Market turmoil, Morgan Stanley greenlights BTC ETFs, and bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset in the US

Markets were shaken as a confluence of factors—including fears of a US recession, the Bank of Japan raising rates, and geopolitical tensions—pushed major equity indices and crypto assets downward at the end of last week. Bitcoin (BTC) fell 13.0%, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 15.8%, and Solana (SOL) decreased 23.2%, pushing the Nasdaq Crypto IndexTM (NCITM) down 14.3% in response to the turbulent environment. While volatility is back in the short term and a negative mood spreads across risk assets, corrections similar to last week’s are not unprecedented in crypto and current catalysts for the asset class still point to a very promising mid-term outlook.

Morgan Stanley advisors can soon offer spot BTC ETFs to clients

The firm’s decision to allow its advisors to offer clients BTC ETFs is a significant milestone for the acceptance of crypto in the traditional financial sector and the opening of new gateways for investors to gain access to the largest crypto asset. As one of Wall Street’s largest institutions, this move reflects growing client demand for digital asset investments and may enhance the legitimacy and accessibility of crypto as an investable asset class.

US Senator Cynthia Lummis proposes bill to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Following her public announcement during the Bitcoin 2024 conference, US Senator Cynthia Lummis proposed a bill to establish a Strategic BTC Reserve and other programs to ensure the transparent management of BTC holdings of the US federal government. The approval of such a bill would be a major move by the world’s largest economy, putting BTC at the center stage of reserve assets and potentially triggering the next adoption phase of crypto assets by major governments worldwide.

California adopts Avalanche blockchain to digitize 42 million car titles

The adoption of blockchain technology by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), by digitizing 42 million car titles on the Avalanche (AVAX) network, is a major step in the acceptance of blockchain beyond the financial sector. This initiative demonstrates how the tokenization of real-world assets can make bureaucratic processes more efficient and transparent, reducing the time to transfer titles from weeks to minutes.