TLDR

• LSEG shares rose by 7.4% on Thursday after a 19% drop in the previous two days.
• JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs reassured investors by downplaying AI risks to LSEG’s business.
• JPMorgan’s Enrico Bolzoni clarified that AI companies are working with LSEG, not replacing it.
• LSEG’s partnership with Anthropic provided AI access to the company’s financial data.
• Goldman Sachs analyst Oliver Carruthers set a price target of 14,550 pence for LSEG.

LSEG shares bounced back on Thursday, rising by 7.4% after facing a 19% drop in the prior two days. The rally followed reassurances from major financial institutions, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, who downplayed fears that artificial intelligence would threaten LSEG’s core business. The recovery came after a tumultuous period where AI-related market panic had hurt the stock.

London Stock Exchange Group plc, LSEG.L

Rebound Driven by Analyst Confidence

The sharp decline in LSEG shares began earlier in the week when Anthropic introduced its Claude Cowork product, designed to automate workplace tasks. Traders feared that AI advancements could severely impact companies like LSEG, which specializes in providing financial data, not software. However, JPMorgan’s Enrico Bolzoni stepped in to correct what he called “misunderstandings” surrounding LSEG’s business model, stating that AI would not replace but instead work alongside LSEG.

Bolzoni emphasized that LSEG is deeply involved in AI, noting the October partnership with Anthropic that provided the AI company access to LSEG’s financial data. This partnership, he argued, demonstrated LSEG’s pivotal role in the growing AI landscape, counteracting the market’s misconception that AI would push the company aside. “AI companies are working with LSEG, not replacing it,” Bolzoni clarified in his statement.

LSEG Shares: Calm After the Panic

Goldman Sachs also weighed in, with analyst Oliver Carruthers reiterating the value of LSEG’s data-driven business model. Carruthers downplayed the potential impact of AI, explaining that just 6% of LSEG’s revenue from workflow products might be exposed to any risk from automation. He further set a price target of 14,550 pence, which was the highest among analysts tracking LSEG.

The comments from both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs played a significant role in calming investor nerves. Shares of LSEG, which had taken a hit in the wake of AI-related concerns, saw a sharp reversal, rising 7.4%. This bounce was a direct result of analysts stepping in to assure the market that LSEG’s core business was secure, even in the face of AI innovation.

The broader tech market also saw turbulence as fears over AI’s impact on the software and data sectors took hold. The Nasdaq 100 recorded its worst two-day drop since October, shedding over $550 billion in value. LSEG, despite being a data provider, became caught in the broader selloff, with tech investors looking to offload anything related to software or data businesses.

Bitcoin miner MARA moved 1,318 BTC worth about $86.89 million to a mix of counterparties and custody venues over the past 10 hours, onchain data tracked by Arkham shows.

The biggest slice went to Two Prime. One transfer sent 653.773 BTC, around $42.01 million, to a Two Prime tagged address, alongside a smaller 8.999 BTC top up worth about $578,000 just minutes later.

Separate outbound transactions sent 200 BTC and 99.999 BTC to a BitGo tagged address, together about $20.4 million at the time of transfer, while another 305 BTC moved to a fresh address, worth roughly $20.72 million.

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The flow matters mainly because of timing. Crypto markets have been swinging hard since this week’s liquidation driven selloff, and traders are on edge for any sign that miners are turning into forced sellers.

Large miner related transfers can be routine treasury management, custody reshuffling, collateral moves, or preparation for an over the counter sale, but in a thin market they often get read as a supply signal.

The Two Prime leg will draw the most attention because it is a credit and trading counterparty. If the bitcoin is being posted as collateral or rotated into a strategy, it does not necessarily imply spot selling.

The transfers comes amid a tough period for miners, with bitcoin down nearly 50% from peak prices above $126,000 last year.

Bitcoin is now approximately 20% below its estimated average production cost, as CoinDesk reported Thursday, increasing financial pressure across the BTC mining sector.

