digital

According to the official announcement from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will acquire all shares of Japan Digital Asset Trust Establishment Co., Ltd. (JADAT) held by Bitbank on October 1, 2026, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.The Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group has identified the digital asset market as an important growth area, believing that highly reliable asset management and custody functions are highly compatible with its trust business. After becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary, JADAT will accelerate the procedures for management trust registration, striving to officially launch digital asset-related businesses as soon as possible.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin futures open interest has risen above $50 billion for the first time this year.David Lawant, Head of Research at Anchorage Digital, stated that this is not a warning signal of excessive leverage, but rather a reflection of market vitality, noting that the increase in spot trading volume and the thinning order book point to an early stage of recovery in the Bitcoin market.In his analysis, Lawant introduced the liquidity absorption ratio and explained how to identify shifts in Bitcoin market mechanisms. He mentioned the Bitcoin options market, which is approximately $60 billion in size, and the volatility curve, explaining why short-term Bitcoin volatility remains elevated through 2026, as well as what information options data can provide that prices themselves cannot reflect.He also shared Anchorage's experience with backtesting 37,000 covered call options and discussed how ETFs and treasury companies are changing the price discovery process for Bitcoin.

Founder of Strategy Michael Saylor posted that he hopes Strive and all well-managed "Bitcoin-driven digital credit" issuers achieve success.Strategy is built on the same foundation as Strive: BTC belongs to digital capital, STRC and SATA belong to digital credit, and MSTR and ASST belong to digital equity. The securities structures and decisions of both parties are independent, although they will compete for individual capital allocations, they can also jointly expand long-term market opportunities.Saylor cited SIFMA data stating that by the end of 2025, the global stock market value will reach $157.8 trillion, and the fixed income debt balance will reach $160.7 trillion, with 0.1% of either market being approximately $160 billion.He proposed a threefold amplification mechanism: corporate financing to purchase supply-constrained Bitcoin can increase demand and improve the asset coverage of related companies; more issuers launching digital credit products can accumulate research, trading, and liquidity foundations, reducing the premium investors demand due to unfamiliarity, and potentially narrowing credit spreads and financing costs; more companies proving that this model can operate in different market environments may enhance market recognition of digital equity.He also emphasized that a single purchase does not guarantee Bitcoin appreciation, Bitcoin itself does not pay interest, and the profit margin between long-term asset returns and financing costs must be obtained through disciplined management; more issuers will not automatically lead to higher valuations.This model depends on a robust capital structure, prudent liquidity, transparent disclosure, and useful products. Weak issuers may undermine confidence in the entire category, while more credible issuers can meet institutional diversification investment needs and attract funds that would not otherwise enter the category.

Jacobs Engineering Consulting will deploy data center digital twin technology for the NVIDIA Research Center.

According to The Block, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is preparing to regulate digital asset and tokenized asset custody platforms under a regulatory framework set to launch in April 2027.The regulator stated that it will issue consultation papers, guidance, and draft rules while monitoring market integrity and risk management.

The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the legislative draft details of a 0.2% digital asset transaction tax, clarifying that stablecoins will be considered taxable digital assets, while non-fungible tokens are not subject to taxation. The draft stipulates that DeFi transactions are generally exempt; however, fees paid by users that are deemed "valuable consideration," such as protocol fees for operating or maintaining the platform, may trigger taxation.Only network fees and exchange fees paid to liquidity providers do not trigger this tax. Cross-chain bridging conducted through digital asset brokers and paid with consideration will be regarded as taxable exchange activities. If centralized exchanges charge fees when transferring to self-custody wallets, it may also be subject to taxation. This tax law was approved in June and is set to take effect on January 1, 2027. The Illinois Department of Revenue is seeking public comments on the draft, with a deadline of October 30.

