Russia Affirms Ban on Cryptocurrency Payments Nationwide

The post Kalshi Jumps to 62% Market Share While Polymarket Eyes $10B Valuation appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Fintech 19 September 2025 | 16:03 Event-based trading platforms are no longer niche experiments – they’re emerging as a major arena where finance, crypto, and information converge. After months of subdued activity, volumes are climbing again, and U.S.-regulated Kalshi has unexpectedly taken the lead. Betting on Everything From Rates to Sports Analysts at Bernstein describe prediction markets as a new “interface for information,” where users speculate not only on sports results but also on Federal Reserve decisions, quarterly earnings, and even crypto price moves. This year alone, more than $200 million changed hands on Polymarket contracts linked to the Fed’s recent 25 bps rate cut, while $85 million traded on Kalshi around the same decision. Mainstream brokers like Coinbase and Robinhood are watching closely, with ambitions to capture some of the momentum. With U.S. sports betting already worth tens of billions annually, the overlap is too big to ignore. Against that backdrop, Kalshi has delivered one of its strongest months since the 2024 elections. The platform reports $1.3 billion in trading volume so far in September, accounting for 62% of global prediction market activity. Just a year ago, Kalshi’s share stood at 3%. CEO Tarek Mansour called the growth “remarkable,” noting that the exchange still serves only U.S. clients. Polymarket’s Pushback Its main rival, Polymarket, has logged about $773 million in trades this month. While that trails Kalshi for now, Polymarket has unique advantages: as a crypto-native platform, it has carved out strong global demand and is working toward a formal U.S. relaunch via its acquisition of derivatives exchange QCEX. The two platforms now stand as the clear leaders of the sector, though they embody different philosophies — one regulated from the ground up, the other built around decentralization. Investors Take Notice The boom hasn’t escaped venture capital. Reports suggest…

The post Visa Expands USDC Stablecoin Settlement For US Banks appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Visa Expands USDC Stablecoin Settlement For US Banks

The Bitcoin Lightning Network has reached an all-time high in total network capacity, marking a significant milestone for the layer-2 scaling solution designed to enable fast and inexpensive Bitcoin transactions. The surge comes as major cryptocurrency exchanges increasingly integrate Lightning functionality, bringing the technology to millions of users who previously relied solely on slower, more expensive on-chain transactions. This capacity expansion reflects growing confidence in Lightning's reliability and utility after years of development and real-world testing. What began as an experimental protocol discussed primarily among technical enthusiasts has matured into infrastructure that some of the industry's largest platforms now consider essential to their operations.