News & Research

JPMorgan anticipates that capital flowing into the cryptocurrency market will increase this year, led by institutional investors, The Block reported. In a recent report, the investment bank noted that a record $130 billion entered the crypto market last year, an increase of over 30% from the prior year. The bank projects that upcoming regulations, such as the U.S. Clarity for Digital Tokens Act, will encourage institutions to adopt cryptocurrencies more actively. This is expected to drive more venture capital investment, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings across various sectors, including stablecoin issuers, payment firms, exchanges, wallet services, and blockchain infrastructure. JPMorgan also suggested that this year's inflows are more likely to be driven by institutional investors, in contrast to last year's trend, which was led by companies holding digital assets.

Asset manager Bitwise has listed seven new exchange-traded products (ETPs) based on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) on Nasdaq Stockholm in Sweden, Cointelegraph reported. The listing allows Swedish investors to access spot and staking-linked cryptocurrency products denominated in the local currency, the Swedish krona (SEK). The newly listed products include a spot Bitcoin ETP, a spot Ethereum ETP, staking-based ETPs for ETH and SOL, a hybrid ETP combining Bitcoin and gold, and an ETP that tracks the MSCI Digital Asset Select 20 index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

The FTX estate has announced it will conduct its next round of creditor repayments on March 31. The distribution will be made to creditors registered as of Feb. 14. Concurrently, the estate has submitted a revised proposal to the bankruptcy court to reduce its reserve for disputed claims. If the court approves the proposal, the total amount available for repayment is expected to increase.

Noise, a developer of a social media trend prediction market platform, has secured $7.1 million in a funding round led by Paradigm. Other participants included Pikement Capital, Anagram, and Kaito AI. The platform allows users to bet on which online topics, such as specific trends, brands, or narratives, will maintain lasting influence, with the goal of measuring their cultural value. Noise has previously tested its betting service using social media data from Kaito and plans to officially launch on the Base blockchain within the next few months.

The amount of staked Ethereum (ETH) has surpassed 36 million tokens, representing nearly 30% of the total supply and valued at approximately $118 billion, The Block reported. This new high exceeds the previous record of 29.54% of the supply staked, which was set last July. The Block attributed the increase primarily to active participation from institutions such as Bitmine (BMNR). It also highlighted the growing entry of institutional asset managers, noting that Morgan Stanley is preparing to launch an ETF that includes staking rewards. The publication suggested that as the circulating supply becomes increasingly locked, price volatility could rise during periods of increased demand.

Bitwise's Chainlink (LINK) spot ETF, under the ticker CLNK, is scheduled to begin trading on NYSE Arca on Jan. 15, according to Solid Intel. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing on Jan. 6.

An anonymous whale address beginning with 0x46DB0 has withdrawn 2,000 ETH, valued at $6.65 million, from the OKX exchange, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa. Since Dec. 5 of last year, the address has withdrawn a total of 53,451.6 ETH ($177 million) from exchanges. The whale's average entry price is $3,125.13, resulting in an estimated unrealized profit of $11.06 million.

Global payments giant Visa is integrating BVNK's stablecoin payment infrastructure into its Visa Direct service, CoinDesk reported. The move allows select businesses to pre-fund payments with stablecoins and send them directly to individuals' digital wallets. Visa Direct is used for business-to-person payments, including salary disbursements and overseas remittances. Through the partnership, BVNK plans to establish new payment standards for stablecoins.

Solana-based crypto exchange Backpack has launched a private beta of its Unified Prediction Portfolio, a service that integrates spot, futures, and prediction markets, The Block reported. According to CEO Armani Ferrante, the feature allows users to flexibly allocate funds from a single account, enabling them to bet on prediction markets while simultaneously hedging positions with perpetual futures or holding spot assets.

An anonymous whale has withdrawn 12,000 ETH, valued at $39.98 million, from Binance, according to Onchainlens. The whale's current holdings now stand at 80,980 ETH. Withdrawals from exchanges are typically interpreted as a sign of accumulation.