For the second time, TIME will publish a ranking of India’s Fastest-Growing Companies, in partnership with Statista, a leading international provider of market and consumer data and rankings. The list will recognize the country’s leading companies with strong revenue growth between the fiscal years 2023 and 2026.

As part of the research phase, TIME and Statista are now accepting data submissions. While submitting data ensures that eligible companies will be considered for inclusion, it does not guarantee a place on the final list. Additionally, the final ranking will not be limited to companies that submit data.

The Bank of England’s Digital Pound Lab is running a new experiment that tests whether stablecoins—and a notional digital British pound—could work together inside the same cross-border trade payment flow. The project is designed to show how payment and settlement could be connected to trade finance in a way that reduces the delays and cash-flow pressure that small and medium-sized businesses often face.

According to an announcement from the project participants, the trial involves NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs. In the setup, an exporter receives an advance through a stablecoin-based “rail,” while a UK importer completes settlement using simulated digital pounds—without using real customers or real money.

Key takeaways

• The Digital Pound Lab experiment tests stablecoin rails alongside simulated digital pounds in a single cross-border trade settlement flow.
• NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs are collaborating, with Polygon providing smart contract infrastructure.
• A second workstream focuses on generating reusable credit profiles for small businesses using transaction data and open-finance inputs.
• The Bank of England has not committed to issuing a digital pound, and lab tests are not intended as signals of future policy.

How the trade finance pilot is meant to work

The core concept targets a structural problem in international trade: payment timing. When exporters ship goods before receiving full payment, they may have to wait days to be paid, tying up working capital. That delay can make trade finance harder to access—particularly for smaller firms that may lack established lines of credit.

In the lab’s proposed flow, the exporter receives an advance via a stablecoin pathway, while the importer performs settlement through simulated digital pounds. The pairing is intended to demonstrate how stablecoin-based payment mechanics could coexist with a central-bank-style settlement layer, at least in a controlled testing environment.

The experiment is also designed to be realistic in terms of participants’ roles: it is built around trade finance and settlement processes rather than a generic token transfer scenario. That distinction matters because trade finance depends on paperwork, counterparty assessment and timing—factors that can be difficult to model in simple demonstrations.

Building blocks beyond payments: credit profiles for SMEs

The project does not stop at moving value. It includes a separate workstream intended to improve how small businesses are assessed for credit, by creating reusable credit profiles.

As described in the announcement, that credit-profile effort combines transaction data, open-finance information and Dun & Bradstreet’s commercial risk data. Polygon Labs is contributing smart contract infrastructure for the overall system, which suggests the test may explore whether on-chain logic can help standardize or reuse parts of the credit assessment process rather than rebuilding them from scratch for every transaction.

For investors and builders, the value of this component is that trade finance bottlenecks are often caused by more than settlement latency. Information asymmetry and rigid underwriting cycles can restrict financing even when payment rails are upgraded. By aiming at “reusable” profiles, the project appears to target a way to shorten the time between data availability and a credit decision—though the outcomes of that part of the work are not yet detailed.

Why regulators and central banks are watching stablecoins and tokenized payments

The Bank of England’s experiment lands in the middle of broader regulatory and infrastructure work in the UK. The central bank and other regulators are preparing for stablecoins and tokenized assets, while also modernizing the plumbing behind traditional payment settlement.

Earlier this year, the Bank of England published draft rules for sterling-denominated stablecoins it considers systemic to the UK financial system. According to the central bank’s proposal referenced in the report, issuers could hold up to 70% of their reserves in interest-bearing government debt, and the framework introduces a temporary issuance cap of 40 billion pounds (about $52.8 billion) for each systemic stablecoin.

The policy timeline included in the article points to potential finalization by the end of 2026, ahead of a planned 2027 rollout. Stablecoins deemed “systemic” would fall under the Bank of England’s regulatory regime, while non-systemic stablecoins would remain under the Financial Conduct Authority.

That split between systemic and non-systemic tokens is an important practical detail for market participants. It implies that not every stablecoin would be treated the same way, and that compliance requirements could vary depending on how widely a token is used and how much it matters to financial stability. For developers, it also suggests that designs and reserve structures may need to be aligned with which regulatory lane a token is likely to occupy.

The lab’s trade test is also tied to the UK’s wider push to upgrade settlement speed and flexibility. In May, the Bank of England proposed moving its RTGS and CHAPS systems toward near-24/7 operation, including weekend and extended daily hours—an effort framed as support for cross-border payments and evolving settlement models that could incorporate tokenization.

