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Crypto Trends

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction for August 20

by admin August 20, 2025

The market is neither bearish nor bullish in the middle of the week, according to CoinStats.

Top coins by CoinStats

BTC/USD

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has risen by 0.38% over the last 24 hours.

Image by TradingView

On the hourly chart, the rate of BTC is looking bullish after a resistance breakout. If the daily bar closes above $114,157, growth may continue to the $115,000 mark tomorrow.

Image by TradingView

On the longer time frame, the price of the main crypto is rising after yesterday’s bearish bar’s closure. However, even if the candle closes bullish, the energy might not be enough for a further upward move.

Nasdaq-Listed SoFi Taps Bitcoin Lightning for Remittances

by admin August 20, 2025

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. We’re Margaux Nijkerk & Jamie Crawley, reporters at CoinDesk.

In this issue:

Nasdaq-Listed SoFi Taps Bitcoin Lightning for Remittances
Bitcoin DeFi Project Enters Solana with BTC-Backed Token YBTC
Valantis Acquires stHYPE, Expanding Liquid Staking Reach on Hyperliquid
Hyperbeat Secures $5.2M Backing From ether.Fi, Electric Capital

Network News

SOFI TAPS BITCOIN LIGHTNING FOR REMITTANCES: SoFi Technologies will soon allow remittance payments on top of the Bitcoin layer-2 Lightning Network through a partnership with Lightspark, aiming to bring real-time international money transfers to its members. SoFi’s remittance product, which is expected to roll out later this year, will allow users to send U.S. dollars through the SoFi app, with recipients receiving local currency deposits abroad, using Lightspark’s Universal Money Address (UMA). Lightspark’s UMA provides access to a global payment rail designed for speed and scale. Transfers will display upfront exchange rates and fees, addressing longstanding pain points in traditional remittance services. The launch follows SoFi’s reentry into crypto, after halting services in 2023 during its transition to a national bank. Earlier this year, it revealed plans to offer international remittances through blockchain and stablecoins and allow users to invest in crypto. — Jamie Crawley Read more.

BITLAYER ENTERS SOLANA WITH YBTC: Bitcoin DeFi project Bitlayer has partnered with Kamino Finance and Orca to bring its bitcoin-backed token, YBTC, to the Solana ecosystem. This integration is intended to combine Bitlayer’s security with Solana’s speed and scalability, aligning with Bitlayer’s goal of expanding the Bitcoin DeFi sector. It will provide bitcoin holders with native BTC exposure and yield opportunities, said Charlie Hu, co-founder of Bitlayer. YBTC, pegged 1:1 with BTC, is central to Bitlayer’s BitVM bridge, which is designed for trust-minimized bitcoin transfers by eliminating centralized intermediaries. The token serves as a direct representation of users’ locked BTC within the Bitlayer ecosystem, enabling seamless interoperability between Bitcoin and decentralized finance applications. By holding YBTC, Solana users can maximize yields through Kamino’s institutional-grade earn vaults, which provide auto-compounding and optimized BTC-denominated returns, helping assets grow effortlessly. — Omkar Godbole Read more.

VALANTIS ACQUIRES stHYPE: Valantis, a decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol, has acquired Staked Hype (stHYPE), the second-largest liquid staking token (LST) on Hyperliquid. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. stHYPE, which launched as the first LST on HyperEVM, currently holds about $180 million in total value locked (TVL), according to the stHYPE website. Following the deal, stHYPE’s operations, development, and scaling will be managed by Valantis Labs. Addison Spiegel, founder of Thunderhead, the team behind stHYPE, will serve as an advisor to Valantis. Liquid staking has become a central pillar within Hyperliquid’s ecosystem. According to DeFiLlama, liquid staking accounts for more than half of Hyperliquid L1’s $2.26 billion in DeFi TVL. The acquisition builds on Valantis’ earlier launch of LST-specific DEX pools for both stHYPE and hHYPE, which together have attracted nearly $70 million in TVL and processed more than $500 million in trading volume. — Oliver Knight Read more.