The average cost to mine one bitcoin is around $87,000, according to data from Checkonchain, while the spot price has fallen toward a weekly low of $60,000 Historically, trading below production cost has been a feature of a bear market.

Donald Trump has embraced bitcoin (BTC) as a core part of his second administration, creating a strategic BTC reserve, insisting all BTC should be made in the United States, and destroying or disabling huge portions of the regulatory apparatus that had previously pursued cryptocurrency firms.

Additionally, both he and his sons have vigorously embraced the industry in ways that continue to generate massive profits for this family.

Many Bitcoiners and crypto enthusiasts were similarly ecstatic for the opportunity to support Trump and free themselves from the perceived tyranny of the Joseph Biden administration and the enforcement work of then-SEC head Gary Gensler.

Jesse Powell, Tyler Winklevoss, and Cameron Winklevoss all ended up making donations to Trump that would have been illegal had they not been refunded.

Read more: Who is behind World Liberty Financial, Trump’s new crypto?

Despite this mutual embrace, the price of BTC hasn’t benefitted from the Trump administration.

When Trump was inaugurated as president, BTC was trading for approximately $101,000.

Today, it trades for approximately $67,000, a fall of approximately 33%.

Even if we imagine that the value of BTC began increasing as soon as Trump was elected, before he had any real power, in anticipation of what he might do, BTC is still down since then.

On November 5, 2024, the date of the presidential election, BTC was trading for approximately $67,800.

Today, as mentioned before, it’s several hundred dollars less than that.

Despite all the hopes Bitcoiners may have pinned on Trump, he’s done little to benefit their portfolios.

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BitMEX, one of the safest exchanges, announced today the launch of Hyperliquid Copy Trading, giving its users the ability to copy the best Hyperliquid perps traders. The release allows traders to enjoy the best of both worlds, combining access to Hyperliquid’s best traders with the user experience and safety of the BitMEX platform.

Hyperliquid Copy Trading marks a major expansion to BitMEX’s existing Copy Trading feature, which allows users to automatically replicate the trading strategies and positions of elite traders. This ensures access to the sharpest trader strategies without any exposure to underlying DeFi risk. Designed for effortless trading, BitMEX Copy Trading saves time by enabling less experienced traders to follow the wisdom of profitable professionals.

Hyperliquid remains a dominant force in the decentralized perpetual exchange (PerpDEX) landscape, capturing over 60% of all open interest. It combines features of futures contracts with spot trading flexibility, allowing traders to speculate on asset prices without an expiration date.

Users who navigate to BitMEX’s Copy Trading Marketplace will see a Hyperliquid sub-tab. This displays a leaderboard of the top Hyperliquid traders that they can copy or reverse copy trade. Positions are automatically opened on BitMEX, replicating the strategy of the Hyperliquid trader in question. Each Hyperliquid trader is ranked by metrics such as PnL, Drawdown, Win Ratio, and AUM (Assets Under Management), making it easy to identify top-performing traders.

BitMEX CEO Stephan Lutz said:

“BitMEX pioneered the perpetual swap, which has since become the industry standard for futures trading. The launch of Hyperliquid Copy Trading completes the circle, bringing the alpha available on the world’s leading PerpDEX to BitMEX users and incorporating it into their existing workflow.”

Up to five Hyperliquid traders can be copied simultaneously using BitMEX’s Copy Trading Marketplace, with users able to customize their preferred risk management settings for each, such as by implementing Take Profits and Stop Loss. Choosing a Copy Leader that suits their needs allows them to automate their crypto derivatives trading and make more informed decisions.

To celebrate the launch, BitMEX is offering a 100,000 USDT prize pool for eligible users who trade Copy Trade on their platform. Additional educational resources and product guides are available through the BitMEX website and blog.

About BitMEX

BitMEX is the OG crypto derivatives exchange, providing professional crypto traders with a platform that caters to their needs with low latency, deep crypto native and especially BTC liquidity and unmatched reliability.

