Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed $90,000 this week, but onchain data indicated that the move sat on shaky grounds. Despite a strong cost-basis cluster, demand, liquidity, and futures activity remained thin.
Key takeaways:
The $84,000 cost-basis cluster held 400,000 BTC, but spot demand above it remains shallow.
BTC liquidity signals resembled the weakness seen in early 2022, with losses dominating recent flows.
Recent futures activity was mostly shorts-covering, and not long-positional build-up.
BTC spot demand must improve above $84,000 cost basis
Bitcoin’s recent move took place at the back of a dense cost-basis cluster around $84,000. More than 400,000 BTC were acquired in this range, forming a clear onchain “floor.”
Bitcoin Cost Basis Distribution heatmap. Source: Glassnode
But the issue is that despite this heavy base, spot participation above is visibly limited. Order books remained thin, and prices are moving through areas with minimal buyer engagement. For Bitcoin to hold above $90,000, this dynamic must shift from passive historical accumulation to active ongoing demand.
A healthier bullish structure requires more spot absorption between $84,000 and $90,000, which the market has yet to achieve after the recent dip.
Liquidity needs to stabilize as short-term holders lose confidence
Glassnode noted that Bitcoin continued to trade below the short-term holder (STH) cost basis ($104,600), placing the market in a low-liquidity zone similar to the Q1 2022 post-ATH fade.
The $81,000–$89,000 compression, coupled with realized losses now averaging $403 million/day, implied that investors were exiting rather than buying into the strength. The STH Profit/Loss Ratio’s collapse to 0.07x reinforced that demand momentum has evaporated.
Profit/Loss ratio of STH. Source: Glassnode
For the trend to shift, realized losses must begin contracting, and STH profitability must recover above neutral levels. Without a liquidity reset, the market remains at risk of drifting toward the “True Market Mean” near $81,000 again.
The breakout to $91,000 has so far been fueled mainly by shorts covering, not fresh long exposure. Open interest continued to decline, cumulative volume delta is flat, and shorts liquidation pockets drove the move through $84,000, $86,000, and $90,000.
Bitcoin’s price, open interest, and cumulative volume delta. Source: Hyblock Capital
Funding rates hovering near neutral reflect a cautious derivatives environment. Leverage is bleeding out in an orderly fashion, but buyers aren’t stepping in with conviction.
Thus, a supportive trend shift would require rebuilding open interest on the long side, along with sustained positive funding driven by actual demand, rather than forced short exits.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Countries around the world are grappling with inflation, and in many places, investors and everyday savers are turning to crypto to protect their savings.
The early 2020s saw a sharp uptick in global inflation rates amid government stimulus programs during the COVID-19 epidemic. Supply chain disruptions led to increased costs for businesses, and food and energy prices rose following Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Central banks responded aggressively, hiking interest rates and easing pressure on supply chains. As a result, inflation rates have somewhat calmed in the last two years.
Still, some countries are suffering from extremely high inflation, even soaring into the triple digits. In these places, crypto has become one tool for people to save their finances.
Bolivia
Inflation rate (October 2025): 22.23%
Bolivia’s fiat currency, the boliviano, has seen skyrocketing inflation over the last year. Although it has fallen since hitting a high this summer, it remains above 20% as of October 2025.
The economy has declined over the last decade. Bolivia’s usable foreign reserves fell from $15 billion in 2014 to $1.98 billion by December 2024, equivalent to just over three months of imports.
Crypto use has grown in the country as a result. According to Chainalysis’ 2025 crypto adoption index, annual crypto transaction volume from June 2024 to June 2025 amounted to $14.8 billion.
Over the summer, shops in Bolivia began to display price tags in Tether’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT (USDT). A notice next to one of the price tags read, “Our products are priced in USDT (Tether), a stable cryptocurrency with a reference price informed daily by the Central Bank of Bolivia, based on the rate from Binance (a cryptocurrency trading platform).”
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino shared photos of goods being sold for USDT. Source: Paolo Ardoino
Adoption is also occurring at the government level. On Tuesday, Bolivia’s economic minister, Jose Gabriel Espinoza, announced that banks will now be allowed to offer crypto custody. Crypto will also function as legal tender for savings accounts as well as for credit products and loans.
