoption in personal finance accelerates. According to Visa, a 2026 TD Bank report found 55% of Americans already use AI to manage finances, with nearly half open to using AI for routine banking tasks.The post Visa Rolls Out AI Financial Assistant for Banking Apps first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced Monday the introduction of 18 single stock option classes in three batches, launching on 10 August, 17 August, and 31 August 2026. The firm revealed that both weekly and monthly expiries will be available for the new contracts from the first day of trading, broadening investor choice and enabling market participants to select the expiry profile that best matches their trading and risk management needs. Single stock options are said to be among HKEX’s fastest-growing derivatives products, with average daily volume exceeding 942,000 contracts in the first half of 2026, up 9% from the same period last year.  Weekly single stock options, launched in November 2024, have also gained strong traction, with more than 43 million contracts traded to date, consistently accounting for around 21% of volume in the corresponding single stock options products.  With the new additions, HKEX’s weekly single stock options will cover 52 listed companies across a range of sectors. The first batch, commencing 10 August, includes Minimax-W, ZTE, Knowledge Atlas, Kingsoft Cloud, YOFC and UBTech Robotics. The second batch, commencing 17 August, includes SD Gold, Zhaojin Mining, Weichai Power, Beke-W, Leapmotor and NIO-SW. The third batch, commencing 31 August, includes Meitu, 3SBio, Sanhua, Goldwind, XtalPi and VGT. Contract months for the first two batches run from August 2026 through June 2027, while the third batch runs from September 2026 through September 2027.The post HKEX to Launch 18 New Stock Option Classes with Weekly and Monthly Expiries first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed Monday that Deutsche Bank has paid a penalty of A$2 million after misreporting more than 260,000 over-the-counter derivative transactions, undermining the accuracy of data used to monitor Australia’s financial markets. ASIC issued an infringement notice to Deutsche Bank after identifying breaches of the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Reporting) 2024 between 21 October 2024 and 15 August 2025. The regulator said it had reasonable grounds to believe Deutsche Bank failed to take all reasonable steps to accurately report “direction” fields data for 20,483 outstanding transactions and 244,091 terminated or matured transactions across 208 separate business days.  The transactions related to foreign exchange and commodities OTC transactions. The direction fields are mandatory data elements under the ASIC Rules, indicating whether the reporting entity is acting as the effective buyer or seller of a transaction at a specified price. ASIC stated that the failures were systemic and reflected deficiencies in Deutsche Bank’s internal reporting framework. “Accurate reporting is necessary to enhance the capacity of regulators to oversee and monitor systemic risk and help detect and prevent potential market abuse,” ASIC wrote. Deutsche Bank has cooperated with ASIC’s investigation, paid the penalty, and is implementing measures to prevent further reporting errors. Compliance with the infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability. ASIC has previously issued infringement notices for alleged derivative transaction reporting failures against AMP Life Limited and AMP Capital Investors Limited in March 2020, and Westpac Banking Corporation in 2017.The post Deutsche Bank Fined $2m for Systemic Trade Reporting Failures first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO), the global financial technology company powering cross-border business growth, announced on July 13, 2026, the launch of a new innovation hub in Gurugram, India. The site will serve as a key center for both technology development and business operations. The Gurugram hub currently houses teams across engineering, go-to-market, and Workforce Management, with plans for continued expansion as Payoneer deepens its investment in innovation and global growth. The hub will play a central role in advancing the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities, bringing together engineering, product, data, AI, compliance technology, and operational teams to build core platform capabilities and AI-enabled experiences. Payoneer said it selected Gurugram for its strong engineering and AI talent pool and its ability to support round the clock collaboration across global time zones. Oren Ryngler, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Payoneer, said India is central to the company’s future as it works toward becoming an AI native business, adding that Gurugram is part of the company’s worldwide innovation strategy rather than simply a support site. Gaurav Gupta, SVP and Platform Site Leader for India, said the country offers one of the world’s deepest pools of fintech and AI engineering talent, positioning it well as AI moves from experimentation into enterprise deployment. Payoneer has been expanding its footprint in India, holding in principle authorization from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a Payment Aggregator. The company also recently acquired Skuad, now