Since its founding, no cryptocurrency has been lost through intrusion or hacking, allowing BitMEX users to trade with confidence that their funds are secure and that they have access to the products and tools required to be profitable.

BitMEX was also among the first exchanges to publish on chain Proof of Reserves and Proof of Liabilities data. The exchange continues to publish this data twice a week, providing assurance that customer funds are safely stored and segregated.

For more information, users can visit the BitMEX Blog or www.bitmex.com and follow Discord, Telegram and Twitter.

TLDR:

• Wormhole processed $17.6B in 2025 volume, bringing cumulative transactions beyond $70B milestone. 
• BlackRock, Apollo Global, and VanEck deployed tokenized funds across chains via Wormhole infrastructure. 
• Over 100 tokens worth $170B in market cap launched using Wormhole’s NTT standard across 40+ blockchains. 
• Ripple’s RLUSD and Sky’s USDS adopted NTT for native multichain expansion without liquidity fragmentation.
  

Wormhole has emerged as a leading multichain protocol, processing $17.6 billion in volume throughout 2025 and surpassing $70 billion in cumulative transactions.

The platform expanded its reach across more than 40 blockchains while securing partnerships with major institutions, including BlackRock, Apollo Global, and VanEck.

This growth reflects increasing demand for secure, cross-chain infrastructure as real-world assets move onchain.

Institutional Players Deploy Real-World Assets Through Wormhole Infrastructure

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund expanded operations across Solana and BNB Chain using Wormhole’s multichain infrastructure.

Securitize powered the tokenization process for this expansion, marking a notable milestone in institutional crypto adoption.

Apollo Global chose Wormhole through Securitize for the multichain tokenization of its Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund, known as ACRED.

This selection demonstrates growing confidence in Wormhole’s ability to handle regulated financial products across multiple blockchain networks.

VanEck launched its first tokenized treasury fund spanning Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Ethereum. The asset manager relied on Securitize for tokenization while Wormhole provided the necessary interoperability between chains. “2025 marked a clear shift in how institutions approached multichain systems,” Wormhole noted in its annual report.

Hamilton Lane expanded its flagship SCOPE fund to Optimism and Ethereum via Securitize, designating Wormhole as the exclusive interoperability provider.

Meanwhile, Transfero Group adopted Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers (NTT) standard to expand BRZ, the world’s largest non-USD stablecoin, across different chains.

Mercado Bitcoin, a leading Latin American digital asset platform, selected Wormhole as its exclusive interoperability provider for a tokenized assets platform supporting over $200 million in assets.

NTT Standard Powers Over 100 Tokens Across Stablecoins and Major Assets

Wormhole’s NTT standard gained significant traction in 2025, with more than 100 tokens launching across 40-plus chains.

These tokens represented a combined market capitalization exceeding $170 billion, establishing NTT as an infrastructure for multichain asset issuance.

“NTT became the go-to infrastructure for issuing multichain assets without breaking liquidity, fragmenting supply, or losing issuer control,” the protocol stated.

Ripple’s RLUSD, regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services, adopted the NTT standard for expansion to Base, Optimism, Ink, and Unichain.

Sky Ecosystem’s USDS expanded to Solana via Wormhole NTT, transferring more than $880 million across the multichain economy.

M0, a decentralized stablecoin infrastructure layer, expanded to Arbitrum, Base, Solana, and Optimism using NTT. This enabled day-one native multichain launches for assets including MetaMask’s mUSD and Noble’s USDN.

Mento Labs selected Wormhole as its exclusive interoperability provider for multichain trading between 17-plus stablecoins. The platform emphasized that stablecoins “became one of the clearest signals of multichain maturity” during the year.

Beyond stablecoins, major assets adopted NTT for multichain expansion. Stacks brought sBTC and STX across Solana and Sui Network.

DOGE became a canonical multichain asset through NTT, while Hyperliquid’s HYPE expanded to Solana and Unichain. Lido Finance expanded wstETH to BNB Chain following community approval.