Venezuela
Inflation rate (April 2025): 172%
Inflation has run rampant in Venezuela. According to Trading Economics, the inflation rate crossed 170% in April 2025. More recent estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicate an annual inflation rate of 270% for 2025. By October 2026, the IMF projects an annual inflation rate of 600%.
As a result, Venezuela ranks fourth in Latin America for value received in cryptocurrencies. Venezuelans received $44.6 billion in digital assets from July 2024 to June 2025, according to Chainalysis.
According to The New York Times, President Nicolas Maduro has managed to “rewire Venezuela’s economy to stablecoins” with many Venezuelans referring to stablecoins as “Binance dollars.”
María Corina Machado, a former Venezuelan presidential candidate, has publicly supported the use of Bitcoin (BTC). Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition to Maduro but has since become a center of controversy for pushing exaggerated or false claims to justify US military actions against Venezuela.
For the first time in history, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Bitcoiner.
Congratulations to Maria Corina Machado, and also to @HRF who continues to explain to the world what is so obvious to so many-
Argentina’s inflation rate hit a high of nearly 300% in April 2024 and was 200% when President Javier Milei took power.
Milei has managed to address the inflation by a hardline austerity program, making sweeping cuts to public spending and subsidies, as well as ending domestic money printing.
Argentina’s inflation is still high, but has been on a downward trajectory. Source: Semaforor
This sweeping program, which Milei has symbolized with a chainsaw at political rallies, has led to a dramatic drop in the inflation rate, which now stands at just over 30%. It is still one of the highest inflation rates in the world.
The front-runner of the Argentine presidential election, Javier Milei, swinging a chainsaw during a rally
The chainsaw symbolizes the cuts in public spending that are in his electoral program:
“It’s time to put an end to the caste. We are tired of politicians who steal & lie” pic.twitter.com/1l20XcK0UU
According to Chainalysis, Argentina is the second-largest country in Latin America in terms of value received in cryptocurrency, at $93.9 billion in transaction volume. Use has been growing relatively stably.
Argentinians may be using crypto and stablecoins to preserve their finances, but adoption of crypto is not reflected at the government level. Despite crypto-friendly rhetoric from Milei and some deputies, the government has done little to formally adopt digital assets.
Turkey
Inflation rate (October 2025): 32%
Turkey’s inflation peaked in 2022 for a number of reasons, one of the most notorious being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s belief that high interest rates lead to inflation. Using this unorthodox policy, the president lowered interest rates dramatically. This, in combination with increasing production and import costs, saw inflation peak at 85% in October 2022.
A return to more conventional methods of monetary policy has lowered the inflation rate to just over 30%. However, it remains one of the highest globally.
Many people in Turkey have turned to cryptocurrencies for payments and investments. According to Chainalysis, Turkey leads the Middle East and North Africa, with $200 billion in crypto transactions from July 2024 to June 2025.
Turkey leads the MENA region in crypto transactions. Source: Chainalysis
As inflation lowers, the historical preference for stablecoins in Turkey has become increasingly dominated by altcoin trading.
“The timing of this altcoin surge coincides with broader regional economic pressures. It may reflect a desperate yield-seeking behavior among remaining market participants, who, faced with diminishing purchasing power and a more restrictive regulatory regime have embraced greater risk in pursuit of outsized returns,” Chainalysis stated.
Iran
Inflation rate (September 2025): 45.3%
Iran’s inflation rate is on the rise again, crossing 40% in June and reaching 45% as of September.
The country has been plagued by inflation for years. Iran is currently under a heavy international sanctions regime, both in terms of products allowed for import and its ability to use international payment rails.
Government spending has increased while the costs of living have risen. The government is also planning a redenomination of the local currency, the rial, as transactions in rial notes have become unwieldy.
Iran has long recognized the potential for crypto to avoid sanctions. It legalized mining in 2019, and exchanges are popular among retail investors. However, the space is heavily regulated. As far as mining is concerned, high energy tariffs (the result of the country’s ongoing energy crisis) have driven many miners underground.
Despite this, crypto inflows are growing and are on track to surpass 2023 and 2024.
Over the last year, inflation in Nigeria has decreased from over 30% to just 16% at the time of writing. It has fallen to its lowest level in three years.