HYPERBEAT GETS $5.2M IN SEED: Hyperbeat, a protocol powering yield infrastructure on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange, has closed a $5.2 million oversubscribed seed round co-led by ether.fi Ventures and Electric Capital. The raise will be used to build out their yield infrastructure for traders, protocols, and institutions that are tapped into the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The round also drew investments from Coinbase Ventures, Chapter One, Selini, Maelstrom, Anchorage Digital, and community backers via the HyperCollective. Hyperbeat serves as the native yield layer for Hyperliquid, building permissionless financial infrastructure that allows anyone to earn, stake, and spend directly from their on-chain portfolio. It unlocks yield generated by Hyperliquid’s funding rates—previously accessible only to sophisticated market participants—and packages it into simple, tokenized vaults. The news of the seed raise comes as Hyperliquid’s total value locked surpasses $2.1 billion, and as institutions are starting to develop greater interest in its ecosystem. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

In Other News

SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci’s investment management firm, plans to tokenize $300 million worth of its hedge funds on the Avalanche network. The firm is bringing its Digital Macro Master Fund and Legion Strategies on-chain in partnership with tokenization provider Tokeny and its parent, Apex Group, which manages more than $3.5 trillion in assets, according to the press release shared with CoinDesk. Apex acquired Tokeny earlier this year. The initiative uses the ERC-3643 token standard with operational support from Apex’s Digital 3.0 platform, which handles issuance, administration, and distribution. — Kristzian Sandor Read more.
Thumzup Media, which counts Donald Trump Jr. as a large shareholder, said it will acquire Dogehash Technologies, Inc. in an all-stock deal, pivoting from digital marketing into industrial-scale crypto mining. Under the agreement, Dogehash shareholders will receive 30.7 million Thumzup shares, according to a Tuesday release, valuing the transaction at $153.8 million, based on the shares’ closing price. The combined company will rebrand as Dogehash Technologies Holdings, Inc. and list on Nasdaq under the ticker XDOG, pending shareholder approval later this year. The company says it will also use Dogecoin’s DogeOS layer 2 to stake in DeFi products, aiming to boost miner returns beyond standard rewards. — Sam Reynolds Read more.

Regulatory and Policy

The crypto industry is mounting a counteroffensive against Wall Street bankers’ bid to rewrite the U.S.’ new stablecoin law, arguing that attempts to roll back core provisions of the GENIUS Act would tilt the field toward traditional banks. In a letter to Senate Banking Committee leaders dated Aug. 19, the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association urged lawmakers to reject proposals from the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute and state banking groups that called for stripping out Section 16(d) of the law and banning yield programs offered by affiliates of stablecoin issuers. Section 16(d) allows subsidiaries of state-chartered institutions to conduct money transmission across state lines in support of stablecoin issuer activities, ensuring holders can redeem their tokens nationwide without needing separate state licenses. Banking groups warned earlier this month that allowing state-chartered, uninsured institutions to issue stablecoins and operate nationwide would amount to regulatory arbitrage, bypassing state licensing regimes. — Sam Reynolds Read More
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s newest vice chair who supervises Wall Street banking, Michelle Bowman, made a crypto speech on Tuesday that could have been uttered by one of the industry’s own policy wonks, advocating that banks get behind the digital assets surge and that the Fed give the sector rules that won’t get in crypto’s way. At the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Bowman warned banks that don’t embrace the shift toward crypto “will play a diminished role in the financial system more broadly,” and she further underlined what’s already been an obvious change in crypto sentiment from U.S. banking regulators. “Your industry has already experienced significant frictions with bank regulators applying unclear standards, conflicting guidance, and inconsistent regulatory interpretations,” she said. “We need a clear, strategic regulatory framework that will facilitate the adoption of new technology, recognizing that in some cases, it may be inadequate and inappropriate to apply existing regulatory guidance to address emerging tech.” — Jesse Hamilton Read more.

Calendar

Sept. 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
Oct. 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London
Oct. 16-17: European Blockchain Convention, Barcelona
Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Bitcoin’s Year-End Destination: SkyBridge Founder Stands By Bold Prediction, Here’s The Target

by admin August 20, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Bitcoin seems to have shifted into a bearish mood as it retests the $113,000 price level, raising questions about a potential bear market phase. However, Anthony Scaramucci remains confident that BTC will recover from the ongoing downtrend and surge to a new high of $180,000 and beyond in 2025.

