Crypto World
Russell 2000 Hits New Record High: Why This Signal May Mean Less for Altcoins in 2026
The Russell 2000 just hit a new all-time high, sparking optimism for an altcoin season. However, this time, its historical correlation with altcoins has turned negative for the first time since July 2016.
The shift breaks a pattern that has guided altcoin season traders. It arrives as the macro setup turns bullish, but altcoin charts remain unconfirmed.
Russell 2000 Breakout Revives Altseason Narrative Amid Liquidity Surge
The Russell 2000 index tracks approximately 2,000 small-cap US companies, a segment generally associated with higher risk within traditional financial markets.
Outperformance in the index typically reflects a shift in market sentiment toward risk-on behavior, as investors allocate capital to higher-beta assets in pursuit of stronger returns. In April, the small-cap benchmark surged 11.8%, reaching a fresh all-time high on Monday.
“When small caps outperform on a red day for big tech the market is not scared. It is repositioning. Investors are rotating into the companies that benefit most from a domestic recovery. Lower oil. Lower rates. Peace deal,” analyst Bull Theory posted.
According to the analyst, past Russell 2000 breakouts have consistently preceded rallies in the altcoin market. Ash Crypto echoed the bullish view.
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Meanwhile, Federal Reserve balance sheet activity reinforces the bullish setup.
“One of the key drivers behind previous Alt Seasons is the Fed balance sheet… and it’s exploding for the first time in years. Three liquidity injections coming this week. • $5.058B Fed bill purchase (and repeated $5B–$7.5B ops scheduled) • $90B released via TGA • $15B Treasury debt buyback (largest on record) • $40B+ in total Fed purchases this week QT is over. Balance sheet is turning up. Risk is being re-enabled,” analyst Mark added.
He argued that the altseason was delayed rather than cancelled, citing the Fed’s balance sheet expansion.
The Correlation That Traders Rely On Has Broken
Nonetheless, the relationship supporting the altcoin rally thesis has shifted sharply. Analyst Tony Severino noted the correlation coefficient between the Russell 2000 and altcoins has turned negative and is strengthening to the downside.
“At the moment, the correlation between these two assets is negative for the first time since July 2016. The indicator can curl back up from here, but at the moment it is pointed sharply down,” he said.
Severino emphasized that historical correlations offer limited predictive value in a changing macro environment. As a result, relying on past breakout patterns may be ineffective when a previously positive relationship has reversed into negative territory.
At the same time, analyst Zach Humphries sees similar weakness on altcoin market cap charts, describing current price action as a bearish retest.
Whether the negative correlation reverses or signals a structural change in altcoin capital formation will determine whether the delayed altseason thesis survives into mid-2026.
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The post Russell 2000 Hits New Record High: Why This Signal May Mean Less for Altcoins in 2026 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The newly appointed Governor of the Bank of Korea, Shin Hyun-song, has voiced support for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits in his first public address.
Shin, who began his four-year term after an inauguration ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday, said the central bank will advance the second phase of “Project Hangang,” a Bank of Korea-led pilot project to test a blockchain-based, wholesale CBDC system.
He also pointed to international cooperation efforts, including the “Agora Project,” an international collaborative initiative launched in April 2024 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and seven central banks to explore the tokenization of cross-border payments. Shin said these initiatives “will elevate the status of the Korean won in the digital payment environment.”
While previous reports had suggested Shin was open to won-based stablecoins, he did not mention stablecoins in his inaugural speech.
South Korea’s stablecoin bill remains stalled, with regulators and lawmakers split over whether issuance of won-pegged tokens should be limited to commercial banks or opened up to non-bank players such as fintech and tech firms.
Related: South Korea draft bill puts stablecoins, RWAs under finance laws: Report
Shin flags geopolitical risks
Shin also mentioned rising tensions in the Middle East and its effect on oil prices, saying that the Bank of Korea must adapt to rising uncertainty driven by geopolitical shocks, inflation pressures and shifts in the global economy.
