What has been happening this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? Current events and background reports in our weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock is making its tokenized US Treasury fund BUIDL tradable via decentralized financial infrastructure for the first time. The roughly 2.4 billion USD fund is processed through UniswapX – an offchain order routing system that automatically forwards institutional trade requests to approved market makers. BlackRock simultaneously invested an undisclosed amount in the governance token UNI. Access, however, remains restricted to qualified investors with a minimum of 5 million USD in assets. For BlackRock, which manages over 14 trillion USD, this nonetheless represents its first direct foray into a DeFi protocol. Securities platform Securitize coordinates the technical settlement as an SEC-registered broker-dealer.
BlackRock enables DeFi trading of its $2.4 billion treasury fund BUIDL via Uniswap for the first time and invests in the UNI token.
Banking associations fear disruption
A power struggle over access to the US Federal Reserve’s payment system has erupted in the United States. Seven US banking associations – including the Bank Policy Institute, the Financial Services Forum, and the Clearing House Association – have opposed the planned direct access for crypto and fintech firms. In December 2025, the Fed proposed so-called Payment Accounts that would grant non-banks limited access to Fedwire – with balance limits of 500 million USD but without credit facilities. The banking lobby is demanding, among other things, twelve months of proven operations and direct federal supervision for all applicants. Stablecoin issuer Circle, however, considers access critical, and the Financial Technology Association criticizes the balance limits as disproportionately restrictive. Fed Governor Christopher Waller is targeting implementation in the fourth quarter of 2026.
US banking groups block Fed crypto access: Associations demand delays for payment accounts while stablecoin firms want access.
Bitmine more than 7.5 billion USD in the red
Former mining company Bitmine Immersion Technologies holds approximately 4.3 million ETH – roughly 3.5 percent of the total Ethereum supply – and is sitting on unrealized losses of 7.5 billion USD. The average purchase price ranges from 3,800 to 3,900 USD per token, while the current price stands at 2,000 USD. Despite a share price collapse of over 88 percent since July 2025, Bitmine purchased an additional 41,788 ETH for 87 million USD in early February. The losses are on the scale of historic disasters such as Jerome Kerviel’s derivatives trading at Societe Generale, which resulted in 6.7 billion USD in losses. The strategy is funded exclusively through equity issuances – there is no debt and therefore no risk of forced liquidations.
Bitmine BMNR holds over 7 billion USD in unrealized Ethereum losses. Lee’s strategy ranks among the largest bets in financial history.
Crypto shifts at Goldman Sachs
US investment bank Goldman Sachs significantly reshuffled its crypto positions in the fourth quarter of 2025. Bitcoin ETF holdings fell by 39.4 percent to 21.2 million shares, while the Ethereum ETF position dropped by 27.2 percent to 40.7 million shares – in parallel with Bitcoin’s decline from 126,000 to 88,000 USD over the same quarter. At the same time, Goldman built positions in XRP and Solana for the first time, totaling 261 million USD across ten different ETF products. Put options worth 600 million USD versus only 157 million USD in calls point to cash-and-carry trades rather than directional bets. Total crypto exposure amounts to 2.36 billion USD, roughly 0.33 percent of the portfolio. As recently as April 2024, Goldman had stated it was not an advocate of cryptocurrencies.
Goldman Sachs cuts Bitcoin ETF shares by 39.4% and Ethereum by 27.2%, while investing 261 million USD in XRP and Solana ETFs.
EU plans crypto sanctions against Russia
In addition: The European Commission intends to impose a blanket ban on all crypto transactions with Russian service providers in its 20th sanctions package – a strategic shift away from the previous practice of sanctioning individual platforms. The reason: after 26 million USD was seized from the exchange Garantex in March 2025, former employees promptly established successor platforms. Particularly in focus is the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, which reached a transaction volume of 100 billion USD within one year. The EU sanctioned A7A5 as early as October 2025, after which daily volume dropped from 1.5 billion to 500 million USD – yet the user base still grew from 14,000 to 35,500 accounts. Adoption is scheduled for February 24 but requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states.
The EU’s 20th sanctions package proposes a complete ban on all crypto transactions with Russian service providers.
