How compliance & technology shaped Blockchain’s first half of 2026

Summary:

• Secured key regulatory approvals in the UK and Europe
• Launched new products across wealth, DeFi, lending, AI, and prediction markets
• Expanded operations into Ghana, Brazil, and other global markets
• Broadened access to perpetual futures, tokenized assets, and institutional services

As we cross the midpoint of 2026, H1 has been defined by execution, from securing major regulatory approvals to launching new products and expanding into key markets. Our UK FCA registration and new Malta hub reinforced a belief we’ve long held: innovation and compliance go hand in hand. Together, these milestones strengthened our ability to serve customers through trusted, regulated infrastructure and laid the foundation for continued growth. 

We’ve maintained a nimble product-led strategy by incubating and shipping cutting-edge ecosystem products at scale, including rolling out Blockchain Wealth, a private-banking-style full-service program for high-net-worth individuals; SnapMarkets, an ultra-fast onchain prediction market; and scaling June, the industry’s first privacy-first, finance-enabled and crypto-knowledge AI. 

Capitalizing on massive IPO names, such as SpaceX, Blockchain pushed out  $SPCX as both perp and tokenized stock offerings. Our momentum extended beyond our products as we also expanded to new markets, including in Ghana and Brazil as we continue investing in bridging crypto products around the world.

Here’s a look at the regulatory, product, global and institutional milestones that shaped our first half of 2026. 

Regulatory & Product Momentum:

• FCA Registration in the UK: Officially secured Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cryptoasset business registration in the UK following a meticulous five-year process, enabling fully compliant brokerage, institutional, and custodial operations. The approval marks a significant milestone in one of our largest markets and reflects our longFCA Registration in the UK (Feb 10) term commitment to operating within clear regulatory frameworks. 

• Malta Corporate Hub Opening: Opened a physical European headquarters in Malta, utilizing their MFSA MiCA license to passport regulated digital asset brokerage and custody services across all 27 EU countries and the 3 additional EEA countries. The new hub strengthens our European presence and supports our ability to serve customers under a unified regulatory framework. 

• Advocating pro-crypto legislation: We actively advocated for pro-crypto legislation, including the CLARITY Act. By framing robust regulation as a competitive upside, we are helping establish the transparent, compliant playing field required to unlock institutional capital.

• DeFi Wallet Perps Launch: Partnered with Hyperliquid to integrate onchain perpetual futures trading directly into self-custodial wallets, giving retail users up to 50x leverage from their USDC balances. The launch represents another step in bringing advanced onchain tools to self-custody users.

• Blockchain Wealth Launch: Formally launched a bespoke, elite private-banking-style full-service program for high-net-worth individuals and high-volume institutional traders.

• Ghana & Brazil Expansions: Formally expanded localized crypto operations in Ghana and Brazil. Brazil's expansion brings a new infrastructure that enables Brazilian businesses to move and settle funds internationally with fewer constraints than traditional banking systems.

• Tokenized Stock Integration: We brought tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs directly into European self-custody wallets, expanding access to tokenized real world assets and broadening the utility of self custody products. Today, Blockchain’s total onchain traditional asset catalog to over 430, featuring flagship assets, including $SPCX, BlackRock active ETFs, and covered call income strategies across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain

• SnapMarkets Product Launch: Unveiled SnapMarkets, which turns real-time market movement into something you can interact with in seconds, not minutes. The launch expands our presence across emerging onchain consumer experiences.

• Expanded Perps Account Funding: Upgraded the derivatives experience by allowing users to instantly fund futures balances directly from their primary Blockchain.com Trading accounts, creating a more seamless path between funding and execution.  

• New look, same mission: Rolled out a refreshed brand identity designed to better reflect the scale, maturity and global reach of the business today. While the look evolved, our mission remained unchanged: helping connect the world to the future of finance. 

• "British is Blockchain" Campaign: Launched a massive, 9-month out-of-home advertising campaign dropping over 464 hyper-localized, custom billboards blanketing major locations across London and the rest of the UK. The campaign celebrated our UK roots while highlighting the trust, compliance, and innovation that continue to define our business today.

• US Billboard Push: Coordinated with the UK campaign to launch regional billboard takeovers across massive U.S. markets, focusing heavily on Dallas and Los Angeles. The campaign increased visibility in key U.S. markets as regulatory momentum and consumer interest in crypto continued to evolve.

• Crypto-Backed Loans Rollout: Officially launched low-rate collateralized global lending infrastructure, allowing retail and institutional clients to borrow against Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDC with rates starting at 1.9%. The offering expands the utility of digital assets while providing customers with additional ways to access liquidity.

• Solana Explorer Launch: Honored the company’s 15-year legacy (dating back to its roots as Blockchain.info in 2011) by officially integrating Solana into the core Blockchain.com Explorer, expanding onchain transparency to one of the industry's largest layer-1 networks. 

• The 24/7 Capital Institutional Push: Eliminated banking latency by syncing global 24/7 USD rails with top-tier banks, while also unlocking a midnight settlement edge in Singapore. 

• USD Institutional Off-Ramp Upgrades: Partnered with Plaid to launch high-speed USD wire withdrawals, removing traditional manual friction and creating a seamless, cohesive pipeline for high-velocity domestic funding, trading, and capital reclamation.

• Strategic Yield Offerings: Launched institutional-grade Covered Call and Cash-Secured Put strategies, allowing corporate treasuries, miners, and hedge funds to generate consistent yield and manage risk on BTC and ETH holdings.

• Crypto-to-Crypto Pairs: The OTC desk launched direct crypto-to-crypto swaps across 180,000+ trading pairs. This institutional-grade feature removes the operational friction and market slippage typically caused by routing trades through stablecoins or major assets.

• Nodes-as-a-service: Our new Nodes-as-a-Service (NaaS) product provides institutions with a fully managed blockchain infrastructure solution, allowing them to access dedicated node connectivity without the operational complexity, engineering overhead, or maintenance costs of running nodes in-house.