Nigeria marks three-year low in inflation. Source: Trading Economics
Improved supply conditions have relieved one of the primary factors driving inflation, food price inflation. This fell to 16.87% in September from 21.87% in August, according to Reuters. President Bola Tinubu introduced several reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the exchange rate. In August, the Central Bank of Nigeria cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in three years.
According to Chainalysis, Nigeria leads Sub-Saharan Africa in crypto transactions, receiving $92.1 billion in value from July 2024 to June 2025.
“Nigeria’s scale is tied not only to its population and tech-savvy youth, but also to persistent inflation and foreign currency access issues that have made stablecoins an attractive alternative,” they stated.
Global inflation may be slowing down, but in areas where the local monetary system still cannot be relied upon, crypto remains a viable and attractive alternative.
Ethereum crossed a threshold in execution capacity as its mainnet block gas limit reached 60 million, the highest level the network has seen in four years.
Data tracker Gas Limit Pics showed that in November, over 513,000 validators signaled a 60 million gas limit, pushing the Ethereum network over the threshold needed for the protocol to begin moving the gas limit upward.
A higher gas limit allows Ethereum to fit more work into each block, including swaps, token transfers and smart contract calls. In practice, that can ease congestion during busy periods and help the network process more activity at the base layer.
As more than 513,000 validators transitioned from the 45 million ceiling to the higher 60 million configuration, Ethereum’s effective block size began to increase automatically, thereby raising the throughput across the network’s base layer.
Over half a million validators signal a gas limit of 60 million. Source: GasLimit.Pics
The effort to “pump the gas” on Ethereum
In March 2024, Ethereum developers initiated an effort to increase the network’s gas limit, claiming that the change could help scale Ethereum.
Ethereum developers Eric Connor and Mariano Conti created an initiative called Pump The Gas to raise the Ethereum gas limit, which they said would reduce transaction fees on the layer-1 blockchain.
The duo called on solo stakers, client teams, pools and community members to push the agenda.
In December 2024, the movement gained momentum as validators started signaling an increase in gas limits. The community rallied to increase the maximum amount of gas allowed for transactions to be included in a single Ethereum block.
The gas limit increase comes ahead of a forthcoming major network upgrade, called Fusaka, which aims to improve Ethereum’s scalability. On Oct. 29, the upgrade made its way into the Hoodi testnet, the final step before its mainnet debut on Dec. 3.
Ethereum community says the 60 million gas limit is “only the beginning”
Ethereum leaders say the jump to a 60 million gas limit is just the start of a broader expansion of the network’s execution capacity.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter credited teams, researchers and ecosystem contributors for coordinating the push.
“Just a year after the community started pushing for higher gas limits, Ethereum is now running with a 60M block gas limit. That’s a 2× increase in a single year — and it’s only the beginning,” Wahrstätter wrote on X.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin echoed the sentiment. He said that the network can expect continued growth over the next year. However, this would be in a more targeted and less uniform way.
He floated a future where the network increases overall capacity while making certain inefficient operations more expensive.
He also pointed toward a more refined form of scaling, which involves larger blocks but smarter pricing to ensure that the network can expand safely without introducing new problems.
Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin was cleared for use by institutions in Abu Dhabi after winning recognition as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token by the local watchdog.
In a Thursday announcement, Ripple said the approval allows regulated firms to deploy Ripple USD (RLUSD) inside the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s (ADGM) financial zone, an international financial center and free zone located on Al Maryah and Al Reem Islands in Abu Dhabi.
“With a market capitalization of over $1 billion and growing adoption in core financial uses like collateral and payments, RLUSD is quickly becoming a go-to USD stablecoin for major institutions,” said Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple.
The green light came from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which oversees activity in the ADGM. Under the decision, companies licensed by the regulator can use RLUSD for permitted activities, provided they meet compliance requirements tied to fiat-referenced tokens, including reserve management and disclosure obligations.
Ripple’s RLUSD approved for use in ADGM. Source: Reece Merrick
In October 2024, Ripple revealed it was pursuing a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) as part of its push to expand digital-asset services in the UAE, securing in-principle approval later that month.
