What happened this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? The most relevant local and international events as well as appealing background reports in a concise and compact weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will allow institutional clients to use their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings as collateral for loans until the end of 2025. The assets will be held by an external custodian to mitigate regulatory and operational risks. This move follows the bank’s earlier practice of accepting spot Bitcoin ETFs as collateral. The decision highlights that one of the world’s largest banks no longer views cryptocurrencies merely as speculative assets but as legitimate financing instruments. For institutional investors, this opens up the possibility of bridging liquidity gaps by pledging crypto holdings without having to sell them. At the same time, the move underscores the growing willingness of major financial institutions to integrate digital assets into their lending and financing operations.
JPMorgan will allow institutional clients to use their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral for loans until the end of 2025.
Federal Council updates stablecoin regulations
Since Trump took office and designated digital assets as a national priority, the US has been pushing forward crypto regulation at full speed. Legislative proposals and executive orders have created clear rules for token issuers, exchanges, service providers, and stablecoins within just a few months. The latter have become one of the fastest-growing market segments, with a market capitalization exceeding USD 310 billion and transaction volumes on par with Visa and Mastercard. In Switzerland, a FINMA supervisory notice has effectively resulted in a stablecoin ban. After more than a year of stagnation, the Federal Council is now responding by launching a consultation to amend the Financial Institutions Act. The aim is to improve the framework for market development, enhance Switzerland’s attractiveness as a financial center, and enable the integration of innovative financial technologies such as stablecoins into the existing financial system.
With new rules for the suboptimal FinTech license and stablecoins, the Federal Council aims to close gaps in crypto regulation.
TWINT responds immediately
Just days after the consultation was launched, TWINT – Switzerland’s largest provider of everyday payment services – issued its own announcement. Going forward, providers of regulated digital currencies, such as Swiss franc-backed stablecoins or tokenized deposits, as well as developers of e-ID solutions, will be able to access the existing TWINT infrastructure. The statement underscores that established payment providers must integrate blockchain-based currencies into their systems to maintain their market position. With this move, TWINT follows the example of international fintech companies that are rapidly joining the stablecoin revolution.
The Swiss payment app TWINT will open its platform to new digital applications such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
AWS outage highlights dependencies
Two weeks ago, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a major failure at its Virginia data center, disrupting large parts of the internet for more than 15 hours. Numerous websites, apps, and even some crypto platforms went offline – not because of a blockchain failure, but because their front ends, APIs, and databases were hosted on AWS. The incident exposed the risks of centralized infrastructure. When a single company’s servers fail, it can cripple vast portions of the web. Building a more resilient internet requires decentralized storage and distribution systems such as IPFS, Filecoin, and Arweave, which distribute data across thousands of independent nodes rather than a few corporate data centers.
Building a more resilient internet requires distributed storage like IPFS, Filecoin, and Arweave instead of a few AWS data centers.
Crypto ETF launch draws muted demand
In addition: A series of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focusing on the cryptocurrencies Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and Hedera (HBAR) made their debut on Wall Street this week. Issuers leveraged the new automated rule framework to launch despite the ongoing government shutdown. The lineup includes staked Solana ETFs from Bitwise and Grayscale, as well as funds tracking Hedera and Litecoin. One day after launch, the largest fund – the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) – managed around USD 290 million in assets. The Canary Litecoin and HBAR ETFs, however, showed minimal trading volumes and no net inflows. The weak start suggests limited institutional interest in altcoins. At the same time, many investors appear to be waiting for the SEC’s official approval, which would allow major players such as Fidelity to enter the market.
A series of ETFs focusing on the cryptocurrencies Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and Hedera (HBAR) began trading in the US.
