Settlement is the least glamorous word in finance and quite possibly the most important. It is the moment a trade actually completes, when cash and asset change hands and the deal becomes real. For decades that moment has taken days, propped up by a chain of intermediaries each taking a cut and addi

On 1 July the European Union switches off the grace period that has let crypto firms operate while they queued for a licence. From that date, any business providing crypto asset services to clients in the EU without authorisation under the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, known as MiCA, is break

From 1 July, the largest crypto exchange in the world stops serving customers across the European Union. Binance has emailed users in Poland, Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere to say it can no longer accept new registrations and will restrict services for EU residents, after failing to secure a lic

For more than a decade the same story has played out at the top of Europe's startup ladder. A company built in London, Paris or Stockholm reaches the stage where it needs hundreds of millions to scale, cannot find a cheque that size at home, and takes one from a United States fund instead, often shi

When the company that safekeeps more than 22 trillion euros of the world's securities decides tokenisation is the future, the interesting part is not the press release. It is the architecture underneath it.

On the same day that two giants of market infrastructure moved deeper into digital assets, a Spanish wholesale custodian quietly switched on crypto custody for other banks. On its own it is a modest announcement. As part of a pattern, it is the story.

The European Commission announced on 18 May 2026 that it had selected Swedish investment firm EQT to manage the new Scaleup Europe Fund, a vehicle with a target size of €5 billion designed to back the continent's most promising technology companies at the growth stage. The fund will invest across th

What ESMA Said ESMA's April 2026 statement sets out the authority's expectations in direct terms. Any entity providing crypto-asset services to EU clients after 1 July 2026 without a MiCA authorisation will be in breach of EU law and must stop providing those services. The statement covers the full scope of regulated activity under MiCA: issuance of crypto-assets including asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, and the provision of crypto-asset services including custod

Liquidity Map. Did The Liquidity Problem in Tokenised Finance Just Get Solved?

Time is almost up for European crypto-asset businesses operating under MiCA's transitional grace period. On 17 April 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a formal statement — document reference ESMA75-113276571-1679 — making clear that the transitional periods under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation will definitively end on 1 July 2026. There will be no further extensions.

For years, the stablecoin market has been a dollar story. Of the $305 billion in stablecoins in circulation as of January 2026, over 99% are denominated in US dollars. That asymmetry is not just a currency statistic — it is a structural risk for European financial markets, a competitive disadvantage for EU-based institutions, and a potential sovereignty problem for European regulators. A consortium of twelve of Europe's largest banks just decided to do something about it

Lise received authorisation from French regulator AMF in late 2025, becoming the first institution in Europe licensed to operate a fully tokenised equity exchange. Unlike hybrid models that tokenise existing securities while keeping legacy infrastructure in place, Lise has built a single on-chain system that combines issuance, trading, settlement, and share registry. There is no parallel paper record, no T+2 clearing cycle, no intermediary custodian between the exchange and t

A clear guide to Understanding European Equity Token Rules at a time equity tokens are transforming how startups raise capital and how investors participate in ownership. Before diving into this world, it’s crucial to understand the European equity token rules that govern these digital assets. These rules ensure transparency, protect investors, and create a fair market environment.