Today in crypto, European stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse said it will invest $200 million in Kraken’s parent company for a 1.5% stake, Bitcoin neared $75,000 on hopes of a deal between the US and Iran, and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff proposed that some crypto interfaces don’t need to register as brokers.
Deutsche Börse invests $200 million in Kraken parent Payward
Deutsche Börse said Tuesday it will invest $200 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, deepening a partnership between the two companies as the German exchange operator expands further into digital assets.
The investment, which is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second quarter, will give Deutsche Börse a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Kraken through a secondary share purchase.
The investment is another sign of growing interest in the cryptocurrency industry from traditional finance (TradFi) institutions. The deal is part of the Frankfurt-headquartered stock exchange operator’s plans to offer access to a wider array of blockchain-based securities and tokenized investment products and builds on its prior partnership with Kraken.
On Dec. 4, 2025, Deutsche Börse entered into a strategic partnership with Kraken to improve institutional access to regulated crypto investment products like spot trading, tokenized markets and derivatives, including the integration of Kraken-backed xStocks to its digital asset infrastructure, 360X.
Deutsche Börse said the collaboration is intended to produce new products across trading, custody, settlement, collateral management and tokenized assets. A spokesperson for Kraken told Cointelegraph that the deal was based on a secondary transaction involving existing shares and that it builds towards the two companies’ goal to bring crypto and TradFi closer as a “single, cohesive infrastructure for institutional clients,” rather than parallel systems.
Bitcoin nears $75,000 as Iran deal hopes spark rally
Bitcoin (BTC) surged to its highest price in nearly a month on Monday, nearing $75,000 as hopes of a deal between the Trump administration and Iran to end weeks of conflict washed the crypto market with positive sentiment.
Bitcoin tapped a four-week high just below $75,000 on Coinbase in late trading on Tuesday, according to TradingView, but It was rejected at that level with heavy resistance and retreated to $74,300 and continued to trade at that level into early Tuesday.
The wider crypto market also lifted, hitting a total value of $2.6 trillion, its highest level for a month, which saw 177,000 traders liquidated of $530 million over the past 24 hours, per CoinGlass.
Jeff Mei, the chief operating officer at BTSE, told Cointelegraph that markets are rallying largely because “traders believe the US and Iran are coming closer to a deal,” with Iran “frantically looking to broker a deal” amid a US military blockade of its vital oil shipping lanes and ports.
Trump also told reporters on Monday that Iran wants to make a deal, but his administration will not come to any agreement that allows Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.
SEC proposes certain crypto interfaces don’t need to register as brokers
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a staff statement clarifying how the agency plans to interpret software interfaces facilitating crypto transactions in its broker-dealer regulations.
In a Monday statement, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets staff said that under certain circumstances, interfaces that “assist users engaging in user-initiated crypto asset securities transactions on blockchain protocols [...] utilizing the user’s self-custodial wallet” may not necessarily be required to register as a broker-dealer with the agency.
The SEC statement specified that self-custodial wallets with such user interfaces may be exempt from registration requirements, provided they do not “solicit investors to engage in any specific crypto asset securities transactions,” provide commentary on “any potential execution [routes] displayed to a user,” and other circumstances.
“While the staff expressing its view is helpful, I favor a more permanent regulatory approach that addresses the broker definition in light of current market circumstances,”said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.
