EASTON, Md. (AP) — EASTON, Md. (AP) — Shore Bancshares Inc. (SHBI) on Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $16.8 million. The Easton, Maryland-based ba

USDC circulating supply rose 19% year over year. Circle secured OCC approval to operate a national trust bank in the U.S.

Standard Chartered has agreed to buy 100% of Zodia Custody, taking institutional cryptocurrency custody into direct bank ownership. The London-based lender said on Oct. 21 that its subsidiary, Standard Chartered I H Limited, will carry out the purchase. The transaction covers regulated operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg, and advances a takeover proposal accepted by Zodia shareholders and noteholders in May. Completion remains subject to regulatory approvals. Zodia's custody business will be folded into the bank's Securities Services division, adding cryptocurrency safekeeping to its existing securities and digital asset services. The combination is designed to give institutional investors a single platform, opening the way to additional custody, settlement and other service revenue as banks and asset managers expand digital asset exposure. Capturing that revenue depends on obtaining regulatory clearance and completing the integration. Ying Ying Tan, Standard Chartered's global head of Securities Services and Digital Assets, said the acquisition would broaden the bank's custody portfolio and its global institutional service capabilities. Standard Chartered has made a series of investments to build out its digital asset business. Earlier this month it launched custody services for Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and set out plans to use RLUSD in collateral arrangements with LMAX Group. It has widened institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum trading in the UAE, and has announced Singapore custody services covering selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Taken together, the initiatives link trading, custody and collateral management to existing banking relationships, easing institutional clients' reliance on multiple providers. Zodia's software and professional services arm is being separated into a new company, Zodia Solutions, established under SC Ventures, the bank's venture arm. Zodia Solutions will supply digital asset infrastructure to financial institutions that plan to introduce or expand blockchain-based financial services. Investors will include Northern Trust, NAB Ventures, SBI Ventures, Emirates NBD and other financial institutions, with Standard Chartered continuing as a customer. The structure gives the bank exposure to a standalone financial technology business while it integrates regulated custody into its traditional operations. Craig Perrin, chief executive of Zodia Solutions, said financial institutions are moving from experimental digital asset projects to full-scale operations, creating demand for specialist infrastructure providers. The separation reflects two distinct commercial opportunities. Custody businesses earn fees from safeguarding institutional assets; infrastructure businesses sell technology to banks seeking to offer similar services without building proprietary platforms. Standard Chartered's broader digital asset strategy also includes Zodia Markets, a trading infrastructure provider, and Libeara, a tokenization platform. Together they give the bank access to institutional markets spanning tokenized securities, trading, custody and technology services.

On Thursday Andreessen Horowitz renamed a16z crypto to a16z Frontier expanding its focus to AI and robotics. It will continue backing crypto startups and regulation. Managing partner Chris Dixon co-leads with Marc Andreessen Ben Horowitz and general partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet. The move follows a 2.2 billion dollar fund announced in May. General partner Ali Yahya plans to leave.

The total crypto market cap slid 3.79% to 2.71 trillion dollars in 24 hours, with Bitcoin down 4.20% at 81,125 dollars. Starknet posted the steepest drop among the top 100, falling 16.22% to 0.054 dollars on 118.43 million dollars in volume, extending a 39.6% weekly decline. MemeCore was the lone gainer, up 18.36% to 0.8932 dollars on 3.88 million dollars traded.

JPMorgan has assessed that recent crypto regulatory moves have partly offset the failure of the Clarity Act. However, the bank notes that risks remain for the sector. The analysis highlights that while regulatory actions provide some support, uncertainties persist.

November soybean futures settled at $12.53 per bushel. Weekly export sales were the largest since November 2023, with China the main buyer.

The tab for the next round of the AI buildout came due on Thursday. Investors sold shares of Meta Platforms and a wealth of companies central to the AI trade, a day after Meta -- one of...

ZEC surges toward $1,300 as Zcash’s major upgrade approaches. The upgrade is called NU7, short for Network Upgrade 7.