Scaramucci Keeps $200,000 Bitcoin Year-End Target Alive

Despite the robust downward movement in price, many analysts are still optimistic about Bitcoin’s potential in the short term, predicting a move to new all-time highs. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and a long-time Bitcoin advocate, has reignited bullish hopes as he recalled his end-of-year BTC prediction.

During an interview on CBNC posted by Altcoin Daily on the X platform, Anthony Scaramucci maintains that BTC is on track to reach between $180,000 and $200,000 by year-end. The founder’s prediction is backed by tightening supply dynamics, boosting institutional adoption, and growing global recognition of Bitcoin as a hedge asset.

According to Scamaracci, Bitcoin remains bullish in any scenario, expressing his hopes that United States President Donald Trump will pick the mama bear fed. His belief reflects an increasing number of well-known investors who think that Bitcoin’s next leg higher could be much more explosive than prior cycles.

When asked about the base and most bullish case for BTC, Scaramucci started by highlighting the current state of the market. “I think what is happening now is lots of consolidation and institutional adoption,” he stated.

Years ago, BTC’s price action was mostly driven by retail adoption and CEOs working in the layer 1 blockchain space. However, this trend has started to shift towards the institutional level over time, as large corporations accumulate the crypto king at a substantial rate.

A Transition Of BTC Ownership Ongoing In The Market

The founder has pointed to the robust performance of BlackRock’s Bitcoin Spot ETF, the IBIT, which has attracted a wide range of retail and institutional investors. While institutional adoption is increasing, Bitcoin whales continue to offload their holdings.

Scaramucci considers this pattern a crucial development, declaring it a shift in ownership. “I just think it is a function of buying in only 450 Bitcoin being made by the network per day,” he added. During this shift in ownership, the founder noted that demand for the flagship asset has surpassed issued supply or the overall available supply of BTC in the market.

Considering these developments, the founder is confident that BTC still has room for more growth, potentially reaching his bullish target between $180,000 and $200,000 this year. This bold prediction suggests the current pullback is likely a healthy correction before another explosive move.

Even though many other companies and analysts foresee a much higher target for Bitcoin by this year’s end, Scaramucci remains firm with his prediction, calling it a cautious price target.

BTC trading at $113,707 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Bitcoin ETFs Shed $645M This Week as Wall Street Retreats Ahead of Powell Speech

by admin August 20, 2025

In brief

Bitcoin ETFs recorded $645 million in outflows across two days, with Fidelity’s FBTC leading redemptions Tuesday at $246.9 million.
Analysts attributed the outflows to investors de-risking ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.
The selloff reverses a $4.7 billion inflow streak from mid-July to early August, though analysts characterize the movement as tactical positioning rather than institutional capitulation.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds bled $645 million over two trading sessions as institutional investors pulled capital from crypto markets, a major reversal since the digital asset’s summer rally began stalling.

Bitcoin ETFs saw $121.7 million in outflows on Monday and $523.3 million on Tuesday according to Farside Investors data, while Ethereum funds mirrored the weakness with $196.6 million and $422.2 million withdrawn on the same days.

Fidelity’s FBTC led the exodus with $246.9 million in redemptions, while Grayscale’s GBTC shed $115.5 million and Bitwise’s BITB lost $86.8 million across the two-day period.

Investors derisking ahead of Powell speech

Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.IO, told Decrypt that spot Bitcoin ETFs are seeing outflows as investors “scale back risk ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting and Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday.”

The latest withdrawals break momentum from mid-July through early August, when Bitcoin ETFs saw $4.7 billion in inflows at roughly $135 million a day.

Otychenko attributed the selling to weak job growth combined with mixed inflation data that “left the Fed in a difficult spot, leaving the markets more uncertain about the path of future rate cuts.”

Net Taker Volume, which tracks whether buyers or sellers dominate exchange activity, plummeted to its “lowest point since December 2021,” indicating widespread selling pressure, he said.

The analyst noted that Bitcoin’s rallies since March have followed a weakening pattern, with “each breakout weaker, with smaller price moves and lighter trading volume.”

Dean Chen, analyst at Bitunix, shared similar sentiment, telling Decrypt the outflows stem from two main drivers: macro de-risking as “U.S. PPI came in hotter than expected” and issuer-level profit taking ahead of Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.