“We must strive for price and financial stability through the operation of prudent and flexible monetary policy,” he said.
Shin was the BIS economic adviser from May 2014 to March 2026 and also served as head of the Monetary and Economic Department from January 2025, according to the BIS website.
Last month, he published an academic paper arguing that stablecoins fail to meet a core property of money, “unity,” because blockchain networks are inherently fragmented across different chains with varying fees, security and decentralisation levels.
Related: Naver-Dunamu filing sets IPO committee, listing timeline for fintech group
South Korea to test tokenized deposits for government spending
South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing to test blockchain-based payments for selected government expenses as part of a regulatory sandbox exploring distributed ledger technology in public finance.
The pilot will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. The initial phase will be launched in Sejong City and will include conditions such as limits on timing and spending categories.
A group of 12 European banks led by Qivalis has chosen Fireblocks to provide infrastructure for a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin.
Summary
- Qivalis and 12 European banks are building a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin with Fireblocks infrastructure support.
- The euro token will target institutional settlement, treasury, and tokenized asset use across Europe.
- European banks are pushing local stablecoins as dollar-backed tokens continue dominating the global market.
The project is targeting a launch in the second half of 2026, pending approval from De Nederlandsche Bank under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation framework.
Qivalis said the token will be fully regulated and backed 1:1 with euros. The company plans to structure the product as an electronic money institution under Dutch supervision. The group includes bank-backed support from firms such as BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, and UniCredit.
Fireblocks will supply the tokenization system, wallet infrastructure, and lifecycle management tools for the project. The platform will also support compliance functions such as identity verification and sanctions screening, which are central to regulated digital asset products in Europe.
A Fireblocks spokesperson said the project is being built as a ”regulated euro-native settlement instrument” for European institutions. The spokesperson added that the platform is designed to support issuance, custody, treasury management, and payment orchestration across several banking use cases.
Moreover, the planned stablecoin is intended for institutional uses such as settlement, treasury operations, and tokenized assets. The banks involved are aiming to provide a euro-denominated digital payment tool that can work across multiple business lines without relying on dollar-based stablecoins.
The move comes as European banks and companies step up efforts to build local digital payment infrastructure. The project also reflects a wider push to reduce dependence on dollar-denominated stablecoins, which still dominate global digital asset settlement and payments activity.
Europe responds to dollar stablecoin dominance
DeFiLlama data shows the global stablecoin market stands near $320 billion, with about 99% of supply tied to the US dollar. Euro-denominated stablecoins remain a small part of the market, which has pushed European institutions to back local alternatives under clear regulatory frameworks.
The project also comes as policymakers and regulators in Europe continue to raise concerns about the role of foreign-currency stablecoins in the region. The Bank for International Settlements recently repeated warnings that some dollar stablecoins may operate more like investment vehicles than money because of their short-term securities exposure.
Earlier this month, Bank of France first deputy governor Denis Beau called on the European Union to limit the use of non-euro stablecoins in everyday payments. Against that backdrop, the Qivalis-led initiative adds another effort to build a regulated euro stablecoin market with direct banking support and MiCA-compliant infrastructure.
AUD/USD is attempting a fresh increase from 0.7115. NZD/USD is consolidating and could aim for a move above 0.5930 in the short term.
Important Takeaways for AUD/USD and NZD/USD Analysis Today
• The Aussie Dollar remained supported above 0.7100 and recovered losses against the US Dollar.
• There is a rising channel forming with resistance at 0.7200 on the hourly chart of AUD/USD at FXOpen.
• NZD/USD is consolidating gains above 0.5900 and 0.5890.
• There is a bullish trend line forming with support at 0.5890 on the hourly chart of NZD/USD at FXOpen.
AUD/USD Technical Analysis
On the hourly chart of AUD/USD at FXOpen, the pair formed a base above 0.7100. The Aussie Dollar started a decent increase above 0.7150 against the US Dollar to enter a short-term positive zone.