Founder of Strategy, Michael Saylor, stated in a post that Bitcoin is digital capital, MSTR is digital equity, and STRC is digital credit.The company's corporate strategy is to create two complementary products from Bitcoin capital: MSTR provides leveraged Bitcoin exposure and holds ownership of a growing digital credit business; STRC aims to reduce volatility, compress duration, and provide dollar returns. Creating digital credit requires active management of the entire balance sheet, including Bitcoin, dollars, debt, preferred stock, and common stock, involving multiple decisions regarding capital, liquidity, priority, dividend rates, payment frequency, and investor terms.The company's goal is to create the highest quality digital credit products: supported by financial resilience, disciplined capital allocation, and a more stable investor experience to provide attractive dollar returns. Dividends are visible outputs, but the quality of the underlying system is the core work.The company engineers products by managing capital, debt, and liquidity. Investors seeking Bitcoin price exposure can directly hold BTC or spot Bitcoin funds; meanwhile, MSTR investors buy equity in a company that simultaneously seeks Bitcoin leveraged exposure and digital credit business growth, accepting amplified volatility and downside risk. STRC investors pursue a different experience: dollar returns, reduced price volatility, and shorter duration characteristics, relying on the company's capital strength, priority debt position, dollar liquidity, and active management to achieve this.The two are interconnected—capital structure directs more volatility and return potential of Bitcoin towards common stock, thereby providing credit investors with more stable income claims. The company manages the balance sheet uniformly, creating leveraged exposure for equity investors and dampened exposure for credit investors, both relying on the company's strength and execution quality.To achieve this goal, Strategy continuously manages various levels of the capital structure, including issuing and repurchasing STRC, distinguishing between payment reserves and allocated cash, adjusting dividend rates, optimizing security terms, and seeking shorter durations and longer payment runways.The company emphasizes that digital credit is a discipline that requires continuous practice: stripping volatility, compressing duration, and extracting returns from Bitcoin capital. Bitcoin itself does not pay interest, and Strategy pays dividends through security terms. The ultimate goal is to build stronger digital credit and create greater long-term value for MSTR shareholders, reinforcing the quality of capital and equity value.

According to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced the launch of a new round of applications for the digital euro innovation platform, inviting fintech companies, payment institutions, and other organizations to explore AI agents participating in digital euro payments.The project will be divided into two parts: practical testing and future application seminars. The practical testing will take place from January to June 2027, where participants will develop prototypes for electronic receipts, multi-party transactions, conditional payments, and more.The seminars will explore AI payments, micropayments, machine-to-machine transactions, and the application of the digital euro in public services. In addition, the ECB has selected 36 banks and payment institutions, including Revolut, Stripe, and Deutsche Bank, to participate in another 12-month digital euro pilot, which is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2027. The final issuance of the digital euro still requires EU legislation and subsequent decisions from the ECB.

According to Gate Europe CEO Dr. Giovanni Cunti's latest LinkedIn post, global business relies on efficient cross-border capital flows, but traditional international payments still face challenges such as multiple intermediaries, currency exchange, and limited operational efficiency.Dr. Giovanni Cunti emphasized, "Digital assets are opening up new possibilities for businesses in cross-market payments and value flows." He pointed out that stablecoins and blockchain-based payment networks can provide faster settlement speeds, higher transparency, and more flexible cross-border transaction capabilities. Beyond everyday payments, their application scenarios are rapidly expanding to areas such as vendor settlements, multinational payroll distribution, treasury management, and global value transfer.As this ecosystem continues to grow, a clear and defined regulatory framework is crucial. Europe is leading this transformation through MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), which provides a unified standard for crypto asset services across the EU region. Dr. Giovanni Cunti further noted that in the long run, the value of digital assets will transcend asset trading itself, further deeply integrating into the real economy and the daily operations of global enterprises. Relying on the compliance foundation of the MiCA and Payment Institution (PI) dual licensing system, Gate Europe is deeply integrating digital asset services with traditional payment capabilities, continuously exploring a new paradigm of a highly efficient and closely connected global economy empowered by digital assets.

According to Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley has established a digital asset lab to test technologies such as stablecoins, tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The Wall Street bank is exploring how blockchain-based systems can be applied to its various businesses.Megan Brewer, head of market innovation and labs at Morgan Stanley, stated in an interview that the initiative is part of the company's existing innovation lab network. This network provides employees with dedicated facilities to explore emerging technologies while avoiding risks to the bank's core systems.

The Salvadoran government is collaborating with Modveon to develop a government-supported application called Sivar, allowing the public to send, receive, and hold dollar-pegged stablecoins through Coinbase's Base network, and supporting remittances. The application will verify user identities through government-issued identification.

The cryptocurrency trading platform BTSE, under BTSE Exchange Pte Ltd (BTSE Bhutan), announced that it has received a financial services license from the Gelephu Financial Services Office (GFSO) of the special administrative region of Gelephu, Bhutan. The company received preliminary approval in April 2026, and this license confirms that it has met all the prerequisites.The license authorizes the operation of a virtual asset multi-lateral trading facility and the provision of institutional-level virtual asset custody services. The company will begin onboarding users in the coming weeks, with spot trading initially only available for BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT. More trading pairs and fiat currency exchanges will be rolled out in phases, and customer assets will be placed under licensed custody arrangements in accordance with regulatory requirements.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung has invested $1 billion in Helix Digital, an AI infrastructure company backed by KKR and Nvidia. This investment will bring Helix Digital's total capital commitment to over $11 billion.

