Crypto Currents: London Stock Exchange, Microsoft launch blockchain platform

Major financial institutions are deepening their integration with digital assets, highlighted by the London Stock Exchange’s new blockchain platform and a massive pivot by a Nasdaq-listed firm into a solana treasury vehicle. This institutional embrace is accelerating, with corporations continuing the trend of adding crypto to their balance sheets. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us 2 PM daily for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio. Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: The London Stock Exchange Group (LDNXF) has officially launched a blockchain-based platform for private funds, executing its first-ever transaction on the new infrastructure, according to a press release. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT), the system supports the entire lifecycle of digital assets, from issuance and tokenization to settlement. The exchange aims to modernize private markets, where settlement can currently take up to 40-50 days, by using blockchain to make the process nearly instant. Capital management firm MembersCap conducted the debut transaction on the platform

HELIUS SOARS ON SOLANA TREASURY PLAN: Shares of Helius Medical Technologies (HSDT) rallied over 200% in pre-market trading after the firm announced in a press release it is raising over $500M to create a solana-focused (SOL-USD) treasury company. The financing was led by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital and includes an oversubscribed private investment in public equity offering. Helius will use the proceeds to acquire solana’s native token as its primary reserve asset, with plans to generate additional revenue through staking and lending opportunities. The move positions Helius to compete with other digital asset treasuries, such as the recently launched Forward Industries (FORD).

INSTITUTIONAL BUYING CONTINUES UNABATED: The trend of publicly traded companies adding cryptocurrency to their balance sheets is ongoing. (MSTR) disclosed it acquired an additional 525 BTC for approximately $60.2M between September 8 and September 14. This purchase brings the company’s total holdings to 638,985 BTC, worth over $73B. Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital (GLXY) appears to have acquired about $536M worth of solana in the last 24 hours, based on on-chain data. This follows Galaxy’s recent major investment in a solana treasury company.

PRICE ACTION: As of the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC-USD) was trading at $114,823.54, while ether (ETH-USD) was trading at $4,518.82, with solana (SOL-USD) gaining momentum at $233.68, according to price data provided by CoinDesk.