Gemini’s loss-making quarter, the SEC’s postponed crypto framework and Washington’s Kalshi order show digital-finance firms facing shifting revenue mixes alongside unsettled federal and state rules.
Economics & Markets··Morning
Gemini grows revenue while posting a heavy quarterly loss
Gemini reported second-quarter revenue of 45.5 million dollars, up 37 per cent from a year earlier, yet the net loss still came to 107.7 million dollars. Services revenue rose 149 per cent to 23.5 million dollars while exchange revenue fell 38 per cent to 12.5 million dollars. Credit card revenue more than tripled to 16.2 million dollars after a 16.1 million dollar provision tied to fraud, and staking revenue rose 50 per cent to 4.0 million dollars. Operating expenses were 122.4 million dollars, 24 per cent higher than a year earlier and 15 per cent lower than in the first quarter. Monthly transacting users reached 580,000, up 11 per cent, while assets on the platform fell 54 per cent to 8.4 billion dollars. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of 74.0 million dollars. The quarter pairs top-line growth with a still-deep bottom-line hole and thinner platform assets. Services and card lines now carry more of the load as exchange revenue contracts, so reported economics hinge on product lines growing from a smaller base after a large fraud-related provision.[1]
The SEC shelves Regulation Crypto without a new date
The Securities and Exchange Commission called off the meeting at which it was due to propose Regulation Crypto, a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts, and set no new date. A spokesperson cited an unforeseen scheduling issue. The proposal would have created a limited framework for issuing crypto securities without triggering full registration with the agency. The postponement followed the Senate’s departure for a five-week recess without a vote on the Clarity Act, leaving the industry that awaits a date on which the framework will be unveiled. For issuers and intermediaries that had marked calendars against the scheduled meeting, the practical result is an open-ended pause rather than a published alternative timetable. Because the planned regime was described as limited and registration-sparing for certain crypto investment contracts, the delay is material: the rule text remains unreleased. Market participants continue under existing registration and enforcement baselines while both the administrative proposal and the Clarity Act track lack a fresh public schedule. Firms must plan product mix and compliance spend without the tailored offering map the cancelled meeting was meant to introduce.[2]
Washington order fences off most Kalshi wager topics
A King County Superior Court judge issued a final order requiring Kalshi to stop offering, accepting or facilitating wagers in Washington on sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech, science and mentions. The judge found the company likely broke the state’s Gambling Act and Consumer Protection Act. The company must set up a geofence based on internet address and residency by 19 August 2026, and a multi-source geofencing system by 2 September 2026. Attorney General Nick Brown said Kalshi had grown rich promoting wagers on sports, elections, natural disasters and events related to the Iran War, among other topics, and that under the order it is barred from offering wagers on most of those topics in Washington. The attorney general’s office describes the affected contracts as a substantial part of the firm’s business. Next to Gemini’s loss-making quarter and the SEC’s undated Regulation Crypto postponement, the order shows state gambling and consumer law fencing a digital prediction-market operator while federal crypto rulemaking remains on hold. Unsettled national rule design, a concrete state court fence on product geography, and an intermediary still absorbing large losses as its product mix changes land in the same operating week.[3], [1], [2]
