Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, Raiffeisen and Bitpanda expanded their crypto partnership to 11 markets, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission warned exchanges about manipulation risks in prediction market “mention” contracts and Europe welcomed its first Zcash exchange-traded product.

Raiffeisen to offer crypto trading across 11 European markets via Bitpanda

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), an Austrian banking group with operations across Central and Eastern Europe, is expanding its cryptocurrency push through a group-wide partnership with Bitpanda.

Bitpanda Enterprise will provide the digital asset infrastructure that RBI’s network banks can use to introduce crypto services, potentially reaching about 18 million customers, according to a joint announcement on Wednesday. Individual banks will determine their offerings and rollout based on local market and regulatory requirements, the companies said.

RBI CEO Michael Höllerer said the bank is seeing growing demand for crypto assets across its markets and is addressing it with Bitpanda.

“As a customer-centric bank, we are committed to meeting our customers’ needs in the best possible way,” he said.

A spokesperson for Bitpanda told Cointelegraph that the rollout remains at an early stage and will proceed gradually based on local market and regulatory requirements, with further details to come as individual markets are confirmed.

CFTC issues warning over risky prediction market ‘mention’ contracts

The top US derivatives regulator has warned that prediction market contracts tied to what a person says or does carry a heightened risk of manipulation, putting exchanges on notice as the industry faces increasing scrutiny over market integrity. 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight on Tuesday said it issued an advisory to some of its regulated entities, advising that there are only “limited circumstances” in which “mention markets” — event contracts based on whether an individual will say certain words, attend or appear at an event or interact with another person — can be listed consistently with the Commodity Exchange Act. 

“These contract types present a heightened risk of manipulation because their settlement turns on the discrete conduct of a person that may be neither independently generated nor externally verifiable,” the regulator said. 

The warning follows several cases involving traders accused of exploiting privileged information on prediction markets, including a former White House teleprompter operator who was ordered last month to return $107,539 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty for trading contracts tied to US President Donald Trump’s speeches. 

Zcash investment products expand into Europe

Zcash is gaining a bigger foothold in regulated investment markets, with 21shares launching Europe’s first ETP for the privacy-focused cryptocurrency following the recent debut of a US-listed fund.

The new product began trading Tuesday in Paris and Amsterdam and is backed by ZEC held by the issuer. It gives investors another way to track the cryptocurrency’s price without buying or storing the tokens themselves.

21shares also rolled out a physically backed product for ETHFI, the token associated with decentralized finance protocol Ether.fi. Both ETPs charge annual management fees of 2.5%.

Zcash’s expansion into Europe follows the launch of Grayscale’s ZCSH on NYSE Arca and comes after a dramatic run for the cryptocurrency. ZEC has risen nearly 1,100% over the past year and recently traded above $1,500.

The rally has renewed debate over Zcash’s place alongside Bitcoin. Grayscale research head Zach Pandl has pointed to potential advantages from Zcash arriving later, while mining companies have also increased their exposure. Fortitude Digital Mining said it accounted for roughly 28% of ZEC mined during the first half of 2026.