In March, the company confirmed it had received full regulatory approval, allowing it to offer cross-border crypto payment services inside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a major free economic zone with its own regulatory framework.
In June, the DFSA approved RLUSD for use by companies operating inside the DIFC, allowing the stablecoin to be used for regulated activities such as payments and treasury management.
In the UAE, Ripple has also signed up Zand Bank and fintech app Mamo as early users of its blockchain-based payments stack, Ripple Payments.
RLUSD, launched in late 2024, is issued under a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. It is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and fully backed by cash and equivalents.
Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025, in force since September 2025, requires protocols, platforms and infrastructure providers involved in payments, lending, custody, exchanges or investment services to obtain licenses from the Central Bank of the UAE by September 2026.
XRP’s (XRP) newly launched exchange-traded funds (ETFs) absorbed nearly 80 million tokens on Nov. 24, sharply outperforming Solana’s recent ETF debut. The rapid inflows have pushed total assets under management (AUM) to $778 million, according to data from XRP Insights.
Key takeaways:
Grayscale and Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETFs absorbed nearly $130 million on product launch.
Sustained ETF inflows and not just opening demand will determine XRP’s structural advantage in price recovery.
XRP formed a bullish flag, but it remains in a technically bearish trend below key EMAs.
XRP ETF start sparks market optimism for continued demand
Grayscale’s GXRP pulled in $67.4 million, and Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ attracted $62.6 million during its launch on Nov. 24, pushing total XRP ETF assets above $628 million on that day. Nearly 80 million XRP tokens were absorbed in 24 hours, outpacing the early inflows recorded during recent Solana’s (SOL) ETF debut and occurring against a backdrop of Bitcoin outflows.
XRP ETF tracker. Source: XRP Insight
Currently, four XRP ETFs are live, with Canary’s XRPC on Nasdaq leading at $331 million in cumulative net inflows, followed by Bitwise’s XRP ETF at $168 million.
Such rapid absorption matters because ETF demand directly pressures circulating supply, yet sustained inflows must continue to determine XRP’s long-term benefit.
XRP advocate Chad Steingraber remained upbeat, noting that “each share is 10 to 20 XRP… a significant bump for the share price,” adding that sustained inflows could create a FOMO-driven volume surge, allowing the ETF to become an “influencer of market dynamics” over time.
Meanwhile, XRP ETF mania is set to continue as 21Shares’ TOXR is speculated to launch on Nov. 29, on Cboe BZX after receiving S-1 and Form 8-A approval. The product carries a 0.50% fee and seeks $500,000 in seed capital, expanding US. spot XRP exposure.
XRP’s bull flag is pivotal to break resistance at $2.20
XRP is the top performer in the top-ten assets, posting a 5% weekly recovery from a $1.90 low to $2.20, where immediate resistance has emerged.
On the four-hour chart, XRP is forming a bullish flag, with a potential breakout targeting the $2.35–$2.45 sell-side fair value gap (FVG), while sweeping liquidity at $2.30 and $2.35.
However, a sustained failure to reclaim $2.20 increases the likelihood of a move toward the $2.10–$2.00 buy-side FVG, where key liquidity is concentrated. Thus, the current market remained undecided regarding the immediate directional bias.
The relative strength index (RSI) remained above 50, indicating strong short-term demand; however, the overall trend is still downward, with XRP trading below the 50, 100, and 200 exponential moving averages (EMAs) on the four-hour chart.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Crypto market maker and Web3 investment firm DWF Labs says it is investing up to $75 million in decentralized finance projects that could support institutional adoption.
The firm shared its announcement via X on Wednesday, saying the fund will support projects with “innovative value” propositions that can scale to support large-scale adoption.
“The initiative will target blockchain projects building dark-pool perpetual DEXs, decentralized money markets, and fixed-income or yield-bearing asset products, […] areas the firm believes are poised for major growth as crypto liquidity continues its structural migration onchain,” DWF Labs said.
“DeFi is entering its institutional phase,” he said, adding: “We’re seeing real demand for infrastructure that can handle size, protect order flow, and generate sustainable yield.”
The fund will focus on projects built across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Solana, as well as Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 Base.
Alongside capital injections, DWF Labs will also offer support in ways such as “TVL and crypto liquidity provisioning, hands-on go-to-market strategy and execution support,” access to partnered exchanges, market makers, infrastructure providers and institutions in crypto.