The Uniswap Foundation collaborated with Wormhole to enable native access to assets like SOL and HYPE on Unichain. Ethereum remained the leading destination chain with $4.5 billion in inflows, closely followed by Solana and BNB Chain.

A senior Bloomberg Intelligence strategist has warned that Bitcoin could face a severe collapse toward $10,000 as global markets show signs of stress similar to past financial crises.

In recent social media posts in early Feb. 2026, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone shared the outlook, comparing current conditions to the 2008 financial crisis and the 2000–2001 dot-com downturn.

At press time, Bitcoin was trading near $63,000 after falling to around $60,000 on Feb. 5. Since its 2025 peak of over $126,000, the asset has dropped by almost 50%. Pressure on the cryptocurrency market has increased due to large liquidations, exchange-traded fund withdrawals, and low risk appetite.

McGlone links Bitcoin risk to macro stress

According to McGlone, 2026 will be challenging for traders due to reduced liquidity, slower growth, and fading speculative excess. 

In his recent commentary, he pointed to what he described as “post-inflation deflation,” reduced central bank support, and years of aggressive risk-taking that are now being unwound. He also cited potential shifts in U.S. monetary policy, including hawkish appointments and slower rate cuts, as factors limiting liquidity.

According to McGlone, these conditions resemble periods that preceded major asset crashes in the past. In that context, he said Bitcoin could revisit levels near $10,000, which would represent an additional drop of more than 85% from current prices.

He has made similar warnings before. In late 2025, McGlone raised concerns about bubble-like behavior in crypto and warned of deep corrections. While those earlier calls did not play out in full, his latest comments link the risk more directly to wider market weakness.

McGlone has also highlighted persistent ETF outflows, lower speculative activity, and what he calls a “great reversion” after years of easy money and rising asset prices.

Signs of capitulation raise short-term uncertainty

Other analysts see growing evidence that the market is entering a capitulation phase, even if they do not share McGlone’s extreme downside target.

In a Feb. 6 post on X, Jamie Coutts, a crypto market analyst at Real Vision, said pressure in derivatives and spot markets is intensifying. He noted that Bitcoin’s Implied Volatility Index has reached 88.55, close to the level of 105 recorded during the FTX collapse.

Coutts also pointed to Coinbase’s eighth-largest daily trading volume on record at $3.34 billion, or roughly 54,000 BTC, as traders rushed to re-position. At the same time, daily relative strength index fell to 15.64, below levels seen during the March 2020 pandemic crash.

“The current margin calls and forced liquidations are typical of a capitulation phase,” Coutts wrote, adding that market bottoms often form over days or weeks rather than in a single session.

Based on past averages and actual price levels, some analysts argue that Bitcoin may find support in the $50,000 to $60,000 range. Some believe that the current decline is not the beginning of a complete collapse, but rather a reset following sharp gains in 2024 and 2025.

However, the risks are still high. If prices decline once more, large corporate holders, mining companies, and highly leveraged traders may experience additional strain. As the market looks for stability, traders are bracing themselves for more volatility in the coming weeks due to limited liquidity and fading confidence.

Multiliquid and Metalayer Ventures have launched an institutional liquidity facility designed to unlock instant redemptions for tokenized real-world assets on Solana. The arrangement, raised and managed by Metalayer, with Uniform Labs providing the underlying infrastructure via Multiliquid’s protocol, aims to replicate traditional finance liquidity tools for crypto-backed RWAs. The facility acts as a standing buyer, ready to purchase tokenized assets at a dynamic discount to net asset value, enabling holders to swap into stablecoins immediately. The move comes as BIS warned last year that liquidity mismatches in tokenized money-market funds could amplify stress during heavy redemption periods. Initial assets include tokenized Treasuries and products from VanEck, Janus Henderson, and Fasanara.