He noted that BlackRock’s IBIT recorded zero flow, which “tells us this is more tactical de-risking than broad institutional exit.”

Konstantin Anissimov, global CEO of Currency.com, also remarked to Decrypt the outflows represent “a broad de-risking move rather than a problem with any single ETF.”

He pointed out that redemptions shifted from BlackRock and ARK on Monday to Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise the following day, showing “investors across the board are taking some chips off the table.”

Despite the substantial ETF outflows, Bitcoin’s price is down just 1.5% on the day according to CoinGecko data, which Anissimov attributed to buyers using “$32 billion in stablecoin cash sitting on exchanges” to absorb the selling.

He characterized institutional sentiment as “cautious right now, but not panicked,” calling the movement “short-term profit-taking” rather than a fundamental shift.

Markets now enter a critical waiting period as Powell’s address approaches, with institutional flows likely to remain volatile until monetary policy clarity emerges.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Nasdaq opens lower after tech stock rout, Bitcoin dips

by admin August 20, 2025

Nasdaq opened lower on Wednesday as stocks looked to steady after tech stocks led a rout that had major gauges slipping ahead of Federal Reserve meeting minutes and a key economic event this week.

Summary

Nasdaq Composite opened lower on Wednesday, with the tech heavy index shedding 0.5% in early trades.
Stocks were showing weakness as investors awaited Federal Reserve’s minutes.
Bitcoin traded near $113,000 having fallen sharply along tech stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened about 60 points higher and the S&P 500 hovered just below the flat line, down 0.15%. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite opened more than 0.5% lower.

Nasdaq Composite’s slight dip follows Tuesday’s bruising outing for risk assets, with broader weakness for top tech stocks, including all of the “Magnificent Seven”: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla.

The downswing for these companies, as well as Palantir and others, dragged Nasdaq to a -1.46% close and the S&P 500 to a -0.59% close. The impact of this across the broader market saw the sell-off spread to cryptocurrencies and other risk assets as investors scrambled for safe-haven deals.

Bitcoin (BTC), the top digital asset, fell sharply to break to lows of $112,570 – well off its recent peak above $124k.

Corporate earnings

Overall weakness meant stocks and crypto traded lower in early deals during the U.S. session as Wall Street weighed market sentiment amid corporate earnings.

Notably, Target shares fell 9% after the retailer’s earnings report showed further declines in sales and as the company revealed a new chief executive officer expected to take over on Feb. 1, 2026. However, Lowe’s shares gained about 3% after its earnings beat expectations.

Fed minutes on deck

Also on investors’ minds is the Federal Reserve’s minutes for its July meeting, which will shed more light on the central bank’s interest rate outlook. The week also has all eyes on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who is set to speak at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming.

The event brings together economic policymakers, government officials and critical market players. Powell’s speech at the annual policy symposium comes on Friday morning, his last as he heads toward the end of his term in May 2026.

Fed’s decision to hold interest rates steady at the previous meeting has left the market, per the CME Fedwatch tool, pricing in a higher chance of a cut in September.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Unimpressive Bounce Maintains Risk to Support Around $112K

by admin August 20, 2025

This is a daily analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.

Bitcoin

bulls are attempting to establish an interim low around $113,000, but the effort appears weak in terms of both price and volume. So far, the bounce has been barely notable, with upside capped above $114,000. Additionally, volumes have stayed low relative to what we observed during the early Tuesday drop, as seen on the hourly chart.

BTC’s hourly chart. (TradingView)

The weak bounce is consistent with bearish momentum signals, as the 50-, 100-, and 200-hour simple moving averages (SMAs) are aligned in descending order and trending downward.

On the daily chart, prices have convincingly broken below the rising trendline support, signaling a shift from bullish to bearish momentum. Both the longer-term MACD histogram (50,100,9) and the more commonly used MACD (12,26,0) are showing increasing negative momentum, with deeper bars below the zero line.

BTC’s daily chart. (TradingView)

Therefore, the odds appear to be stacked in favor of a continued move lower. The first level of support is $11,982, from which the market turned higher on Aug. 3. The 100-day SMA is seen at $11,053. If these levels are taken out, the focus would shift to the 200-day SMA at $100,484.