The bulls even pushed the pair above the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the 0.7221 swing high to the 0.7114 low and the 50-hour simple moving average. The AUD/USD chart indicates that the pair could struggle to clear the 61.8% Fib retracement at 0.7180.
The first major hurdle for the bulls could be 0.7200. There is also a rising channel forming with resistance at 0.7200. An upside break above 0.7200 might send the pair further higher. The next major target might be 0.7220.
Any more gains could clear the path for a move toward 0.7300. If there is no close above 0.7200, the pair might start a fresh decline. Immediate bid zone could be near 0.7165 and the 50-hour simple moving average.
The next area of interest is 0.7155. If there is a downside break below 0.7155, the pair could extend its decline toward 0.7115. Any more losses might signal a move toward 0.7080.
NZD/USD Technical Analysis
On the hourly chart of NZD/USD on FXOpen, the pair also followed AUD/USD. The New Zealand Dollar failed to stay above 0.5920 and corrected gains against the US Dollar.
The pair dipped below 0.5900 and the 50-hour simple moving average. A low was formed at 0.5848, and the pair is now attempting to recover losses. There was a move above the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the 0.5928 swing high to the 0.5848 low.
Besides, there is a bullish trend line forming with support at 0.5890. The NZD/USD chart suggests that the RSI is above 50, signaling a short-term positive bias. On the upside, the pair is facing resistance near 0.5920.
The next major hurdle for buyers could be near 0.5930. A clear move above 0.5930 might even push the pair toward 0.5950. Any more gains might clear the path for a move toward the 0.6000 pivot zone in the coming sessions.
On the downside, there is support forming near 0.5890 and the 50-hour simple moving average. If there is a downside break below 0.5890, the pair might slide toward 0.5850. Any more losses could lead NZD/USD into a bearish zone to 0.5820.
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Bitcoin price reclaimed the $76,000 mark on Tuesday as investors await confirmation of a potential peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.
Summary
- Bitcoin reclaimed $76K after dipping below $74K, rising 2% to an intraday high of $76,483 as investors bought the recent pullback.
- Price action remained tied to U.S.-Iran tensions, with markets awaiting clarity on a potential peace deal ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
- Analysts warn BTC could target $80K on a deal, while prolonged conflict risks a drop below the $75K psychological support level.
According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price rose 2% to an intraday high of $76,483 on Tuesday before stabilizing around $76,150 at press time.
Bitcoin edged higher today as investors bought the dip in its price below $74,000 on Monday after reports emerged that Iran may not be attending the emergency peace summit with the U.S. in Islamabad, as the U.S. continues to place its naval blockade on Iranian traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
On Monday, tensions between the two nations escalated after the U.S. intercepted and seized an Iranian ship carrying military supplies, following which Iran retaliated with its own targeted missile strikes against regional naval assets.
As such, diplomatic efforts to end the US-Israel war on Iran remain uncertain, with Tehran saying it will not negotiate on a deal with the U.S. under its terms or under a constant military threat.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has called for a final negotiation deadline by Tuesday, he extended the timeline to Wednesday evening Washington time for further diplomatic deliberations.
Despite his repeated claims that Iran is ready to sign on a deal, sources from within Tehran have suggested otherwise, with officials stating they will agree only if a deal is made under specific conditions set by Iran.
Earlier, Iran had asked for several concessions, including billions in reparations for wartime damages to the nation’s infrastructure and the right to continue its uranium enrichment for peaceful energy purposes. However, the U.S. has firmly opposed Iran possessing any form of nuclear power, with Trump noting that such capabilities are a non-negotiable red line.
Trump has indicated that there may not be a further extension of the deadline after tomorrow if Iran fails to cooperate fully with the proposed terms.
The ongoing conflict has left the Strait of Hormuz blocked for over ten days, effectively cutting short global energy supplies, with economists warning that a continued stalemate could lead to a global recession.
