Diversified Capital Markets

The SEC announced a five-year conditional Innovation Exemption allowing eligible platforms to trade tokenized U.S. equities without standard exchange registration, sending shares of Robinhood up 7.6% and Coinbase up 10.5%. According to Reuters, the temporary framework lets digital asset brokerages and trading platforms support tokenized equity trading while the agency solicits public comments to shape permanent regulatory policies for on-chain securities. Tokenized equities represent traditional corporate shares as digital tokens on a blockchain, potentially enabling 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, and more efficient settlement. The move reduces compliance hurdles and waives full exchange registration requirements for qualifying participants, opening the door for platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood to launch new asset offerings and capture additional trading volume. The rally was further supported by a rebound in the broader cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin trading up roughly 2% near $78,000. Coinbase remains down 17.7% since the start of the year and trades at $194.63 per share, 49.7% below its 52-week high of $387.27 from October 2025.

Coinbase Global has filed for regulatory approval to list perpetual futures tied to individual large-cap U.S. stocks, opening the door to 24/7 leveraged trading of shares such as Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia on a regulated U.S. platform. The exchange plans to offer contracts linked to roughly 50 to 60 major stocks, with trading potentially starting later this year if regulators approve the products, according to The Wall Street Journal. Coinbase submitted a Form 1-N to the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, a filing that allows Coinbase Derivatives to register with the SEC as a national securities exchange for security futures products. The move follows Coinbase's push to expand perpetual futures beyond crypto; the exchange launched stock perps for eligible customers outside the U.S. in March, and earlier this month launched regulated crypto derivatives for eligible Canadian traders, offering 23 crypto futures tied to assets including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, alongside futures for gold, silver, oil and the COIN50 index. U.S. regulators have also taken steps this year to open the market to perpetual contracts, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approving a bitcoin perpetual futures contract submitted by Kalshi on May 29 and saying market participants could seek approval for other perpetual products. Coinbase is not alone in seeking to bring the products into the U.S. regulated market, as Kalshi has also moved toward offering single-stock perpetual futures.

Bitcoin traded at $80,888.81, up 5.5% over 24 hours, pushing crypto-linked equities sharply higher Friday morning. Strategy stock rose 12% to $148.55 and Coinbase Global shares climbed 11% to $192.43, both outpacing the coin itself, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF gained 6% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust slipped 0.1%. Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, said short positions were liquidated once Bitcoin broke past its resistance level, and crypto derivatives traders had been heavily positioned in call options heading into the move. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it is granting a five-year exemption allowing U.S. trading venues to offer tokenized stocks, a direct tailwind for Coinbase, which earns fees on every listed venue it operates. Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said he now assumes the CLARITY Act is dead and that another path exists through the regulators, naming the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while a House of Representatives committee advanced the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill on Thursday, a measure that still requires approval from the full House and the Senate. Strategy remains a leveraged treasury vehicle for Bitcoin, funded largely with issued equity, and its stock is still down 3% year to date even after this month's rebound.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure, telling Scott Melker that the company has built a set of tools for the agentic economy. Armstrong said the existing payment rails are sometimes not sufficient for AI because agents want to move very fast, make payments globally, and in some cases transact in very small amounts. The stack includes the Base blockchain, the USDC stablecoin that Coinbase co-created with Circle, and the X402 protocol, which Coinbase created and which is now under the Linux Foundation in collaboration with Google, AWS, CloudFlare and others. He said X402 allows agents to pay each other in real time instantly all over the world, even in very small transaction amounts like a couple of cents at a time, which traditional payment rails do not really support. Armstrong also said Coinbase has been able to bring perpetual futures products to the US under this administration, calling them a pretty killer app in the trading world, and that he expects a future not too far off in which more agents transact in the economy than humans.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the company's newly launched tokenized equities have already generated almost a billion dollars in trading volume just weeks after debut. In an interview with Scott Melker on "The Daily Wolf with Scott Melker," Armstrong said Coinbase built the tokenized shares as real securities that can be redeemed one to one for the underlying share and carry shareholder rights including dividend upside and voting, unlike the derivative, synthetic or debt-instrument versions he said he has seen elsewhere. He argued tokenized equities let users trade shares 24/7, send them anywhere in the world and tap a unified global liquidity pool, serving the roughly four billion people he said lack access to any brokerage. Armstrong said Coinbase began with stablecoins, a one-to-one backed digital token for a dollar, and now intends to tokenize everything, including private companies, treasuries and asset management funds, to make investments fast, cheap and globally distributed while reducing settlement risk. He added that the current SEC is very interested in bringing the idea to the US.