On September 24, Zach Pandl, the research director of the cryptocurrency asset management company Grayscale, published an article in the column The Stack stating that in the wave of artificial intelligence, the demand and supply paths for the computing power required to train, run, and operate models are diverging. Grayscale believes that this imbalance favors owners of already powered and operational computing capacity and brings growth-oriented investment opportunities.Zach Pandl stated that digital demand can expand instantly, but physical infrastructure such as electricity, data centers, chips, memory, and cloud services takes years to approve, access, and build. When artificial intelligence agents perform multi-step tasks, they may consume 5 to 50 times more compute tokens than typical chatbot interactions, and increased application layer activity will transmit to the underlying computing infrastructure.The article cites data from the International Energy Agency and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, stating that data centers are expected to account for about half of the growth in electricity demand in the United States by 2030, and new projects may take more than five years to connect to the grid. Even if electricity is secured, permits, specialized labor, electrical equipment, cooling systems, GPUs, high-bandwidth memory, and networks are still needed. Continuous value will flow to power producers, data center operators, and artificial intelligence cloud service providers that can convert electricity into computation.

Michael Saylor stated that as AI changes the way businesses are built, digital tokens can help 10 million new companies raise funds and reduce fundraising costs and delays. He advocates for simplifying issuance rules while retaining information disclosure and anti-fraud protections. Michael Saylor is the Executive Chairman of Bitcoin Treasury Company Strategy Inc.He proposed that companies could adapt rules for token issuance based on the type of issuance and set information disclosure requirements that match the risks, while reducing legal costs and retaining ownership protections and fraud accountability. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also proposed a cryptocurrency issuance exemption plan, one of which allows qualified issuers to raise up to $5 million within four years, and another allows raising up to $75 million every 12 months; both are still proposals and come with disclosure and anti-fraud requirements.

Michael Saylor published a long article titled "Prescriptions for Prosperity in the Digital Economy," stating that artificial intelligence will significantly enhance the productivity of individuals and businesses, thus necessitating a more free environment for creating, financing, owning, and trading assets. He suggests establishing a "Digital Bill of Rights" for digital assets, which centers on granting individuals and businesses the rights to create, issue, custody, transfer, and use digital assets, while providing fundamental protections in financial privacy, asset ownership, and market access.Saylor believes that digital intelligence will drive the birth of a large number of new enterprises, and financing costs, complexity, and time costs should be reduced, while improving capital formation efficiency through means such as digital tokens. He proposes a goal of enabling 10 million new enterprises to secure financing, while also establishing clear issuance rules and risk-matched disclosure requirements.Regarding the digital dollar, Saylor advocates for allowing banks, fintech companies, and technology platforms to compete more fully in the digital dollar product space and for issuers to compete around yields. He believes that the U.S. can further expand the global reach of the dollar by allowing companies to develop more competitive dollar digital products.For Bitcoin, Saylor defines it as "digital capital," advocating for allowing banks to custody Bitcoin under clear rules and use it as collateral for providing credit, while also establishing a viable path for insurance companies to incorporate digital capital into their balance sheets and product designs.He specifically mentions that the Basel Accord applies a 1250% risk weight to certain crypto asset exposures, arguing that regulators should reassess the relevant capital requirements based on the actual risks of digital assets and specific business activities.

Galaxy Digital, a Nasdaq-listed digital asset company, has incorporated $100 million in Sky Protocol interest-bearing savings tokens sUSDS into its corporate treasury and included them in the collateral range for institutional business facing over 1,600 counterparties. Galaxy also purchased an undisclosed amount of SKY.Galaxy clients can use sUSDS as collateral for loans and continue to earn Sky Savings Rate yields during the loan term. The average loan size in Galaxy's institutional lending business is approximately $1.4 billion; the Sky ecosystem's Prime Agent Grove had previously provided a $500 million warehouse loan limit to it.

Chutianlong recently won the bid for a digital renminbi hardware wallet management system project from an operating organization. The full-stack platform output from hardware supply to issuance continues to enhance the full-link service capability.