Despite no concrete signs of whether Iran would go with the U.S. proposal, Bitcoin price has benefited from dropping crude oil prices today. Notably, WTI crude oil fell back to $86 while Brent crude prices retracted to under $95. Meanwhile, the bellwether cryptocurrency has also benefited from a potential investor capital rotation from gold, which has fallen significantly today.
For many traders, the outlook for Bitcoin price is largely tied to how successfully the deal will play out tomorrow. If a potential deal is reached, Bitcoin bulls could target a rally toward $80,000 in the coming days.
On the contrary, if Iran continues to resist diplomatic terms, BTC could drop below the $75,000 major psychological support. This could further erode investor confidence and trigger a potential mass liquidation event across the broader crypto market.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Ripple’s native token has returned to focus after crypto analyst Ali Martinez, known as Ali Charts on X, said whales accumulated 360 million XRP over the past week.
Summary
- XRP whales accumulated 360 million tokens in one week as price held near resistance levels.
- Ali Charts flagged a bullish setup, with $1.55 now the key breakout level.
- wXRP on Solana and WhatsApp trading added fresh attention to XRP’s recent momentum story.
The large buying activity came as XRP traded at $1.44, with a 24-hour trading volume of $2.67 billion. The token was up 1.59% over 24 hours and 4.98% over seven days (according to CoinGecko data).
The whale accumulation has added to market attention around XRP’s next move. Traders are now watching whether strong buying from larger holders can help support another push higher after recent gains slowed near resistance.
Technical signals point to a possible breakout
As we previously reported, Ali Charts said ”$XRP consolidates in a symmetrical triangle, pointing to a potential 35% move.” That pattern has kept XRP in a tight range as traders wait for a breakout in either direction. The comment has added to speculation over whether XRP could be preparing for a larger price swing.
The analyst also said on April 18 that ”$XRP: SuperTrend flips bullish!” He added that the daily chart showed its first bullish flip since Jan. 17. According to the post, the key level remains $1.55.
Meanwhile, open interest in XRP futures climbed to $2.61 billion, with gains reported across CME and Binance. At the same time, short liquidations rose between April 15 and April 16 after XRP moved above $1.40. That activity showed rising trader interest as price pushed into a higher range.
Support is now seen around $1.37 to $1.38. If XRP holds that zone, traders may look for another test of $1.50. If buyers clear that resistance, $1.65 could become the next level in view.
Broader developments add to market activity
Part of XRP’s recent move has also been linked to Ripple’s work with Kyobo Life Insurance on tokenized government bonds in South Korea. That development added a fresh use case narrative as interest around tokenization continued to grow.
The launch of wrapped XRP on Solana also brought new attention to the asset. Through Hex Trust and LayerZero, users can now access wXRP in new trading flows, including an AI-powered interface on WhatsApp that lets users buy and trade through text commands.
Together with the rise in the Crypto Fear and Greed Index to 62, these factors have added more momentum to the current XRP discussion, though price still needs to break key resistance before a stronger rally can be confirmed.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Alibaba has rolled out a preview of its most advanced AI model yet, stepping up its push into the top tier of global AI development.
Summary
- Alibaba launched Qwen 3.6 Max Preview, its most advanced AI model, with top rankings across multiple coding and agent benchmarks.
- The model is offered as a proprietary hosted system, marking a move away from the company’s earlier open access approach.
According to an X post from Alibaba’s Qwen team, the new model, Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview, has taken the lead across several key benchmarks, particularly in coding and agent-based tasks. Internal testing placed it ahead on SWE-bench Pro for real-world software work, Terminal-Bench 2.0 for command-line execution, and SkillsBench for general problem-solving, alongside strong results in tool use and web interaction benchmarks.
Performance gains extend beyond coding. SuperGPQA scores rose by 2.3%, pointing to stronger reasoning ability, while QwenChineseBench improved by 5.3%, underlining better performance in Chinese language tasks. Instruction-following capability also ranked at the top in ToolcallFormatIFBench, where the model outperformed competing systems, including Claude.