In July, the central bank also approved HSBC’s Orion platform to operate in the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox. The article notes that Orion is expected to support digital bond issuance, including the country’s planned Digital Gilt Instrument. While that is separate from stablecoin rules, it reinforces the theme that UK authorities are testing tokenized approaches across multiple asset types, not only payments.

What the Digital Pound Lab trial does—and does not—indicate

Even as the experiment explores stablecoin rails and simulated digital pound settlement, the Bank of England is explicit that the Digital Pound Lab uses no real customers or money and that it has not committed to issuing a digital pound.

The central bank also cautions that participant-designed experiments in the lab should not be interpreted as indications of future policy or as endorsements of the companies or products involved. In practice, that means readers should treat the pilot as proof-of-concept work: useful for identifying technical and process challenges, but not a guarantee of a specific eventual product roadmap.

What to watch next is whether the project can demonstrate measurable improvements—such as reduced settlement delays, more efficient financing workflows, or faster credit assessment cycles—within its controlled environment. Since the announcement does not provide results or performance metrics yet, the most immediate signal will come from any follow-on reporting from the lab on what worked, what failed, and which regulatory assumptions were necessary for the trial design.

Nansen co-founder and CEO Alex Svanevik has projected that Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2030 while arguing that the asset may never trade below $60,000 again.

Monetary expansion could carry Bitcoin toward $1 million

In a statement to crypto.news, Nansen co-founder and CEO Alex Svanevik said Bitcoin’s long-term value will depend largely on global liquidity, government spending, and the continued expansion of the money supply.

Rather than pointing to one event that could send Bitcoin (BTC) to $1 million, Svanevik described the cryptocurrency as an alternative to monetary systems in which central banks and governments can create more currency. Bitcoin’s supply rules limit the total number of coins to 21 million, although new BTC will continue entering circulation through mining until the maximum supply is reached.

“I think the base case for Bitcoin is basically that you get higher lows, and you do have these run-ups that happen, roughly every four years,” Svanevik told crypto.news.

Under his argument, more money circulating through financial markets can raise demand for assets with limited supply. Svanevik said the direction of global liquidity matters more to Bitcoin’s long-term price than any single headline or market event.

“The more circulating money supply in a broad sense, the higher Bitcoin goes. I think Bitcoin should be thought of as a counterpoint to what’s happening on the central bank side, or the treasury side.”

Bitcoin’s four-year market pattern is often linked to its halving schedule, which cuts the block reward paid to miners. The next halving is expected in 2028, reducing new supply before Svanevik’s 2030 target date. Previous cycles have included steep rallies after halvings, but they have also produced drawdowns of more than 50%, meaning the historical pattern does not guarantee another increase.

An August 2025 Bitcoin forecast review published by crypto.news placed many 2030 projections between $250,000 and $500,000. The report also cited ARK Invest’s bull case of $1.5 million, base case of about $700,000, and bear case near $300,000.

Svanevik compared today’s $1 million forecasts with predictions made when Bitcoin traded far below $100,000. In his view, monetary debasement changes the unit used to measure Bitcoin, making price levels that once appeared unrealistic easier to consider over time.

“It sounds crazy to say Bitcoin at $1 million from our vantage point, but I’m sure it sounded crazy to say $100,000 Bitcoin if you’re in 2018,” he said. “You’re updating the unit of account because we’re just spending so much more money.”

Why Svanevik believes Bitcoin will hold above $60,000

Alongside his 2030 projection, Svanevik said he does not expect Bitcoin to return below $60,000, describing the level as a permanent floor in his personal assessment.

“My personal view is that I don’t think Bitcoin is ever going to go back below $60,000. I think forever.”

The claim rests on Svanevik’s expectation that future market cycles will establish higher lows. Continued currency creation, combined with Bitcoin’s fixed maximum supply and growing use among retail and institutional investors, supports his view that demand will prevent another fall beneath the threshold.

Market history, however, shows how difficult permanent price-floor forecasts can be. Bitcoin briefly traded below $60,000 in February 2026, while June volatility later pushed it close to the same level. On June 28, Bitcoin held near $60,000 after falling to its lowest price since late 2024.

