[Bitpush Weekend Key News Review] Bloomberg: Tether's new round of financing includes investments from SoftBank and Cathie Wood; BNY Mellon and BNP Paribas have started testing Ethereum L2 on-chain messaging with SWIFT; Hong Kong's third batch of tokenized bonds may allow subscription via central bank digital currency.

Bitpush Weekend Key News Review:

[Kraken Negotiates with Strategic Investors at $20 Billion Valuation]

According to Bitpush news and Golden Ten Data, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is in negotiations with strategic investors at a $20 billion valuation.

[Crypto.com Receives CFTC Approval to Offer Margin Derivatives]

Bitpush news, according to an official announcement, Crypto.com has received approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to obtain a margin derivatives license in the United States.

Specifically, Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA) is a CFTC-registered exchange and clearing organization, and is an affiliate of Crypto.com. CDNA has now been approved to amend its Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license to offer cleared margin derivatives for cryptocurrencies and other asset classes. In addition, CDNA already has the ability to offer fully collateralized derivatives through its prediction market. Furthermore, Foris DAX FCM LLC (doing business as Crypto.com | FCM) has now received Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) in the U.S., enabling Crypto.com to act as an intermediary for derivatives market clients and institutions.

[Hong Kong's Third Batch of Tokenized Bonds May Be Subscribed via Central Bank Digital Currency]

Bitpush news, according to Caixin, since 2019, the Hong Kong SAR government has issued a total of approximately HKD 386 billion in RMB, HKD, EUR, and USD bonds through the "Government Green Bond Programme" and the "Infrastructure Bond Programme."

In February 2023 and February 2024, two batches of tokenized green bonds were successfully issued, with scales of $100 million and $750 million respectively. The third batch of tokenized bonds will not only tokenize the asset side, but also consider implementing tokenization on the funding side. Given that Hong Kong's funding-side tokenization is advanced and the most mature is the central bank digital currency (CBDC), it is possible that the funding side of this batch of tokenized bonds will be subscribed via CBDC.

[BNY Mellon and BNP Paribas Begin Testing Ethereum L2 On-chain Messaging with SWIFT]

Bitpush news, according to FinanceFeeds, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) previously disclosed that it is testing on-chain messaging functionality using the Ethereum L2 network Linea.

According to the latest news, BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon have started participating in the tests, and the project currently involves "more than a dozen financial institutions." An anonymous source said that the entire testing process is expected to take several months to complete, but it will bring significant technological transformation to the international interbank payments industry.

[Bloomberg: Tether's New Financing Round Includes SoftBank and Cathie Wood]

Bitpush news, according to Bloomberg, SoftBank Group and Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management will participate in stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings' latest financing plan. Previous reports indicated that Tether is seeking to privately place about 3% of its shares, raising approximately $15 billion to $20 billion, which could bring the company's valuation to $500 billion.

[Cyber Hornet Applies for Three ETFs Mixing ETH, SOL, and XRP Futures with S&P 500 Index]

Bitpush news, according to market sources and SEC filings, Cyber Hornet Trust is seeking regulatory approval to launch three new ETFs. These products aim to track the S&P 500 Index as well as S&P CME 75/25 hybrid indices related to Ethereum, XRP, and Solana futures.

The proposed ETFs are: Cyber Hornet S&P 500 and Ethereum 75/25 Strategy ETF (EEE), Cyber Hornet S&P 500 and Solana 75/25 Strategy ETF (SSS), and Cyber Hornet S&P 500 and XRP 75/25 Strategy ETF (XXX). Each fund will allocate about 75% of its assets to U.S. large-cap stocks in the S&P 500 Index, with the remaining 25% allocated to futures contracts of Ethereum, Solana, or XRP, depending on the fund type. The filings show that the management fee for all three ETFs is 0.95%. These funds will maintain their target asset allocation through monthly rebalancing, but investment advisors may adjust the ratio based on market conditions.

For the cryptocurrency portion of the investments, the funds will gain exposure through direct purchases, CME futures contracts, and exchange-traded open-ended index products. If approved, these funds will be listed on Nasdaq and can only be purchased through secondary market trading, with no direct redemption supported.

[Apple CEO Admits to Holding Cryptocurrency, Calls It "A Reasonable Allocation Approach"]

Bitpush news, according to market sources, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave an affirmative answer when asked in an interview whether he holds cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum. Cook believes that crypto assets are part of a diversified investment portfolio and said he has been paying attention to the field for a long time and has spent time researching it. He finds cryptocurrencies interesting.

[JPMorgan Downgrades Bitcoin Mining Company CleanSpark Stock Rating to Neutral]

Bitpush news, JPMorgan has downgraded the rating of U.S. bitcoin mining company CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSK) from "Overweight" to "Neutral," and lowered its target price from $15 to $14, citing valuation concerns.

Reportedly, CleanSpark mined 657 BTC in August, with a bitcoin holding of 12,827 coins. Data shows that CLSK's share price rose by more than 60% this month, currently trading at $12.96, with a total market capitalization of $3.643 billion. Its Q3 2025 revenue was $198.6 million, slightly below expectations.

[TeraWulf Seeks $3 Billion Debt Financing for Data Center Construction]

Bitpush news, according to Bloomberg, bitcoin mining company TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) is expected to raise about $3 billion to support the construction of its data centers.

Morgan Stanley is arranging this potential deal for TeraWulf, which could launch as early as October. The financing may be completed through the high-yield bond or leveraged loan markets. Google is expected to provide backstop support for the deal, which could result in a higher credit rating, with rating agencies expected to assign a grade between BB and CCC.