DeFi’s future potential
At the time of writing, there is currently over $120 billion worth of total value locked across all DeFi projects as per DefiLlama data.
It reached its peak back in “DeFi Summer” of 2021, at around $175 billion, and also recently almost climbed back to that high again last month, after circling $166 billion before the Oct. 10 market crash.
Despite DeFi initially being a niche area designed as a decentralized alternative to traditional finance, some believe that centralized institutions will play a key role in helping the sector go mainstream.
Speaking with MN Capital founder Michaël van de Poppe in a video published to YouTube on Tuesday, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said that “I think we’re about 30% of the way there.”
Nazarov predicted DeFi to hit 50% mass adoption when the regulatory climate is clear, and 70% when the infrastructure and technology are simple and efficient enough for institutions to tip their capital and client funds into DeFi.
Blockchain analytics provider Glassnode reported a “strong negative correlation” between Bitcoin’s and USDt’s activity over the last two years.
In a Wednesday X post, Glassnode shared a comparison between Bitcoin’s (BTC) price and net flows of USDt (USDT) to exchanges starting in December 2023. According to the analysis, net outflows of USDT from exchanges coincided with increases in the price of BTC.
“During euphoric phases, USDT typically flows out at –$100M to –$200M/day as investors lock in profits,” said Glassnode. “At the $126K peak [in October], net outflows reached >$220M (30D-SMA); A clear profit-taking signal now easing as flows turn positive again.”
An analysis by Whale Alert in April revealed a distinct correlation between Bitcoin and USDt, with the stablecoin issuer typically minting during bull runs of the cryptocurrency and burning during corrections. The two digital assets remain the first and third largest tokens by market capitalization at about $1.8 trillion and $184 billion, respectively.
Stablecoins and Bitcoin adoption advance amid favorable US regulation
In July, the US government passed the GENIUS Act, a law establishing a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that USDt would comply with the law, but also announced in September that the platform would launch a new GENIUS-compliant dollar-pegged stablecoin, USAT.
The US government and several states in the country have also made efforts to stockpile Bitcoin as part of a strategic reserve. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing the creation of a digital asset reserve.
Still, reports suggested that the government had yet to enact the plan, which primarily relies on stockpiling seized crypto.
Grayscale is aiming to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot exchange-traded fund in a move that could mark one of the first investment vehicles linked to a privacy coin.
In a Wednesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Grayscale submitted a Form S-3 registration statement, signaling its intention to convert its fund tied to Zcash (ZEC) into a spot ETF. The move followed Grayscale’s launch of other spot ETFs linked to cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE), and XRP (XRP).
The simplified form with the regulator could allow Grayscale to list the Zcash ETF on the NYSE Arca. According to data from Nansen, the price of ZEC increased by more than 50% in the past 30 days and by 1,050% in the past 12 months, reaching $519.62 at the time of publication.
Since the SEC initially approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, several asset management companies, including Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock, and others, have expanded their offerings to include exposure to other cryptocurrencies. Grayscale debuted the first spot DOGE ETF this week, which saw $1.4 million in volume on Monday.
Are traditional Bitcoiners shifting to Zcash for enhanced privacy?
Earlier this month, Leap Therapeutics said it would use a $50 million investment from Winklevoss Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Gemini creators Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, to acquire ZEC tokens as part of its cryptocurrency treasury strategy.
ETF analyst Eric Balchunas later argued on social media that the privacy coin could essentially pull support away from Bitcoin, though many users were skeptical of his claims.
Bitcoin (BTC) is showing fresh downside risks as a deepening standoff between corporate Bitcoin holder Strategy (MSTR) and global index provider MSCI collides with a weakening technical structure.
Key takeaways:
Bull flag setup risks sending BTC price to $77.4K
As of Wednesday, Bitcoin has consolidated within a bear flag, a short-lived recovery that typically forms after a sharp sell-off and often resolves with a trend continuation.
The structure suggests sellers are regrouping rather than exiting positions, especially as BTC continues to trade below its declining 100-day and 200-day exponential moving averages.
BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: TradingView
A decisive breakdown below the flag’s lower trendline would confirm the bearish continuation setup, opening the door for a measured move toward the $77,400 level.
