Welcome back!

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week:

The hottest thing in crypto right now? Wall Street plumbing.

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter! 

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Crude Awakening

Tensions flare in the Strait of Hormuz.

Every weekend brings fresh headlines, yet oil traders in London and New York can do nothing until Monday. But on TradeXYZ, the crypto exchange that never closes, trading carries on. As a result, WTI and Brent perpetual futures are now among the platform’s busiest contracts, priced by a crowd that refused to wait for the opening bell.

Diesel arrived later, and to a quieter room. Its perpetual futures on TradeXYZ, which track New York Harbor diesel, have so far drawn little more than a trickle of business.

Timing is part of the story. By the time diesel prices hit records this autumn, the crowd had already picked its champion. Money and traders had piled into crude, and on a busy exchange, liquidity attracts more liquidity.

The more profound problem, however, is that diesel looks like oil in a different coat. Its price largely follows crude, which is deeper, cheaper to hold and better understood. What diesel uniquely offers is a bet on refiners’ margins. That is a subtle trade for specialists, not for the momentum traders who flock to TradeXYZ.

Those specialists, meanwhile, are largely locked out. The fleet operators and fuel distributors who might hedge New York diesel are mostly American, and TradeXYZ does not serve American customers, at least not yet. And without natural users, market makers see little reason to commit capital, and thin markets tend to stay thin.

So TradeXYZ’s backers have asked Washington to open energy contracts like these to American traders. And if that door opens, the fuel behind every harvest, cargo ship, and delivery truck would finally have a perpetual futures market that keeps pace with the economy it drives.

Mobile Stablecoins: Samsung has teamed up with Solana to bring stablecoins to 82mn Galaxy devices in the US. From the last week of October, Samsung Wallet users will be able to leverage USDC on Solana.

Global Commerce: Circle has struck a partnership with Tereina, an SAP-backed financial services group, to build its USDC and EURC stablecoins into corporate payment workflows through SAP Pay and SAP Cloud ERP. The move brings digital asset payments into an enterprise software ecosystem that underpins roughly 84 per cent of global commerce.

MiCA Compliance: The European Securities and Markets Authority has told authorised crypto-asset service providers to stop offering stablecoins that fall short of MiCA requirements, and to wind down legacy holdings within three months, by January 8, 2027. Although the regulator named no individual tokens, Coinbase and market analysts have identified Tether’s USDT and PayPal USD as non-compliant, while Circle’s USDC and EURC meet the rules.

Tokenised Assets: Citrini Research has become one of the most closely watched independent investment research firms, with calls that have a habit of moving the stocks and sectors they name. Its latest note argues that the wall between traditional finance and crypto is finally coming down, as tokenised equities, Treasuries, and other real-world assets move onchain and AI agents emerge as natural users of always-on, programmable financial rails.

Crypto Trading: Wells Fargo is in preliminary talks with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, about supplying cryptocurrency trading liquidity to the bank. A deal would enable Wells Fargo to offer crypto trading without having to build its own market infrastructure from scratch.

Ledger Hack: Ledger is investigating losses among south-east Asian customers who bought devices from CryptoBilis, an official reseller in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Onchain investigators estimate that hundreds of wallets have been compromised and more than $86mn stolen. The latest reports suggest that devices sold in Singapore and Europe may also be exposed.

And that's a wrap!

You can reach me anytime over on 𝕏 or drop me a line.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}