Key takeaways

• The facility functions as a standing buyer of tokenized RWAs, purchasing assets at a dynamic discount to NAV to enable instant redemptions for holders.
• Metalayer Ventures provides and manages the capital backing redemptions, while Multiliquid supplies the smart contract infrastructure used for pricing, compliance enforcement and settlement.
• Initial inclusions encompass tokenized Treasuries and select alternative investment products issued by VanEck, Janus Henderson and Fasanara.
• Solana has emerged as a growing venue for tokenized RWAs, with about $1.2 billion represented across 343 assets, according to RWA.xyz data, roughly 0.31% of the market.
• Within the broader ecosystem, Canton Network dominates by total RWAs (> $348 billion), followed by Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Provenance, each with around $15 billion in tokenized assets.
• The initiative is partly a response to liquidity risks highlighted by the BIS, underscoring the need for scalable liquidity rails in tokenized markets.

Tickers mentioned: $SOL, $ETH

Market context: The launch reflects a broader industry push to build on-chain liquidity infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, aligning with macro trends toward institutional-grade mechanisms that bridge traditional finance and crypto markets while navigating evolving regulatory signals.

Why it matters

For investors and traders, the new facility could reshape how tokenized RWAs are funded and redeemed. By providing a standing buyer that can absorb redemption pressure, the mechanism reduces the time needed to convert on-chain asset positions into stablecoins, mitigating liquidity squeeze risks that can arise when redemptions spike. This is particularly important for assets such as tokenized Treasuries and other income-oriented products, where sudden shifts in demand could otherwise lead to volatile pricing or forced liquidations.

From a technology and market structure perspective, the arrangement showcases how traditional financial concepts—repo markets, prime brokerage and overnight lending—can be mirrored on a blockchain layer. Uniform Labs’ role in offering the pricing and market-support framework, backed by Multiliquid’s pricing contracts and settlement logic, demonstrates a clear path to scalable, auditable, and compliant on-chain liquidity for RWAs. The emphasis on compliance enforcement within the smart contracts is also notable, given the need to align on-chain activity with real-world asset issuance standards.

The inclusion of issuers such as VanEck, Janus Henderson and Fasanara points to a pragmatic roadmap: established asset managers are willing to pilot tokenized offerings on Solana, signaling confidence in the ecosystem’s ability to deliver timely redemptions and predictable pricing. As tokenized assets proliferate, the ability to redeem quickly into stablecoins becomes a differentiator for platforms seeking to attract institutional capital while maintaining liquidity resilience in stressed markets.

On the ecosystem side, Solana’s growing share in tokenized RWAs underscores diversification in the sector. The latest data from RWA.xyz places Solana at about $1.2 billion across 343 assets, contributing roughly 0.31% of the total market value—but with momentum: annualized growth in RWA value on Solana exceeded 10% over the past month. Within the same market, Canton Network remains the largest chain by RWAs, surpassing $348 billion in total value, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Provenance sit behind with approximately $15 billion each. This hierarchy reflects a multi-chain landscape where liquidity, settlement speed, and regulatory alignment are all critical to realizing scalable tokenized markets.

The BIS warning cited last year—about liquidity mismatches in tokenized money market funds—serves as a cautionary backdrop for these developments. The new facility aims to address that risk by introducing a predictable liquidity backstop, reducing the likelihood that redemptions outpace available liquidity and forcing asset managers to liquidate positions at unfavorable prices. While the approach is still early-stage and focused on a subset of RWAs, it signals an important shift toward institutional-grade liquidity infrastructure in the tokenized asset space.

What to watch next

• Live deployment: Monitor the first issuances and the timing of the facility’s onboarding of tokenized RWAs on Solana.
• Expansion of asset roster: Track new issuers and additional asset classes added to the platform beyond VanEck, Janus Henderson and Fasanara.
• Pricing and settlement dynamics: Observe how the dynamic discount to NAV behaves under stressed conditions and how settlement latency evolves.
• Regulatory signals: Watch BIS and other regulators for updates that could influence tokenized money market standards and liquidity facilities.
• Ecosystem integration: Look for interoperability with other Solana-based liquidity layers and DeFi protocols to broaden the utility of tokenized RWAs.

