Wintermute’s U.S. arm has completed broker-dealer registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, giving the crypto market maker a regulated route to provide liquidity for digital-asset securities, stocks, options and exchange-traded products in the United States.
The registration permits Wintermute to serve U.S. exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties, trade equities and options for its own account, clear trades in digital asset securities, and operate as an authorized participant for exchange-traded products, including digital-asset-related ETFs, the company said. Authorized participants create and redeem ETF shares, a mechanism that helps keep a fund’s market price close to the value of its underlying holdings.
The move places Wintermute among a growing set of crypto-native firms adapting their operations to securities-market rules as U.S. products tied to Bitcoin and other digital assets become more embedded in conventional trading infrastructure. For ETF issuers and venues handling tokenized or security-classified assets, a registered intermediary can provide a more direct link between crypto liquidity and the regulated securities system.
Registration expands Wintermute’s U.S. role
Wintermute is already one of the largest liquidity providers across centralized and decentralized crypto markets. Its new registration broadens the range of activities its U.S. entity can conduct under securities rules, rather than limiting its role to spot crypto markets or non-U.S. counterparties.
The ability to clear digital asset securities trades and act as an authorized participant could be particularly relevant as issuers explore funds and other products holding digital assets or securities linked to them. ETF creation and redemption activity often depends on specialized trading firms that can assemble or unwind the underlying baskets efficiently.
The registration arrives while U.S. regulators and lawmakers continue to debate which digital assets fall under securities laws and which should be supervised primarily as commodities. That uncertainty has pushed many firms to pursue registrations that give them more flexibility if their activities touch regulated financial products.
CFTC Chair Mike Selig described the global derivatives market as entering a new phase in a recent statement. Selig said global derivatives carry more than $1.2 quadrillion in notional value, with nearly half of that market falling under CFTC oversight. He added that the United States would not adopt regulatory approaches that restrict market development.
Senate timetable remains unresolved
In Congress, senators Thom Tillis and Ruben Gallego have proposed an ethics provision in the CLARITY Act that would require U.S. President Donald Trump to divest crypto-related business assets, according to the proposal described in the supplied material.
The proposed approach could defer federal taxes on gains associated with a divestment for years and potentially reduce tax liabilities by millions of dollars. The updated draft would also permit state attorneys general to enforce the rules. An earlier version had assigned enforcement authority solely to the Justice Department.
The provision has added a politically sensitive element to a bill intended to clarify the U.S. market structure for digital assets. The debate now combines questions about agency oversight, consumer protections and trading rules with scrutiny of public officials’ commercial ties to crypto businesses.
As of Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader John Thune had not filed for cloture, the procedural step needed to advance toward a final Senate vote. The absence of a filing left the timing of further action unresolved.
Metamask targets AI-directed wallets
MetaMask has introduced Agent Wallet, a self-custody tool designed to allow artificial intelligence agents to execute on-chain transactions within limits set by the wallet owner. The product reflects a more immediate challenge for users than institutional registration: how to permit automation without handing an AI system unrestricted control over funds.
According to MetaMask, Agent Wallet includes spending caps, protocol approvals, risk settings and two automation options called Guard Mode and Beast Mode. The company listed support for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes and OpenCode, along with Hyperliquid and networks compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
The product’s practical value will depend on whether those controls hold up under real trading and application conditions. Self-custody places responsibility for approvals and transaction permissions with users, while AI-based automation can increase the speed at which an unwanted instruction or malicious contract interaction is executed.
MetaMask’s approach gives users a framework to limit an agent’s authority by wallet, protocol or spending amount. That could make automated on-chain tasks more manageable for routine activity, but it also makes careful configuration a central part of using the product safely.
Markets split as ADA outperforms major tokens
Crypto prices were mixed during the latest 24-hour session. Cardano’s ADA rose 5.20%, while Bitcoin declined 0.40% and Ethereum fell 0.32%, according to the market figures supplied for the session.
Several other large tokens recorded deeper declines. Solana’s SOL dropped 1.93%, XRP lost 2.25%, Avalanche’s AVAX fell 3.25%, BNB eased 0.37%, TRON’s TRX slipped 0.46%, Dogecoin declined 0.93%, and Zcash’s ZEC was down 0.74%. HEI led the reported losses with a 26.08% decline.
The session also produced sharp moves among smaller tokens. BICO rose 40.81%, according to figures from one trading venue, while MMT, IRYS, RESOLV, ROBO and ALLO each gained more than 10%. Such moves can reflect thin liquidity as much as sustained demand, particularly among lower-capitalization assets.
On-chain meme-token activity drew attention to FRONG and MarsCoin. A liquidity discussion cited a reported $6.7 million market value for FRONG against $1.2 million in liquidity, a ratio that can leave prices vulnerable to large swings when holders try to enter or exit positions.
Token launches and yen stablecoin funding
Pools.trade, a token-launch platform, recorded more than $150 million in first-day trading volume, according to details shared by Adams. He said users discovered an early version of the platform’s smart contract before its interface was live, forcing updates to the website and indexing system and delaying the formal release.
Separately, Japanese yen stablecoin issuer JPYC said it had raised about $38 million in Series B funding, including roughly $6.3 million from logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings. JPYC said it plans to use the capital to expand its financial and Web3 ecosystem and increase real-world use of its yen-linked token.
The two developments show different ends of the market: rapid speculative activity around newly launched tokens, and financing for stablecoin infrastructure aimed at payment and commercial use. Wintermute’s new U.S. registration sits between those segments, extending regulated market-making capacity as crypto products increasingly intersect with securities trading and ETFs.
Explore how tokenized shares and derivatives work in 2026—read this guide on tokenized equities next.
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