24/7 Wall St. has issued a BUY rating on Coinbase with a 12-month price target of $212.94, implying 23.73% upside from a current price of $172.11, even as the stock sits 47.37% below its 52-week high. The call follows a rough second quarter in which revenue of $1.22 billion fell 18.5% year over year and missed consensus by 5.36%, with GAAP EPS of -$1.36, as total crypto spot trading volume dropped 25% quarter over quarter. The bull case rests on diversification: subscription and services reached 48% of net revenue in Q2, prediction markets already exceed $100 million in annualized revenue, average USDC held on platform hit an all-time high of $20 billion, and Base has processed roughly $32 trillion in trailing 12-month stablecoin transfer volume, with management projecting the stablecoin market will grow tenfold from $300 billion today to $3 trillion by 2030. The bear case is equally blunt: consumer transaction revenue fell 20% year over year and institutional dropped 26%, assets on platform slid to $246 billion from $294 billion, and the FY2026 EPS estimate has collapsed from $0.8953 ninety days ago to -$1.9697 today on 13 downward revisions in the past 30 days. For comparison, Robinhood posted Q2 2026 revenue up 32% year over year to $1.31 billion and carries an $87 billion market cap versus Coinbase's $38 billion, while CME Group reported $1.71 billion in quarterly revenue at a $99 billion market cap. 24/7 Wall St.'s bull scenario points to $361.40, while its bear scenario lands at $186.62, still above the current price.

Coinbase shares jumped 8.7% in the afternoon session after the Senate prepared for a crucial floor vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, prompting Compass Point to upgrade the cryptocurrency exchange operator to Neutral from Sell amid a broader recovery in Bitcoin prices. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the procedural vote centers on a revised 635-page bill that aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S., incorporating new ethics restrictions and stablecoin safeguards to win bipartisan support. Compass Point analyst Ed Engel upgraded Coinbase's stock and raised his price target to $177, noting that his base case expects the bill to fail its initial 60-vote cloture threshold but arguing that even if the legislation stalls, regulatory exemptions and tokenized equities are likely to advance next year regardless. Engel also cited a cyclical rebound in Bitcoin as a key driver lifting the overall outlook for digital asset platforms, with Bitcoin trading up roughly 2% and moving above $79,000 as of this writing. Coinbase is down 20% since the beginning of the year, and at $189.16 per share it is trading 51.2% below its 52-week high of $387.27 from October 2025.

Coinbase Global appointed Anthony Armstrong to its Board of Directors and Audit Committee on 14 September 2026. Armstrong previously held senior investment banking roles at Morgan Stanley, focusing on complex financing structures and capital markets work, and he also worked on government efficiency initiatives and held senior financial positions at large technology firms led by Elon Musk. The appointment is only one part of the broader Coinbase story, which the company frames around deepening its position as a trusted access point for institutions as more assets move onto blockchain rails and as products like derivatives and its proprietary Base platform expand. The company said the addition points to tighter focus on execution quality and financial oversight, lining up with its push toward higher margin services and recurring revenue, and may act as a counterweight to rising compliance and cybersecurity costs by reinforcing the Audit and Compliance Committee. Investors can watch Coinbase Global's upcoming conference appearances, including the September 2026 Goldman Sachs and Citi sessions, for quantified updates on subscription and services mix, onchain revenue share and cost discipline.

The US Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on the Clarity Act on Tuesday, Sept. 15, requiring 60 votes to pass. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad told Yahoo Finance's Market Domination that the process will involve a series of votes, potentially playing out over 10 or 11 days, and that clearing the first vote would put the bill on a glide path to final passage. Shirzad noted the House passed the bill last summer with a big bipartisan majority, including every Republican and almost 80 Democrats, and that about 115 Democratic amendments have since been added. If the bill passes, the US would join every other G20 country in establishing a legislative regulatory framework for crypto markets, providing the regulatory certainty needed to build the next generation of finance. If it fails, Shirzad said agencies are ready to implement as much of the Clarity Act as possible through administrative action, though legislation is more permanent and predictable. He also said about 67 million Americans own crypto assets, and the goal is to give them options such as using those assets as collateral for loans or mortgages.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg Thursday that the CLARITY Act is nearing the finish line ahead of a Sept. 15 Senate vote, with banks, law enforcement groups and crypto companies all endorsing it. Armstrong, speaking from the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, said he is confident the bill will pass but added that even a failed vote would not leave the industry without clarity, since the SEC and the CFTC have said they are ready to publish rulemaking. He called passage of the CLARITY Act a regulatory checkbox that could unlock institutional capital and pave the way for tokenized equities in the U.S., describing it as a big milestone for the industry. On Bitcoin, Armstrong said he personally believes the cycle bottom is already in and expects the cryptocurrency to trend higher over the coming year or two as the next halving approaches. He also told CNBC's Squawk Box Asia that about half of Coinbase's revenue comes from trading, which has been down for the past year, pushing the company to diversify into stocks, commodities and foreign exchange, while the other half comes from subscriptions and services led by USD Coin stablecoins. Armstrong said he expects the stablecoin market to grow from roughly $300 billion today to $3 trillion by 2030, and cited stablecoin payments on Base up 700% year over year, prediction markets growing 100% quarter over quarter on the Coinbase app, tokenized equities launched in Abu Dhabi with real shareholder rights, and 90% of agentic finance payments running on Base.

