Interactive Brokers Group is considering creating its own digital token for customers, joining other big financial firms as U.S. regulators relax crypto rules. Founder of Interactive Brokers, Thomas Peterffy told Reuters that the company is evaluating methods to integrate stablecoins into its range of offerings. Although it hasn’t settled on a specific path, multiple options are under consideration for delivering these tokens directly to end users. As a major discount brokerage with a market capitalization of nearly $110 billion, the firm presently collaborates with Paxos for its crypto offerings and maintains a stake in the Zero Hash platform. Because of these partnerships, its clients currently have access to trading various cryptocurrencies via the platform. Peterffy added that the group is concentrating on facilitating 24/7, immediate top‑ups of brokerage accounts through stablecoins. Meanwhile, it is investigating smoother transfer mechanisms for widely held digital assets in and out of customer accounts. Among the proposals is permitting funding from stablecoins supplied by other established entities, contingent on those issuers satisfying specified criteria. Stablecoins represent digital units tied to underlying assets, often the U.S. dollar, and are intended to facilitate cross‑border value transfers outside conventional banking rails. However, detractors caution that these instruments can be misused by criminals to evade standard bank AML safeguards. ForecastEx expands Interactive Brokers’ innovation push Earlier in July, Robinhood launched a dollar‑backed token dubbed USDG as part of its Global Dollar Network alliance alongside firms like Kraken and Galaxy Digital. That move illustrates how fast the market for these tokens is growing. Along with stablecoins, the firm unveiled ForecastEx, a prediction‑market platform launched last year, enabling users to wager “yes” or “no” on diverse event outcomes. By the close of June, it reported roughly 3.87 million active accounts, marking a 32 % year‑over‑year increase. Elevated trading activity caused by tariff‑related market fluctuations has boosted the firm’s revenues. Since January, its stock has climbed approximately 47%, outpacing the S&P 500 Investment Banking & Brokerage index’s 20% gain in that interval. In a July 18 research update, Morningstar’s team said its prediction‑market and crypto moves offer a strategic counterbalance to potential volatility in its traditional equities, futures, and options sectors. IBKR founder stays cautious on crypto growth Peterffy has previously suggested allocating a modest 2–3% of one’s portfolio to Bitcoin, capping overall cryptocurrency exposure at 10%. He cautioned that although investors might benefit from some Bitcoin exposure, heavy concentrations expose holders to big price swings. He believed Bitcoin should stay outside the regular economy, even though Bitcoin futures have long been listed on the CME. After the tariff deal with the EU was confirmed, Bitcoin jumped above $120,000 for the first time in nearly two weeks. Just before that surge, it had been trading between $114,000 and $119,000. At $120,000, Bitcoin was only $3,080 away from its all‑time high. Peterffy’s recent comments underscore a cautious stance on rapid crypto expansion, but he hasn’t come to terms with the asset’s isolation from normal financial systems. “It’s basically hard to grasp its fundamental value. If we see people adopting it and ascribing a value to it, I’m okay with that, but I’m still not convinced,” he said. Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More