The release is now live through Qwen Studio and Alibaba Cloud’s Model Studio API under the identifier qwen3.6-max-preview. Developers can integrate it without major changes, as the API supports both OpenAI and Anthropic formats.
Alibaba’s latest move signals a noticeable change in direction. Earlier versions of Qwen built momentum through open-source access, helping the model family gain widespread adoption. Max-Preview, however, is a hosted proprietary system with no open weights.
Lower-tier models remain open source, but the flagship tier is now positioned as a paid, controlled offering. The shift comes just days after Alibaba open-sourced Qwen 3.6-35B-A3B, a model designed to run efficiently by activating only 3 billion of its 35 billion parameters during inference, cutting compute costs while maintaining output quality.
Combined, the Qwen 3.6 lineup now spans multiple use cases. Max-Preview sits at the top for high-end workloads, while the Plus variant targets balanced tasks, Flash focuses on speed, and 35B-A3B supports local deployments.
A new feature introduced with Max-Preview, called preserve_thinking, allows the model to carry reasoning traces across multiple interactions. Alibaba recommends it for agent-driven workflows where maintaining context across long sessions is important.
Alibaba described the release as an ongoing project, noting the model is still under active development and likely to improve in future updates. Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview currently supports a 256k token context window and is limited to text input, with no image capabilities at launch.
Industry transition toward monetization
Alibaba recently shut down the free tier of Qwen Code, while MiniMax updated its open-source license to restrict commercial use without approval. Both actions point to a gradual move away from free access models that initially drove adoption.
Qwen’s growth has been notable. The model family overtook Meta’s Llama as the most widely deployed self-hosted system, with much of that traction built during its open-access phase. At the same time, Chinese open models expanded their share of global usage from 1.2% in late 2024 to around 30% by the end of 2025.
Max-Preview now sits at the center of Alibaba’s effort to compete directly with leading frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Independent analysis from Artificial Analysis ranks the model as the second-best performer behind Muse Spark, placing it well above the average for reasoning models in its pricing category.
One of Singapore’s largest banks just handed Ethereum a significant institutional vote of confidence. OCBC has launched GOLDX, a tokenized physical gold fund on Ethereum, a move that will reshape how Asian institutional capital flows into public blockchain infrastructure. Following this, our Ethereum price prediction model pops with the most bullish in months.
OCBC, in partnership with its asset management arm Lion Global Investors and digital asset exchange DigiFT, issued GOLDX, targeting institutional investors, hedge funds, and asset managers, with the underlying fund carrying roughly $525 million in assets under management as of April 16. Investors can subscribe using stablecoins or fiat, with tokens delivered directly to blockchain wallets.
“We believe digital assets will play an increasingly important role in financial services,” said Kenneth Lai, OCBC’s head of global markets.
The broader tokenized real-world asset market now sits at over $29 billion on public blockchains, up more than 10% in the last 30 days, and grinding higher since it has been available.
This institutional momentum is building against a technically uncertain backdrop for ETH — and institutional inflows across crypto are accelerating sector-wide. The price setup deserves a closer look.
Discover: The best pre-launch token sales
Ethereum Price Prediction:$3,000 Soon with Singapore’s GOLDX Catalyst?
ETH has shed 2.11% over the past seven days, slipping from $2,450 to current levels, a psychological level that’s now flipped to resistance. The price is caught in a consolidation band that has been tightened.
The 200-day SMA rises to $2,642 sitting well above spot, confirming ETH remains in a recovery phase. Forecast models suggest a maximum 2026 upside of around $3,050, implying about 20% from current levels under normal conditions.
However, if OCBC’s GOLDX launch catalyzes fresh institutional demand on-chain, ETH might and could reclaim the $2,640 200-day SMA and test the resistance. Tom Lee’s TOKEN 2049 target of $22,000 remains a longer-duration thesis requiring BTC to hit $250,000 first.
The OCBC news is real and material, but ETH’s price history shows institutional announcements don’t always translate to immediate spot moves. For now, we wait.
Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with
LiquidChain Combines ETH, SOL, and Bitcoin
ETH’s 20% projected upside to $3,062 is real, but at a $280 billion market cap, the asymmetry is limited. That’s the structural reality of buying blue-chip crypto in consolidation. For traders willing to accept higher risk in exchange for earlier positioning, the calculus looks different at the infrastructure layer.
LiquidChain is an L3 infrastructure project with a proposition built directly around the OCBC moment: it fuses Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single execution environment. The GOLDX launch, running on both ETH and Solana simultaneously, underscores the cross-chain complexity that LiquidChain’s Unified Liquidity Layer is designed to collapse.
A new layer emerges. Only a few see it first. — LiquidChain (@getliquidchain) March 24, 2026
The future is LiquidChain 
⟁https://t.co/vqvBcdSj94 pic.twitter.com/R7ZeZ0NPGl
Its Deploy-Once Architecture means developers access all three ecosystems without redeployment, with Single-Step Execution and Verifiable Settlement rounding out the stack.
The presale is currently priced at $0.01451, with $690,005.61 raised to date. As with any early-stage presale, capital is at risk and token liquidity is not guaranteed at launch.
Research LiquidChain before the current pricing tier closes.
The post Ethereum Price Prediction: Singapore Largest Bank Launches Gold on ETH appeared first on Cryptonews.
Artificial intelligence agents are becoming economic actors at a pace that outstrips the infrastructure around them, according to a16z crypto. In a recent post, the firm argued that the real bottleneck in the agent economy is no longer intelligence, but identity.
Today’s agents can execute tasks and move money, yet they still lack standardized ways to prove their identity, demonstrate what they’re authorized to do, and more. That missing layer, the firm suggests, is where blockchains can come in.
From KYC to KYA: a16z Makes the Case for Onchain Identity for AI Agents
In a recent blog post, a16z noted that non-human agents already outnumber human employees by roughly 100 to 1 in financial services. Yet the agents remain “effectively unbanked.”
“They can interact with financial systems, but not in ways that are portable, verifiable, or trusted by default. They lack standardized ways to prove their permissions, operate independently across platforms, or bear liability for the actions they take,” the authors wrote.
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The missing piece, according to the post, is a shared identity layer for agents. This could essentially be an SSL equivalent that would standardize how they coordinate across platforms.
Today’s approaches, it noted, remain fragmented. According to a16z crypto,
“While there are prominent attempts to solve this today, those approaches are fragmented: vertically integrated, fiat-first stacks on one side; crypto-native, open standards (like x402 and emerging agent identity proposals) on the other; and extensions of developer frameworks like MCP (model context protocol) that attempt to bridge application-layer identity. There is still no broadly adopted, interoperable way for one agent to prove to another who it represents, what it’s allowed to do, and how it gets paid.”
The post outlined a key fix called “Know Your Agent” (KYA). The concept borrows from Know Your Customer (KYC). It calls for cryptographically signed credentials that link each agent to its principal, permissions, constraints, and reputation.
The firm added that blockchains can serve as a neutral coordination layer for agents. They offer portable identities, programmable wallets, and verifiable attestations that resolve across chat apps, APIs, and marketplaces. Without a common standard, a16z warns, merchants will keep blocking agents at the firewall.
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a16z also identified four additional gaps beyond identity: centralized control over AI governance, payment rails ill-suited to agent-to-agent commerce, the rising cost of verifying machine decisions at scale, and diminished user oversight as agents take on more autonomous workflows.
It argued that blockchain-based tools, onchain governance, programmable stablecoin payments, cryptographic audit trails, and smart-contract-enforced permissions, can close these gaps and support a more trustworthy agent economy.
The post The AI Agent Economy Has an Identity Bottleneck: Blockchain Rails Could Solve It appeared first on BeInCrypto.
JPMorgan Chase will extend a $1.5 trillion investment program designed to bolster U.S. economic resilience across Europe, the Wall Street giant said on Tuesday.