A convincing move above the 50-day SMA at $116,033 would negate the bearish outlook.

Resistance: $116,033, $120,000, $122,056.
Support: $111,982, $110,053, $100,484.

Read more: Markets Today: Bitcoin, Ether Recover From Lows Before FOMC Minutes

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Crypto Groups Push Back on Bank Lobby Over GENIUS Act

by admin August 20, 2025

Two of the crypto industry’s leading advocacy bodies are pushing back against Wall Street bankers’ latest attempt to roll back the United States’ newly minted stablecoin law.

In a joint letter to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) and the Blockchain Association urged lawmakers to reject recommendations from the American Bankers Association (ABA) and state banking groups.

As reported, several US banking groups, led by the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), have urged Congress to tighten the GENIUS Act by closing what they call a loophole that could allow stablecoin issuers and their affiliates to pay yields indirectly.

In a letter sent last Tuesday, the groups warned that failing to address the gap could drain as much as $6.6 trillion from traditional bank deposits, threatening the flow of credit to households and businesses.

Banking lobby on stablecoins yield loophole. Source: Bank Policy Institute

Related: Coinbase revives stablecoin bootstrap fund to boost USDC in DeFi

Stablecoin yield loophole

The bankers also argued that while the GENIUS Act bans stablecoin issuers themselves from offering yield, it does not explicitly prevent exchanges or affiliates from doing so on their behalf. They claimed this risks giving stablecoins a competitive edge by attracting users with returns similar to savings accounts, without subjecting them to the same banking rules.

The crypto groups accused the banking lobby of trying to re-litigate issues already settled in months of negotiations, warning that the proposed revisions would tilt the field toward traditional banks while stifling innovation and consumer choice.

“Payment stablecoins are not bank deposits, or money market funds, or investment products, and thus they are not regulated in the same way,” the crypto advocacy groups wrote. “Unlike bank deposits, payment stablecoins are not used to fund loans,” they added.

The letter pointed out Section 16(d) of the law, which allows subsidiaries of state-chartered institutions to conduct stablecoin business across state lines without requiring additional licenses.

Banking groups want the clause repealed, but CCI and the Blockchain Association argued that scrapping it would re-create “the same fragmented, balkanized regulatory regime that stifles interstate commerce.”

They also pushed back against claims that yield-bearing stablecoins could drain deposits from community banks. They cited a July 2025 analysis by Charles River Associates, which found no significant link between stablecoin growth and bank outflows.

Related: South Korea readies stablecoin framework; bill set for October

Yield stablecoins cross $800 million in payouts

Yield-bearing stablecoins have distributed over $800 million in total returns to holders so far, according to a recent post by StableWatch. Over the past 30 days, Ethena Staked USDe (sUSDe) led payouts with $30.71 million, followed by Securitize’s BUIDL at $8.39 million and Sky Ecosystem’s staked USDe (sUSDe) with $6.78 million.

Stablecoins yield payout. Source: Stablewatch

The total market cap of stablecoins currently sits at $288 billion, a fraction of the US dollar money supply, which the Federal Reserve reported as $22 trillion at the end of June.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Celsius Creditors to Receive $220.6M in Third Repayment Round

by admin August 20, 2025

Celsius Network will begin its third round of fund distributions to eligible creditors on August 20, 2025. The defunct crypto lender confirmed that $220.6 million will be released as part of its court-approved recovery plan.

The company has paid out 93% of the owed funds in previous rounds. This next tranche aims to deliver the remaining balance to creditors approved under the restructuring scheme.

According to a recent court filing, the funds will be sourced from several internal reserves. About $63.2 million will be recovered from lawsuits and other administrative fees. The filing also disclosed that $17 million came from disallowed claims connected to former CEO Alexander Mashinsky and related entities.

Further, $86.4 million is being released from the disputed and contingent claims reserve, while $46.3 million and $7.7 million came from forfeited and expunged claims, respectively.

Crypto and Dollar Distributions

Most of the third-round distributions will be paid in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Celsius stated that eligible users must complete the required Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process through approved platforms including Coinbase and PayPal. However, corporate creditors may receive payments in U.S. dollars rather than crypto.