known as Payoneer Workforce Management. The Gurugram hub officially opens at the Sector 42 office on July 13, 2026.The post Payoneer Opens New Innovation Hub in Gurugram, India first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Binance said agentic payments now support x402 payment flows on BNB Chain for AI agents It lets AI agents and apps pay for online services automatically, without needing a human to approve each transaction. B402 is built on x402, a payment protocol that uses the HTTP “402 Payment Required” code. It allows businesses to charge for access to APIs, data, or content, while buyers, including AI agents, pay using stablecoins on BNB Smart Chain. Supported tokens include U, USD1, USDT and USDC. The firm explained that when a client requests a paid service, the seller replies with a request for payment. The buyer then signs an approval off-chain, without needing to hold any crypto for gas fees. The seller sends this to B402, which verifies it and completes the payment directly on-chain between the two wallets. B402 covers the gas costs itself. This setup is aimed at businesses that want to charge small amounts per API call, let AI agents pay for tools or data on their own, or put content behind simple pay-per-view style paywalls. Sellers can also list their services on something called B402 Bazaar, making it easier for AI agents to find and pay for them automatically. B402 is currently live on BNB Smart Chain’s test network, with companies able to apply for full access. Binance plans to bring the system to other blockchain networks in the future as demand grows for payments between machines and AI systems.The post Binance Says Agentic Payments Now Supports x402 Payment Flows first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Webull EU, the European arm of Nasdaq-listed Webull Corporation (NASDAQ: BULL), has been granted MiCAR (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) approval, clearing the way for the platform to offer crypto assets to clients in the European Union. The approval was issued by the AFM, the Dutch financial regulator, making Webull one of the first dual-regulated investment firms in the Netherlands to receive MiCAR authorization. Under the new framework, Webull users will be able to place orders for crypto assets directly through the Webull platform, with custody handled by Webull EU. Trade execution will be managed through a partnership with Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. Andries van Luijk, CEO of Webull Securities (Europe), called the approval an important milestone for the company’s growth in the region. He said it reflects Webull’s commitment to giving clients secure, compliant access to digital assets under the EU’s regulatory standards. The MiCAR framework requires firms to meet strict investor protection and operational requirements, giving European clients added assurance when trading and holding crypto assets through regulated platforms. Webull EU expects to launch crypto operations in late 2026. Approval currently covers the Netherlands, with passporting requests submitted for other EU markets. Webull operates in 16 markets worldwide, serving more than 27 million registered users. Its platform offers trading across stocks, ETFs, options, futures, fractional shares and digital assets, alongside market data, community tools and investor education resources.The post Webull Secures MiCAR Approval to Offer Crypto Assets in the EU first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

SBI Holdings, Inc. has announced a strategic collaboration with Solana Foundation aimed at building an on-chain financial market originating from Japan, with plans to expand real-world assets (RWAs) and stablecoins across Asia and global markets. The partnership was unveiled on July 13 and involves SBI R3 Japan Co., Ltd., which is set to change its trade name to SBI Solana Global Co., Ltd. (tentative). The company will continue to be backed by existing shareholders SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, as it pursues a new growth strategy alongside Solana. According to the announcement, Solana’s involvement marks a significant step not just for Japan’s financial sector but for the broader global digital finance industry. The collaboration is centered on the growing trend of on-chain finance, where issuance, distribution and settlement of financial assets occur entirely on blockchain networks. SBI cited Japan’s deep financial asset pools, wide base of market participants and advanced legal framework as key advantages that, when combined with Solana’s global network, could position the country as a central hub for on-chain finance in Asia. SBI Solana Global’s planned initiatives include supporting the issuance of stablecoins such as JPYSC, structuring tokenized RWAs including bonds and real estate, building cross-border settlement infrastructure, and developing payment systems tailored for institutional investors and AI-driven applications. Looking ahead, SBI Group and Solana said they intend to expand this framework beyond Japan, working toward new financial infrastructure suited for the on-chain era across Asian and global markets.The post SBI Holdings Partners With Solana Foundation to Build On-Chain Financial Market From Japan first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.