More recently, BTC slipped below $63,000 on Aug. 3 as ETF outflows, security concerns, and uncertainty over U.S. crypto legislation weighed on the market. The asset traded near $62,556 at the time, down 4.35% over seven days, according to a report on the decline.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt has offered a different assessment of the same price region. Brandt said on Aug. 10 that he would lean toward another decline, while his head-and-shoulders chart pointed to a possible move toward $58,000 if BTC failed to recover key resistance.

The scenario was a technical projection rather than a confirmed target. Brandt had not opened a trade based on the pattern, and a sustained break above $67,260 would weaken the bearish setup shown on his chart.

U.S. ETFs extend Bitcoin access to large portfolios

For American investors, Svanevik’s expectation that Bitcoin will enter more retail and institutional portfolios can already be measured through U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The products allow investors to gain price exposure through brokerage and retirement accounts without directly holding private keys.

Demand through those funds has not moved in one direction. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nine consecutive sessions of net withdrawals in late May 2026, with investors removing roughly $2.8 billion. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for about $2.04 billion of the total, while May ended with approximately $2.43 billion in net outflows.

Fund demand later recovered. During the five sessions ending Aug. 7, U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $850 million, their strongest weekly inflow total since April. The reversal showed that regulated investment products can add buying demand when capital enters, although redemptions can create selling pressure when investors reduce exposure.

Institutional disclosures also offer evidence that some U.S. advisers are adding Bitcoin products to diversified portfolios. Clear Creek Financial Management reported about $10.4 million across three Bitcoin ETFs in its latest Form 13F, led by a $9.69 million position in Bitwise’s BITB.

Form 13F reports cover certain long positions held by investment managers overseeing at least $100 million in qualifying U.S. securities. Because the filings are backward-looking and exclude cash, short positions and some other assets, they do not prove that the disclosed holdings remain unchanged.

Svanevik placed Bitcoin alongside gold as one of the best-known assets used by investors seeking protection from currency debasement. Portfolio inclusion, in his assessment, will expand as both individual buyers and institutions look for assets outside systems based on discretionary money creation.

“Bitcoin is kind of the most well-known way to counter that, except for maybe gold,” he said. “That’s why I do think it’s going to be part of a lot of people’s portfolios, both retail and institutions.”

Bitcoin’s $1 million target remains a conditional forecast

Reaching $1 million would require Bitcoin to rise almost sixteenfold from a price of roughly $64,000. At that price, its fully diluted value would approach $21 trillion because the protocol limits total supply to 21 million coins, although circulating supply will remain lower than the maximum in 2030.

Svanevik did not present the target as guaranteed. His case depends on continued monetary expansion, increasing portfolio adoption, and the absence of major threats capable of damaging Bitcoin’s role as an alternative monetary asset.

Regulatory restrictions, declining liquidity, or weaker institutional demand could interfere with that path. ETF activity in 2026 has already shown that professional capital can leave the market quickly when economic conditions or risk appetite change.

Svanevik nevertheless considers the seven-figure target possible within the remaining years of the decade.

“There’s nothing that suggests that we’re going to stop printing money; on the contrary, probably,” he said. “And in 2030, I think a million dollars per Bitcoin is definitely within the realm of possibility.”

Winklevoss-backed Zcash (ZEC) treasury company Cypherpunk Technologies has announced plans to pivot focus to its cancer drug candidate after it reported a $37.8 million net loss for the first six months of 2026.

Unless the price of ZEC rallies soon, the company has admitted that it will need to raise a lot of money to pay for its upcoming FDA trials.

“We expect to continue to generate operating losses for the foreseeable future,” the company forecasted today.

Cypherpunk’s ZEC holdings are worth roughly $157 million, yet Nasdaq traders value the entire company at just $74 million.

That is a basic multiple-to-Net Asset Value (mNAV) of just 0.47x and sadly unremarkable as crypto treasury stocks continue to trade for less than their holdings.

Counting pre-funded warrants and other sweeteners for its self-described Enterprise Value mNAV brings that multiple up to 0.96x on the company’s homepage — still less than the value of its ZEC.

Backed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are the billionaires who helped create the company’s ZEC brand. 

Initially successful, the company was able to acquire its ZEC for a $341.84 average purchase price — well below the current market for ZEC at $486.

The stock also hit $3.70 last November before falling back below $0.69 per share today.

Cypherpunk has lost tens of millions of dollars this year and continues to plan an expensive FDA trial path for its cancer drug. The stock has lost 40% of its value this year and 96% of its value over the past five years.

Gemini, the exchange the Winklevoss twins control, is the custodian for the company’s ZEC.