Sources & verification

• The official announcement detailing the liquidity facility and its participants, shared with industry press.
• Bank for International Settlements, Liquidity in tokenized money market funds report, BIS Bulletin 115.
• RWA.xyz data on Solana’s tokenized asset value and asset count.
• Asset issuers’ materials and publicly available press releases from VanEck, Janus Henderson, and Fasanara regarding tokenized product offerings.

Liquidity rails for tokenized RWAs on Solana

Multiliquid and Metalayer Ventures have introduced a structured liquidity facility designed to address a core hurdle in tokenized real-world assets: the speed and reliability of redemptions. By establishing a standing buyer that purchases tokenized RWAs at a dynamic discount to net asset value, the system creates an immediate exit path for holders who wish to convert on-chain positions into stablecoins. The mechanism is underpinned by a clear division of labor: Metalayer Ventures supplies the capital that backs redemptions, while Multiliquid’s smart-contract layer handles pricing, compliance checks, and settlement. Uniform Labs, the developer behind Multiliquid’s infrastructure, provides the market-support framework that makes pricing and enforcement practical at scale.

The initial rollout focuses on tokenized assets issued by traditional asset managers, with a baseline emphasis on tokenized Treasury funds and select alternative investments. This implies that a portion of the on-chain market will be anchored by established asset-management brands, which could help attract institutional participants seeking predictable redemption dynamics and on-chain visibility. The protocol’s design uses a dynamic discount to NAV rather than a fixed price, allowing the vehicle to respond to changing market conditions and redemptions pressures in real time while maintaining capital efficiency for the purchaser.

Solana’s position as the launch platform highlights a broader narrative about where tokenized RWAs can flourish. The network is increasingly viewed as a venue for on-chain asset customization and rapid settlement, supported by a growing ecosystem of tooling and standards for real-world asset tokenization. Data from RWA.xyz show that Solana hosts around $1.2 billion in tokenized RWAs across roughly 343 assets, representing about 0.31% of the total market—yet the tiered growth in value over the last month points to a steady acceleration in on-chain RWAs. In the wider market, Canton Network holds the lion’s share of tokenized RWAs, with more than $348 billion, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Provenance sit at about $15 billion apiece, highlighting a multi-chain environment where liquidity, speed and regulatory alignment influence where issuers select to tokenize real-world assets.

Last year’s BIS warning emphasized the fragility that can accompany liquidity mismatches in tokenized money-market funds. The newly announced facility responds by providing an on-chain liquidity backstop designed to absorb redemption surges and deliver certainty to counterparties. While the initiative is still in early stages and focused on a limited set of assets, it signals a meaningful evolution in how on-chain liquidity can be engineered to support broader adoption of tokenized RWAs, bridging traditional finance risk controls with blockchain-based settlement and compliance mechanisms.

Editor’s note: The press release below outlines how Binance is repositioning its role in the MENAP region as crypto markets mature, shifting emphasis from pure trading activity to regulated infrastructure and institutional integration. It details recent regulatory approvals, compliance milestones, and partnerships across the UAE, Pakistan, and Bahrain, highlighting a strategy focused on long-term adoption rather than rapid user growth. The announcement reflects broader market trends toward regulatory alignment, embedded financial services, and scalable digital-asset infrastructure as governments and institutions across the region formalize their approach to crypto.

Key points

• Binance is emphasizing infrastructure, compliance, and institutional partnerships over speculative trading growth.
• The ADGM FSRA license positions Binance within one of the world’s most stringent regulatory frameworks.
• In Pakistan, Binance has secured AML registration and begun a phased path toward local licensing.
• A Bahrain partnership aims to integrate regulated crypto services directly into a bank’s mobile app.

Why this matters

The MENAP region is moving quickly from crypto experimentation to regulated adoption. As governments and banks seek compliant ways to offer digital-asset services, platforms with proven scale, governance, and regulatory credibility gain a structural advantage. Binance’s recent milestones illustrate how crypto firms are increasingly aligning with traditional financial systems, shaping how digital assets may be accessed, supervised, and used by institutions and consumers across the region.

