Round-the-Clock CME, Euro Stablecoin, Bitcoin Bonds

Welcome to our Crypto news in 10, a daily podcast bringing you the latest news about crypto in under 10 minutes.

Here’s what’s moving crypto today, Friday, February 20, 2026...

We’ve got a big market structure shift from CME as it takes bitcoin and ether derivatives fully around the clock later this spring. A major European bank is expanding its euro stablecoin to the XRP Ledger. And the first public bitcoin-backed bond deal from Ledn just closed — despite a choppy market.

We’ll also hit Bitdeer’s fresh convertibles to bankroll AI and mining expansion, then wrap with where U.S. stablecoin legislation stands after new White House talks — and what that could mean for prices heading into the weekend.

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First up, CME Group says its regulated crypto futures and options will trade around the clock — twenty-four seven — starting Friday, May 29, pending regulatory review. CME cites record demand, noting roughly three trillion dollars in notional across its crypto contracts in 2025. The plan is continuous Globex trading with a brief weekly maintenance window, and weekend trades will still clear on the next business day.

This is a notable convergence with spot crypto’s always-on culture — on a venue institutions already use. As CME’s Tim McCourt put it, client demand for risk management is at an all-time high.

Why it matters... Risk doesn’t clock out on Fridays. Twenty-four seven access on a CFTC regulated marketplace reduces the gap risk between spot and derivatives over weekends — tightens hedging — and could dampen some of those Sunday night air pockets we’ve all lived through. If you’re a treasury desk running basis or options strategies, your toolset just got closer to parity with the spot market.

Story two: a global systemically important bank keeps building on-chain. Societe Generale’s digital-asset unit, SG FORGE, has deployed its euro-denominated stablecoin — EUR CoinVertible, ticker E U R C V — on the XRP Ledger, adding a third public chain after Ethereum and Solana. SG FORGE says the rollout leverages Ripple custody infrastructure and fits a broader multichain strategy aimed at payments and capital-markets use cases under the EU’s MiCA framework. For institutions looking for a MiCA-compliant euro token with bank-grade controls, this widens the venue set and liquidity paths.

This has been in the works since the bank flagged the XRP Ledger as part of its multichain roadmap back in 2024... but the production launch this week is the milestone. Expect to see E U R C V show up in more treasury, settlement, and collateral flows as partners integrate.

Story three: bitcoin backed bonds just got real. Crypto lender Ledn closed an asset backed securitization totaling 188 million dollars, made up of thousands of short-term U.S. loans collateralized by 4,078.87 bitcoin. S and P assigned preliminary ratings: triple B minus on the senior Class A, and single B minus on the subordinated Class B. Jefferies acted as structuring agent and bookrunner. Importantly, the pool’s weighted average loan to value sat near 56 percent, and the structure weathered February’s drawdown — with roughly a quarter of the underlying loans liquidated as LTV triggers tripped — stress-testing the mechanics in real time.

Context... The Wall Street Journal noted the deal pressed on despite turbulence, as bitcoin slid about 27 percent from mid-January into the pricing window — forcing the issuer to manage through collateral liquidations and cash buffers. Closing on February 18 signals appetite for crypto-linked asset backed securities — even if investors demanded spreads around 335 basis points over benchmarks on the senior tranche. If performance holds up, this could open the door to a repeatable funding channel for bitcoin-secured credit.

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Story four: Bitdeer is leaning into scale. The miner and AI infrastructure firm priced an upsized 325 million dollar private offering of five percent convertible senior notes due 2032, with an initial conversion price of about nine dollars and ninety-three cents per share — roughly a twenty-five percent premium to the registered direct offering announced alongside. Net proceeds — estimated around 315 million dollars — will fund data center expansion, high performance computing and AI cloud growth, and ASIC development, with a portion earmarked to repurchase 135 million dollars of its 2029 notes and to pay for capped call transactions. Settlement is slated for February 24, subject to the usual conditions.

Why you should care... Even with bitcoin below the prior cycle’s highs, well-capitalized operators are raising into a broader compute supercycle — AI demand, high density colocation, and custom silicon. The capital-structure moves — refinancing the 2029s and layering capped calls — suggest management is balancing dilution risk with growth optionality. Watch how the equity reacts relative to implied conversion, and whether the AI revenue ramp starts to offset hash price cyclicality.

And story five: policy watch — stablecoins and the so-called Clarity Act are back at center stage. After another round of meetings, industry and banking reps say the remaining sticking point is whether companies can pay yield on stablecoin balances. Banks warn that looks like deposit-taking without bank rules, while platforms argue it’s more akin to money-market mechanics in token form. Barron’s reports bitcoin ticked up early Friday — around the high sixty eight thousand range at one point — on cautious optimism, though broader risk cues and macro data will likely steer direction into next week. Odds chatter on prediction markets has been jumpy too, swinging on headlines as negotiators hunt for a compromise.

Here’s what to watch in the legislative text: who supervises what under a tokens versus securities split, stablecoin reserve and disclosure requirements, and any hard caps or guardrails around yield programs. The stakes are high — Coinbase, for example, leans heavily on stablecoin economics — and any curb on yield could change the revenue mix... and the competitive field for banks, fintechs, and crypto-natives vying to intermediate digital dollars.

Quick recap... CME’s move to twenty-four-seven institutional derivatives is a structural shift that could smooth weekends. Societe Generale put a regulated euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, expanding bank-grade rails. Ledn closed a first-of-its-kind bitcoin-backed asset backed security — even after a market wobble. Bitdeer raised 325 million dollars in five percent converts to scale mining, AI, and high performance computing. And in Washington, stablecoin talks continue — watch the yield line item, and how it shapes the Clarity Act’s path from draft to law. We’ll be back Monday to see which of these dominoes moved markets over the weekend.

Thanks for listening and see you tommorow!