Sony’s Bold Gambit: Tech Titan Pursues U.S. Bank Charter to Launch Proprietary Stablecoin
Sony just dropped a financial bombshell that's shaking Wall Street to its core.
The Unbanked Tech Giant
Forget gaming consoles and entertainment - Sony's making a power play straight into the heart of traditional finance. The Japanese conglomerate is formally seeking U.S. banking authority approval to issue its own dollar-pegged digital currency.
Corporate Stablecoin Arms Race Heats Up
This move positions Sony alongside other tech giants diving into digital currency issuance. They're bypassing traditional payment rails, cutting out intermediaries, and building financial infrastructure from the ground up.
Wall Street's Worst Nightmare
Because nothing says 'innovation' like another corporation creating money while traditional bankers scramble to understand the technology they've been dismissing for years.
Building a unified trading platform
The purchase of Small Exchange enables Kraken to connect spot, futures, and margin trading products within a single, regulated liquidity environment.
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized the significance of this integration:
“Under CFTC oversight, Kraken can now integrate clearing, risk, and matching into one environment that meets the same standards as the largest exchanges in the world.”
This acquisition builds on Kraken’s global derivatives infrastructure, complementing its platforms in the United Kingdom and European Union.
Previous US derivatives moves
In July, Kraken entered the US derivatives market by acquiring NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, allowing it to offer Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)-listed Bitcoin futures alongside spot bitcoin products.
The company’s multi-year strategy also includes the 2019 acquisition of UK-based crypto Facilities, and the launch of EU derivatives trading in May 2025 under MiFID II regulatory standards.
Derivatives market growth
The expansion comes as derivatives trading maintains resilience amid declining spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges.
In Q2 2025, spot volumes dropped by 22%, while derivatives saw a smaller decrease of 4%, totaling $20.2 trillion.
Industry leaders expect the global derivatives market to reach $23 trillion by year-end, as platforms like CME Group and Coinbase continue to expand their offerings.
