Week 40, September 21–27, 2026 Key cryptocurrencies closed in the green. Over the past week, central banks promoted their own currencies. The Fed and the ECB are drafting rules for stablecoin issuers. Meanwhile, banks are pushing crypto-native companies out of the regulated segment. Crypto firms were hit by the Bitget hack and a legal dispute over who is responsible for stolen funds. Settlement networks have become a matter of currency sovereignty Central banks are building digital settlement around the interests of their own currencies. Greece, according to the WSJ, blocked Binance’s application for a license under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) at the request of ECB President Christine Lagarde. According to the vice chair of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), Lagarde approached Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over concerns that dollar stablecoins on the exchange would slow the development of the digital euro. Saudi Arabia is leaving the China-backed mBridge project, which the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) exited in 2024. On September 21, the Bank of Korea launched a test network for cross-border settlements in won and plans to begin full-scale operations in January 2027. Stablecoins are being prepared for banking-style regulations Regulators in the US and EU are drafting new requirements for issuers’ reserves and capital. On September 24, the Fed proposed capital requirements under the GENIUS Act for operational risk: 2% on the first $20 billion in circulation, 1.5% on the next $30 billion, and 1% above $50 billion. On September 22, the ECB and several EU central banks proposed replacing the share of bank deposits in reserves required by MiCA with repo transactions and short-term bonds. For significant stablecoins, this share amounts to at least 60%. Central banks see such deposits as a risk for both banks and issuers. Earlier, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino voiced similar concerns. Traditional finance is integrating crypto into its own business Banks are increasing their share in licensed crypto businesses. The number of banks with MiCA licenses doubled to 80 in three months, and the total number of crypto service providers rose to 349 from 243. The share of non-bank companies fell from 84% to 77%. Among the new bank license holders, German institutions dominated, including Deutsche Bank. Six of Canada’s largest banks are studying tokenized deposits for interbank payments in Canadian dollars. Raiffeisen, through the Austrian exchange Bitpanda, will open access to cryptocurrencies for 18 million clients. NYSE signed a memorandum with Blockchain.com to distribute tokenized stocks and ETFs. Hackers raise the question of who pays for stolen assets Losses from hacks are being shifted to exchanges’ reserve funds and infrastructure providers. $357 million was stolen from Bitget on September 24. The stolen amount is covered by the exchange’s user protection fund, which holds 5,500 BTC ($464 million). On September 24, KelpDAO filed a lawsuit in Canada against LayerZero over a bridge hack involving 116,500 rsETH ($292 million). According to the plaintiff, LayerZero failed to disclose the risks of its technology, despite having provided written approval of the system’s reliability. LayerZero says KelpDAO relied on a single verifier network. BitGo is already moving from LayerZero to Chainlink.