Crypto-friendly bank Erebor is seeking $1.5 billion in funding, with a16z and other investors set to participate in the financing round.

According to Fortune, River Markets announced Tuesday that it closed an $8.5 million seed round in July, led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, Coinbase Ventures, and other investors including Qube Research Technologies, plus angel investors from Google, NVIDIA, Novig, JPMorgan, and Citadel. The founder declined to disclose the company’s valuation for the round. The River Markets founder noted that to meet institutional demand for prediction markets at scale, the firm needs technology enabling institutions to trade across platforms and process larger orders. Since launching in May, the company has provided institutions with related software, data connectivity, and risk management tools, with its algorithm designed to mitigate price volatility from large trades. It projects the platform’s annualized trading volume will exceed hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of this year.

According to Bloomberg, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) has begun issuing U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds, two weeks after announcing its $6 billion acquisition of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. The offering, launched on Tuesday, is split into up to five tranches with maturities ranging from three to 10 years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, adding that the initial price guidance for the longest-dated tranche is about 1.15 percentage points above U.S. Treasury yields.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. stocks opened with the Dow Jones rising 0.11%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.14%, and the Nasdaq climbing 0.25%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) advanced 1.8% as reports emerged that the company is launching its open-source AI model Nemotron 4. Storage-related stocks rallied, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) up 2.4% and SanDisk (SNDK.O) rising 1.7%.

eToro Group Ltd. announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire TradeZero, a US-focused online broker primarily serving active traders. Under the terms of the deal, eToro expects the total consideration for the acquisition to reach up to $231 million, comprising cash and up to 2.5 million newly issued Class A common shares, with the exact amount subject to adjustment per standard transaction price adjustment mechanisms.

According to Bitget's market data, Brent crude oil has fallen back below $86 per barrel, down 1.32% on the day. WTI crude oil is down 1.00% intraday, currently trading at $80.59 per barrel.

According to Bloomberg News, Nasdaq announced it has reached an agreement to acquire dark pool trading platform LeveL Markets, further expanding its footprint in the stock market trading infrastructure sector. The deal is part of Nasdaq’s ongoing effort to extend the boundaries of its traditional exchange business; in recent years, the company has transformed from a standalone stock trading platform into a comprehensive market infrastructure provider covering trading, market data, indices, clearing, and fintech services. Sources familiar with the matter disclosed that Nasdaq will acquire 100% of LeveL Markets’ equity. Dark pools allow institutional investors to execute large block stock trades without revealing order details, reducing market impact and improving execution efficiency. As institutional trading demand rises and stock market competition intensifies, trading platform operators are expanding their influence in capital market infrastructure by acquiring alternative trading systems, data services, and trading technology platforms.