Coinbase Global shares rose 6% to $185.34 Monday morning after Compass Point analyst Ed Engel upgraded the exchange operator to Neutral from Sell ahead of a scheduled Senate floor vote on crypto market-structure legislation. Engel also lifted his price target on Coinbase to $177, citing a Bitcoin rebound and the upcoming Senate vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May before stalling and is expected to be the last vote on the legislation before the November midterm elections. Strategy stock rose 3% to $135.20 on sympathy with the Bitcoin it holds on its balance sheet, while MARA slid 2% to $11.69 after JPMorgan cut the miner to Underweight from Neutral and lowered its price target to $11, citing MARA's capital-light joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures that leaves MARA with half the value the venture creates. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF rose 1% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust fell 0.8%, a split showing crypto-linked equities are trading on regulatory and analyst signals rather than the AI-led selling weighing on the broader index. Engel expects the Senate vote to fail, and President Donald Trump has publicly called on the Senate to pass the bill.

Coinbase has rolled out a new feature called Pulse Mode alongside its upgrade of the Base App, which has been rebranded as Coinbase Wallet. CEO Brian Armstrong announced the feature in a post on X, saying Pulse Mode offers users a simpler and more engaging way to trade perpetual futures directly through the mobile app. According to team members, the design streamlines perp trading for mobile users by simplifying the interface and making it more accessible to traders who want to execute positions immediately, while also introducing a more dynamic and visually engaging interface aimed at active traders. The new mode is available directly within the Coinbase Wallet mobile application, allowing users to access supported perpetual markets without leaving the wallet environment and to explore multiple trading options. The company said the move aims to attract more users to the Coinbase ecosystem and expand its services, fortifying its position as one of the top leading cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe.

Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas said the crypto exchange has a backup plan if the Clarity Act fails in Congress, pointing to the SEC and CFTC as alternative routes to regulatory clarity. Speaking to Yahoo Finance from the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference, Haas said there were always three paths to getting Clarity: Congress, the agencies themselves, or the court system, and that if the bill does not pass, Coinbase believes it has a path via the SEC and the CFTC. She cited CFTC Chair Selig and SEC Chair Atkins as having been incredibly innovative in driving forward change in rulemaking at the agency level, and said Coinbase believes it will be able to offer new products and services through the agencies. A key Senate cloture vote to end debate and allow the legislation to advance is scheduled for Sept. 15, and Senator Cynthia Lummis warned this week that if the bill fails to clear this Congress, the next realistic window to pass meaningful market-structure rules may not open until 2030. Coinbase COO Emilie Choi said the company never has to roll back its ambitions and knows how to launch these products, adding that the issue is more about the acceleration of adoption and how quickly money comes off the sidelines for Clarity.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced on September 10 a partnership with payments infrastructure company Moov. The tie-up will offer more than 1,000 community banks and credit unions nationwide in Moov's customer base the ability to accept stablecoin payments, settle them, and access real-time funding. Coinbase will provide regulatory-compliant digital asset infrastructure and custody, while Moov integrates it into existing payment systems, allowing financial institutions to offer the service without building their own crypto infrastructure. Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack said the latest technology should support local financial institutions and give them the means to compete with the largest players. Among major financial institutions, 21 companies including Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Mitsubishi UFJ announced plans on September 1 to establish a stablecoin issuer, making this partnership a move to bring regional financial institutions in as participants rather than competitors.