Conversely, BTC could invalidate the bearish outlook if its price breaks decisively above the 50-4H exponential moving average (50-4H EMA; the red wave) at around $88,655, as well as the flag’s upper trendline around $90,000.
Beyond technicals, Bitcoin’s downside could be triggered by growing uncertainty around Strategy, one of the largest corporate holders of BTC, as MSCI reviews whether to exclude companies whose digital assets account for a majority of their balance sheets.
MSCI’s pending decision, expected by Jan. 15, 2026, could introduce a fresh layer of institutional risk just as Bitcoin’s price structure weakens, according to CryptoQuant author GugaOnChain.
“If MSTR is excluded from indexes such as MSCI, billions in automatic sales of its shares by passive funds would be triggered,” he wrote in a Tuesday post, adding:
“Although the direct impact would fall on MSTR, the crypto market would interpret this as a sign of institutional attack on the company’s Bitcoin accumulation strategy.”
MSTR-to-BTC reserve ratio. Source: CryptoQuant
JPMorgan also warned that if Strategy is excluded from MSCI indexes, passive funds tracking those benchmarks could be forced into billions of dollars in equity sales.
Analyst Adrian accused JPMorgan of running a “MSTR hit job” to force investors into its own Bitcoin-focused leveraged investment products. He wrote in an X post:
“They are trying to kill $MSTR to engineer a migration to their products for Bitcoin leverage exposure.”
Amid growing MSCI-related uncertainty, Strategy has moved to reassure markets about its financial resilience if Bitcoin’s downturn deepens.
In a Nov. 26 statement, the company said that even if Bitcoin falls to its average cost basis of around $74,000, it would still maintain a 5.9 times asset coverage relative to its convertible debt, a metric it refers to as its “BTC Rating” of debt.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Blockrise, a Netherlands-based Bitcoin-only startup, has secured a regulatory license that opens the door for fully regulated Bitcoin financial services across Europe.
Issued on Tuesday, the MiCA license allows Blockrise to provide its Bitcoin (BTC) services, including custody solutions, trading and asset management, throughout Europe.
Additionally, Blockrise is debuting a new service that allows its business clients to obtain Bitcoin loans, even though MiCA does not yet regulate cryptocurrency lending services.
Business loans starting at $23,000
“MiCA is the basis for Blockrise to provide Bitcoin-backed loans, only provisioning to business clients in order to stay within the regulatory constraints,” Blockrise CEO Jos Lazet told Cointelegraph.
Starting today, Blockrise will offer a new credit service to all its corporate clients, with business loans starting at 20,000 euros ($23,150).
“Borrowers can collateralize their Bitcoin and open a loan against it,” Lazet said, adding that the current interest rate is 8%, but is revisited every month.
Blockrise CEO Jos Lazet (left) and chief technology officer Jasper Hu. Source: Blockrise
Implemented in full in late 2024, MiCA regulates crypto issuance and trading, though it doesn’t cover many industry services and areas such as lending, decentralized finance (DeFi) and more.
Addressing MiCA’s regulatory scope, the Blockrise CEO expressed optimism about the framework’s potential to scale in the coming years.
“MiCA doesn’t regulate everything yet, however, it is expected to extend over time and include more scopes, such as lending, mining, payments, etc,” Lazet said, adding:
“MiCA is a requirement in order to provide Bitcoin-backed loans, such as the MiCA licenses to custody, transfer and broker.”
Founded in 2017, Blockrise operates a crypto asset management company that offers a “semi-custodial wallet structure.” Unlike with pure self-custody, where users can recover their assets using a private key, Blockrise clients have a digital Blockrise key, which has no value other than accessing BTC on the platform, according to the CEO.
“Blockrise has multiple vaults, so-called Hardware security modules, which securely generate Bitcoin wallets, and the keys cannot be extracted out of the vault. To make a transaction, the user’s Blockrise key is needed,” Lazet said, adding that there’s a dependency on both the user and Blockrise to sign for transactions.
Because Blockrise does not directly custody user funds in the traditional sense, Lazet said assets under management are “a tough measurement.” The company currently oversees about 100 million euros ($116 million) in client assets, he said.