The 10-year Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI) was launched in the U.S. last October with the aim of facilitating, financing and investing in industries deemed critical to American economic security and resilience.
It was announced in November that the U.K. would be brought into the plan, which is focused on several key areas, including supply chains and manufacturing, defense and aerospace, energy independence, healthcare, and strategic technologies like AI.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. and Europe have for too long relied on “unpredictable sources for things like critical minerals that are essential to collective security and prosperity.”
“Now, it is in our best interest to address these challenges together — because our security, freedom and economic growth depend on it,” he said.
The SRI’s key pillars are divided into around 30 subsectors, ranging from shipbuilding to spacecraft, nuclear energy, cybersecurity and the production of high-speed projectiles.
European aerospace and defense has seen an investment boom in recent years, with regional leaders and the NATO military alliance committing to ramping up spending on security.
The pledges are widely expected to boost European firms’ bottom lines, with regionally headquartered companies already reporting record order backlogs and huge upswings in income over the past year.
In 2025, the Stoxx Europe Aerospace and Defense index — home to the continent’s biggest defense companies, including Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Rheinmetall — surged 56.5%, with some regional defense players more than doubling in value.
So far this year, the index has gained 4.3%.
Chuka Umunna, a former British member of parliament who will be leading JPMorgan’s SRI initiative in the U.K., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday that the bank’s strength is “built on the strength of the U.S.”
“The strength of the U.S. has three pillars to it: military might, economic prowess and the strength of its alliances,” he said. “And one thing that has become very clear is that the U.S. and the West have become too reliant on unreliable and unpredictable supply chains and sources for those things that are critical to its national economic security and resilience.”
Umunna said in Europe, there will be five key countries that the SRI will focus on — the U.K., France, Germany, Poland and Italy. But, he added, all EU and NATO member states will be included in the strategy.
In his 2026 letter to JPMorgan Chase shareholders, sent earlier this month, Dimon said the U.S. had allowed itself to become too dependent on unreliable sources for materials essential to national security, such as critical minerals, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing output.
“This is us putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak,” Umunna said of the bank’s SRI plan. “Unless you start to invest and seek to develop our capabilities here in the West in these particular markets, we’re going to continue to have the exposure we have.”
He pointed to energy, where the U.K. imports more than 40% of its energy needs, and semiconductors, where Umunna said the West was too reliant on East Asian economies for procurement.
“These are all things we are going to need to scale up and build capacity in,” he told CNBC. “We’re delivering this through the usual global banking products that we would use, but where you’ve got an SRI-aligned company, we will seek to lean in more. For example, from a credit point of view, you will potentially see JPMorgan doing smaller size deals, if they are in this space, than you would otherwise expect.”
EMBARGO: APRIL 21, 2026 @ 9:00 AM BST (UK)
Cryptocurrency custody firm Fireblocks is handling the issuance and distribution of a euro-denominated stablecoin, backed by a group of twelve European banks, known as the Qivalis consortium.
The euro-backed token, scheduled for release in the second half of 2026, is regulated by the Dutch Central Bank through Amsterdam-based Qivalis and is compliant with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR).
The Qivalis consortium is made up of: Banca Sella, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, DZ BANK, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB, and UniCredit.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies with values pegged to an external reference such as the dollar, euro and other fiat currencies. The stablecoin market hit $305 billion in January 2026, but 99% of that volume remains dollar-denominated, with euro-pegged assets representing just $650 million.
The Qivalis consortium aims to challenge this dollar dominance with a regulated, MiCAR-compliant offering, according to a press release on Tuesday. The euro is the second-most traded currency in the world, accounting for a daily average volume of nearly $1.1 trillion.
“Qivalis demonstrates how major financial institutions can work together to plan a compliant euro-backed stablecoins at scale – with production-ready infrastructure that will meet MiCAR requirements, handle institutional volumes, and integrate seamlessly with existing banking systems,” said Michael Shaulov, Co-Founder and CEO of Fireblocks.
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