Coinbase is partnering with payments infrastructure provider Moov to bring stablecoin payment services to more than 1,000 community banks and credit unions across the United States. The partnership will let those financial institutions offer stablecoin acceptance, settlement and real-time funding through Moov's existing payments platform without building their own crypto infrastructure, Coinbase said in a Thursday announcement. Moov will integrate Coinbase's stablecoin technology using Coinbase Developer Platform's custodial wallet accounts and Payments API, supporting consumer stablecoin payments, merchant acceptance, merchant settlement and payouts, and will also use Coinbase's custodial accounts to handle digital asset funds for business and merchant transactions. Ryan VanGrack, vice chair and head of corporate affairs at Coinbase, said modern tech should meet local institutions where they are, giving them the tools to compete with the largest players while preserving what makes them trusted pillars of their communities. The move comes as stablecoins take on a larger role in payments and financial services, with the total stablecoin supply now at approximately $305 billion according to DefiLlama, and follows this month's announcement by a consortium of 21 major global financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi and Deutsche Bank, of plans to launch a regulated, dollar-denominated stablecoin venture in the first half of 2027, as well as U.S. Bancorp's disclosure that it is preparing to launch USBDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, after completing a live cross-border payment between the U.S. and Europe.

Coinbase and payments infrastructure company Moov announced a partnership on Thursday to bring stablecoin capabilities to Moov's customer base of more than 1,000 community banks and credit unions across the U.S. Under the agreement, Coinbase will supply the regulated digital asset infrastructure, and Moov will fold those capabilities into its payments platform, which already links community financial institutions to card acquiring and issuing and real-time payment rails. The partnership will support stablecoin payment acceptance, merchant settlement, and real-time funding without requiring banks to build a separate technology stack. Coinbase vice chair and head of corporate affairs Ryan VanGrack said the deal delivers the regulated infrastructure community banks need to offer these services directly, embedded into their existing systems, while Moov co-founder and CEO Wade Arnold said it was built so the answer comes from a business customer's primary financial institution rather than an outside provider. The announcement comes days before a procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which is scheduled for a preliminary Senate floor vote next Tuesday and needs at least 60 votes to advance, with its fate still uncertain amid bank and Republican concerns over deposit flight and community bank impact.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said U.S. crypto markets will gain greater regulatory clarity regardless of the outcome of the Senate's scheduled Sept. 15 vote on the CLARITY Act, which needs 60 votes to advance. The bill, aimed at dividing digital-asset oversight between the SEC and CFTC, was introduced in May 2025 and passed the House in July 2025 by a vote of 294-134 before moving to the Senate. Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego has said reaching 60 votes will require resolving outstanding ethics provisions alongside other unfinished items. Armstrong said that if the bill fails, the SEC and CFTC have indicated they are prepared to publish rulemaking shortly after the vote, while passage would deliver a broader legislative framework he described as a milestone capable of unlocking institutional capital and paving the way for tokenized-equity products in the U.S. The stakes are direct for Coinbase, where about half of revenue still comes from trading: second-quarter revenue fell to $1.2 billion from $1.5 billion a year earlier, and the company posted a $359.5 million net loss versus a $1.43 billion profit in the same period last year, with shares down nearly 23% year to date.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the Clarity Act, the U.S. federal framework for digital assets, is likely to pass given broad support from crypto firms, law-enforcement groups, and several banks, and that the sector will gain regulatory clarity regardless of the Senate vote. Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Armstrong said the legislation is ready to be supported by the Senate and that people he has spoken with are on board. The Clarity Act, introduced in May 2025 to establish clearer rules for the U.S. crypto industry, passed the House last July and aims to define oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with a Senate vote set for Sept. 15. Securing 60 votes has emerged as a key challenge, with ethics provisions among the issues under negotiation. Armstrong said that even if the bill fails, the SEC and the CFTC have said they are ready to publish rulemaking, delivering regulatory clarity one way or another on the 15th or a day or two after. He described the potential passage of the Clarity Act as a regulatory checkbox that could help unlock institutional capital and pave the way for products such as tokenized equities in the U.S., calling it a big milestone.

Coinbase Global has adopted ION's XTP for Event Contracts to support real-time processing for its prediction-market business with Kalshi, enabling automated 24/7 operations and onboarding tens of thousands of accounts daily. The technology handled Kalshi's first one million trades over Super Bowl weekend during initial rollout. Coinbase, Kalshi, and ION began collaborating in December 2025, and the platform allows Futures Commission Merchants to manage event contracts alongside existing derivatives through a single system. Coinbase shares rose 1.85% to $182.25 in premarket trading Wednesday, with analysts maintaining a Buy rating and an average price target of $219.11.