Part of the recovery effort also involves equity shares of the newly formed mining unit, Ionic Digital. Celsius expects this structure to increase the total recovery rate for creditors. Overall, it’s estimated that affected users could receive between 67% and 85% of their original holdings. The firm also stated that creditors should remain alert for phishing emails and fake messages. Only official communication channels should be trusted for distribution updates.

The third distribution shows steady progress in Celsius’s restructuring. This distribution progress may enhance confidence in other ongoing crypto bankruptcy recoveries.

Also Read: WazirX Creditors Back Amended Scheme, Court Sanction Next

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Hyperliquid Whale James Wynn on Market Crash, ‘I Pray You Bought The Dip’

by admin August 20, 2025

James Wynn, dubbed one of the most aggressive leverage traders in the crypto industry, has dropped a bold opinion on the current market outlook. In a post on X, Wynn, a Hyperliquid whale, reinforced the accumulation and HODL mentality on the crypto market.

James Wynn’s bold Ethereum leverage position

Wynn, known for taking massive leveraged positions on assets despite market fluctuations, appears bullish in his post.

The crypto trader stated, “I pray you bought the dip. If you sold it, you are one pathetic jeet, who simply does not deserve any financial success.”

Crypto community reacts to Wynn’s market outlook

As of press time, Ethereum is changing hands above its set price at $4,228.91, despite being down by 0.1% in the last 24 hours.

UK BTC ETNs Are a Turning Point for Britain’s Role in Crypto, Industry Participants Say

by admin August 20, 2025

After four years in the wilderness, bitcoin

exchange traded notes (ETN) are set to return to London and the change could prove more significant than many expect.

Starting Oct. 8, crypto ETN products, which allow retail investors to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies without buying the tokens themselves, will become available after being banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in January 2021. The regulators argued at the time that extreme volatility, susceptibility to fraud and the difficulty of valuation made them too risky for retail investors.

But the ban also left the U.K. lagging behind developments elsewhere. The U.S. spot exchange-traded funds have been a resounding success, with more than $65 billion dollars flowing into bitcoin and ether (ETH) ETFs since their inception in January last year, data from SoSoValue show. European investors also have access to a range of exchange-traded products. U.K. investors were forced to look abroad for regulated exposure, often turning to Strategy (MSTR) stock as a proxy.

“The importance of bitcoin exchange traded notes coming to London is being underestimated,” Charlie Morris, the founder of digital asset investment firm ByteTree, said in an interview. “London is the world’s second-largest financial center, and many funds have touch points with London, whether it be custody, trading, legal or settlement.”

The ban, for example, locked products complying with UCITS, the European framework for regulated mutual funds and ETFs, from accessing crypto if they wanted to have contact with the London-based financial system.

“This will change. Bitcoin is about to be opened up to the global fund market, and there will be legal clarity. This could be as important as the USA launches last year, and possibly more so over time. Sustained demand for bitcoin remains underpinned for years to come through exchange traded notes,” Morris said.

The reversal signals a recalibration. Britain, once an early crypto hub with initiatives from then Chancellor Rishi Sunak and firms like Jersey-based CoinShares, is moving to reassert relevance. Industry figures such as former Chancellor George Osborne, who is now an adviser to Coinbase, have warned that London risks falling behind if it does not embrace innovation.

“The Financial Conduct Authority’s reversal signals more than a rule change. It is a clear sign that the winds are shifting in the U.K.’s financial landscape, with policymakers now keen to keep the country relevant in a fast-evolving global market,” said Bitcoin OG Nicholas Gregory.

Even so, the complex structure of the country’s investment-advice industry may mean take up is slower than proponents assume, said Peter Lane, CEO of Jacobi Asset Management. Just because the products are legal, doesn’t mean they will be offered to clients.

“The U.K. adviser network is highly fragmented, with IFAs [independent financial advisers], restricted and tied advisers all operating under different models,” he said. “It will take time for firms across these groups to evaluate the implications of the crypto ETN ban being lifted, assess suitability frameworks, and build the necessary due diligence processes before they are in a position to consider offering or recommending such products to clients.”

UPDATE (Aug. 20, 07:48 UTC): Adds wider unbanning of crypto ETNs in second paragraph.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments