CeFi
Centralized Finance, financial firms with centralized teams, closed entities and custodied funds, which transact with digital assets and offer services to the blockchain industry.
Top Stories

CoinEx to Close Exchange on Ninth Anniversary
Withdrawals end Dec. 22, while Arkham attributes $422.7 million across 3.2 million addresses to CoinEx and its reserve page shows no current audit rows.

Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken Parent Payward
Nasdaq Ventures agreed to put $100 million into Kraken's parent company, at a $21 billion valuation according to Bloomberg, and Payward will adopt Nasdaq's surveillance technology across its trading venues.
Recent articles

CoinEx to Close Exchange on Ninth Anniversary
Withdrawals end Dec. 22, while Arkham attributes $422.7 million across 3.2 million addresses to CoinEx and its reserve page shows no current audit rows.

Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken Parent Payward
Nasdaq Ventures agreed to put $100 million into Kraken's parent company, at a $21 billion valuation according to Bloomberg, and Payward will adopt Nasdaq's surveillance technology across its trading venues.

Backpack Adds Micron and SanDisk Shares as Margin Collateral
The exchange also introduced 24/7 perpetual futures on MU, SNDK, SPY and QQQ, but its post did not specify key collateral and liquidation terms.

Strategy Restarts Bitcoin Buying With $370 Million Purchase
The company funded 4,603 BTC entirely with MSTR share-sale proceeds, leaving its $5.10 billion USD Reserve untouched for preferred dividends and debt interest.

Coinbase and Better Take Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages Beyond the Waitlist
The product pairs a conventional home loan with a separate downpayment loan secured by pledged bitcoin and a second lien on the property.

Tether Clears First Full Audit From KPMG Without Publishing the Statements
The Big Four firm issued an unqualified opinion on 2025 accounts for Tether's El Salvador issuing entity. The work was done to AICPA standards rather than the PCAOB standards the GENIUS Act sets for licensed U.S. issuers, and Tether has released neither the statements nor the opinion letter.

BitGo CFO to Exit as Q2 Net Loss Hits $19 Million
Revenue jumped 80%, but trading and staking margins weakened as BitGo targeted $15 million in annualized savings following June layoffs.

Bitwise Cuts 14% of Staff as Client Assets Fall to $9 Billion
The crypto asset manager reduced headcount to about 155 from 180, while its BITW index fund ended June with $532.8 million in net assets, down from $1.03 billion at year-end.

eToro to Buy US Brokerage TradeZero for Up to $231M as Crypto Revenue Shrinks
The purchase, eToro's third acquisition signed this year, is not expected to close until the first half of 2027 and needs regulatory approvals for a broker-dealer whose chief executive settled SEC charges in 2022.

Strategy Sells 1,638 Bitcoin for $105M, Splits Proceeds Between Dividends and STRC Buyback
The company raised its USD Reserve to $4.0 billion from $3.0 billion three weeks earlier, funding the increase with $250 million from the sale of 3,011,361 MSTR shares.