Digital asset markets declined this week as weakness in technology stocks and renewed ETF withdrawals interrupted the market’s recovery. Meanwhile, institutional activity broadened across fund distribution, custody and payments, with Aviva launching a tokenised sterling fund share class, Standard Chartered agreeing to acquire Zodia Custody and HSBC introducing its first stablecoin. Final US stablecoin rules and S&P Dow Jones Indices’ partnership with Kalshi also advanced the frameworks supporting new financial products.
- Bitcoin’s midweek recovery faded as weakness in technology stocks spread across risk assets, taking it briefly below $80,000 on Saturday and reversing the week’s earlier gains.
- Approximately $404m of long positions within digital assets were liquidated within four hours during Saturday’s decline. Falling futures open interest alongside the liquidations indicated that the sell-off also reduced leveraged exposure.
- Ether declined -5.87%, underperforming Bitcoin’s -2.51% fall, while overall market capitalisation contracted -3.25%. The relative weakness suggested that appetite for exposure beyond Bitcoin remained subdued.
- US Bitcoin ETFs attracted $528.4m on Wednesday before losing $635.6m on Thursday, when Ether funds also recorded $110.6m of withdrawals. The sharp reversal showed that investment demand remained inconsistent despite the earlier recovery in subscriptions.
S&P Dow Jones Indices partners with Kalshi to launch index-linked event contracts
- S&P Dow Jones Indices and Kalshi agreed a collaboration allowing forthcoming event contracts to settle against official S&P DJI index values, bringing established benchmark calculation and governance into prediction-market products.
- The companies will also explore indices constructed from Kalshi’s event-contract data to track expectations across economic, political and other outcomes. The agreement expands the potential role of prediction markets as a source of financial information alongside their use as trading venues.
Aviva Investors and Ripple launch tokenised share class of £22bn sterling fund
- Aviva Investors and Ripple launched a tokenised share class of the Aviva Investors Sterling Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger. Aviva invested £50m in the new share class, taking investment across its sterling and dollar tokenised liquidity-fund offerings above £86m.
- The share class uses a digital representation of holdings within the existing Ireland-domiciled fund, retaining its investment objective, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections. BNY remains the fund’s custodian, extending digital distribution without changing the underlying investment structure.
HSBC launches Hong Kong dollar stablecoin through PayMe
- HSBC launched RedCoin, its first Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin, through PayMe, which serves more than 3.3 million users. The HKMA-regulated token will initially support transfers between users and merchant payments through a phased wallet rollout.
- Distribution through an existing payments application gives RedCoin access to an established user base and merchant network. HSBC also plans to enable investment in tokenised assets, potentially linking payment balances with blockchain-based investment products within the same banking ecosystem.
Standard Chartered signs agreement to acquire Zodia Custody
- Standard Chartered signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The acquisition includes regulated operations across Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the UAE and Luxembourg.
- Zodia’s custody operations will join Standard Chartered’s Securities Services business, while its software and professional services division will become Zodia Solutions under SC Ventures. Bringing custody into Securities Services places digital asset safekeeping alongside the bank’s established institutional servicing capabilities.
OCC publishes finalisised GENIUS Act stablecoin rules
- The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published final rules implementing the GENIUS Act for issuers under its jurisdiction. Effective from 18 January 2027, the framework establishes requirements covering reserve backing, redemption, risk management and certain custody activities.
- The final rules remove a proposed presumption that certain arrangements between issuers and third parties would constitute prohibited interest payments. These arrangements will instead be assessed individually, leaving the treatment of particular reward structures dependent on their design while providing clearer standards for issuance and reserve management.
This weekly financial roundup is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice. Information is taken from public sources and Nickel takes no responsibility for its veracity. The information was sourced around the time of publication but may become out of date, even over short periods of time. Consult a professional before acting.