Mirae Asset Securities reported record second-quarter earnings, with consolidated pretax income of KRW2,528.7 billion, up 86% quarter-on-quarter, and net income of KRW1,905.2 billion, up 90%. The results included KRW1,624.2 billion in valuation gains from SpaceX, and even excluding those gains, pretax income of KRW904.4 billion marked the highest in company history. First-half pretax income surged 349% year-on-year to KRW3,886.3 billion, while net income rose 338% to KRW2,907.2 billion. Overseas subsidiaries contributed a record KRW609.1 billion in pretax income, up 150% quarter-on-quarter, and client assets reached KRW784 trillion, up 30% from end-2025. The company also executed KRW300 billion in share buybacks and retired over KRW500 billion in treasury shares, its largest cancellation ever.

Coinbase has launched regulated crypto derivatives for eligible Canadian investors, offering 23 perpetual and dated futures contracts tied to Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana, as well as commodity and index futures, through Coinbase Financial Markets. The products, available initially to permitted clients under an international dealer exemption, include nano-sized contracts with leverage up to 10 times and promotional pricing of 0.02% per trade plus a flat $0.11 per contract. Coinbase Canada CEO Eric Richmond said the rollout advances the company's "Everything Exchange" vision, aiming to bring products that Canadian traders previously accessed offshore onto a regulated venue. The exchange plans to expand its Canadian offerings, pending regulatory approval, as part of a broader strategy to become a one-stop platform for trading, paying, saving, and growing assets.

Coinbase, a major US cryptocurrency exchange, has filed notice registrations with the SEC to offer perpetual futures on individual stocks in the US, covering its derivatives exchange and futures commission merchant. According to documents published by Coinbase, the entities that filed the notice with the SEC on September 1 are Coinbase Derivatives and Coinbase Financial Markets, the futures commission merchant. To actually begin offering these products, approval from the CFTC is still required. Stock perpetual futures have already gained traction outside the US; Binance saw trading volume of approximately $342.9 billion in August, while Hyperliquid's open interest reached about $3.76 billion, surpassing that of Bitcoin. Coinbase has been offering stock perpetual futures outside the US since March, and with this filing, it aims to enter the US market.

Coinbase Global has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow investors in the United States to trade perpetual single-stock futures, which can be leveraged and traded 24 hours a day without holding the actual stocks. This move is the first step in Coinbase's regulatory process to bring this trading format, popular in the crypto market, to the U.S. market. The next step will be to work with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to seek product approval, with hopes of launching within the year. Earlier, Coinbase began offering perpetual futures to non-U.S. customers in early 2024. Meanwhile, CME Group launched single-stock futures referencing more than 50 leading U.S. stocks in July, and Kalshi has received CFTC approval to offer Bitcoin perpetual futures. The latest move comes on a day when Coinbase shares surged 10%, marking their biggest intraday gain since May, amid a recovery in digital assets, though the stock is still down about 35% over the past year.

Plus Automation, Inc., known as PlusAI, a developer of AI-based virtual driver software for factory-built autonomous trucks, has agreed to go public through a business combination with special purpose acquisition company Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp. The deal values PlusAI at an approximately $800 million pre-money equity value and could bring up to roughly $300 million in capital, including over $60 million in fully committed financing and about $236 million from the SPAC's trust. PlusAI has generated $25 million in revenue from its HyperFoundry software platform and targets $40 to $50 million in contracted revenue for 2026, while its SuperDrive Level 4 autonomous driving system is already hauling freight in Texas with Ryder and International. The combined company will operate as PlusAI, with the transaction expected to close in 2026 and support a targeted 2027 commercial launch of factory-built autonomous trucks with partners including TRATON, Hyundai, and IVECO.

Coinbase has launched regulated crypto derivatives for eligible Canadian traders, offering 23 crypto futures tied to assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana, along with five commodity futures covering gold, silver, and oil, and index futures including COIN50. The offering, announced in a Tuesday blog post by Eric Richmond, Country Director and CEO of Coinbase Canada, includes nano-sized products to lower capital requirements, with leverage up to 10 times. The futures are provided by Coinbase Financial Markets, a registered futures commission merchant overseen by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Coinbase is also offering promotional pricing of 0.02% per trade plus a flat $0.11 fee per contract for a limited period, and has expanded its partnership with Webull into Canada, allowing customers to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana directly through Webull.

Coinbase Global and mortgage lender Better have launched general availability of Bitcoin-backed mortgages for qualified US homebuyers, following an initial waitlist phase. The product combines conforming Fannie Mae first-lien mortgages with crypto-secured second liens backed by Bitcoin held on Coinbase, with incentives tied to Coinbase One membership. This move positions Coinbase to generate recurring revenue from subscription, payments, and lending services beyond spot trading. Investors should watch loan volume under the program, which had projected volume of US$260 million from the waitlist, and any disclosed totals after the August 12, 2026 rollout.