What to watch next

• Final regulatory approvals tied to announced licenses and registrations.
• Implementation timelines for bank-led crypto integrations in Bahrain.
• Further regional partnerships with financial institutions or regulators.

As the global crypto market enters a more mature phase, a quiet transformation is underway. What was once driven by speculative trading and rapid experimentation is increasingly being shaped by institutional participation, regulatory clarity, and real-world financial integration.

At the center of this shift is a growing focus on infrastructure, the systems, liquidity, compliance frameworks, and technical rails that allow digital assets to operate at scale. Binance, long known as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, currently serving more than 300M users, is repositioning itself to reflect this new reality: not simply as a trading platform, but as core crypto infrastructure supporting the next generation of digital finance.

This evolution is particularly visible across the region, where regulators and financial institutions are actively building frameworks for digital-asset adoption. From the UAE to Bahrain to Pakistan, Binance’s recent regulatory milestones and partnerships point to a strategy centered on long-term integration rather than short-term growth.

From Trading Venue to Infrastructure Layer

Global market data illustrates how crypto usage is changing. On-chain activity reached record levels in 2025, with both spot and derivatives volumes rising, signaling a transition from early experimentation to consistent execution. At the same time, stablecoins have become a foundational settlement layer, processing more than $3.5 trillion in daily volume, surpassing traditional payment networks. These trends favor platforms that can operate at scale, with deep liquidity, technical reliability, and regulatory alignment. In 2025 alone, more than $34 trillion was traded on Binance’s platform, with spot volume exceeding $7.1 trillion. All-time trading volumes across products have now surpassed $145 trillion, underlining Binance’s central role in global crypto liquidity.

Compliance Becomes a Catalyst for Growth

As crypto markets mature, compliance is increasingly seen not as a constraint, but as a driver of sustainable growth. Binance’s compliance investments have expanded significantly alongside its growth. In 2025, the company’s controls prevented $6.69 billion in potential fraud and scam losses, protecting more than 5.4 million users. Binance also processed over 71,000 law-enforcement requests globally, reflecting deeper cooperation with authorities and an increasingly formalized compliance posture. For MENAP markets in particular, where regulators are designing digital-asset frameworks in parallel with rapid fintech growth this compliance-first approach has become central to Binance’s regional strategy.

ADGM License Sets a New Regulatory Benchmark

A key milestone in this shift was Binance securing a comprehensive global license from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), widely regarded as one of the world’s most respected financial regulators. The authorization represents a world-first for the crypto industry and positions Binance among a select group of global financial institutions operating under ADGM’s regulatory framework. The license confirms compliance with stringent international standards covering governance, risk management, and consumer protection. The FSRA license therefore serves as a gateway for deeper institutional relationships, from custody and payments to cross-border partnerships.

Pakistan: Phased Regulation and Market Entry

Binance is advancing a phased regulatory strategy in Pakistan, one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing digital economies. Following high-level engagements with government stakeholders, Binance has obtained Anti-Money Laundering (AML) registration under Pakistan’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA). The move marks a significant step toward full local licensing and incorporation.

In parallel, Binance has signed memorandums of understanding with local fintech players, including JazzCash, to explore cooperation on education initiatives and compliant digital-asset products, signaling a longer-term commitment to ecosystem development rather than transactional market entry.

Bahrain: Integrating Crypto Into Banking

In Bahrain, Binance’s strategy has moved further into traditional financial infrastructure through a partnership with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), one of the Kingdom’s leading retail and corporate banks. Under a memorandum of understanding, BBK plans to integrate Binance Bahrain’s regulated Crypto-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution directly into its mobile banking app, subject to final approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain. The integration would allow customers to trade and manage crypto assets within their existing banking environment, alongside traditional financial products.

The partnership positions BBK as the first bank in the GCC to join the Binance Link Program and reflects a broader trend toward embedded digital-asset services within mainstream financial platforms. For regulators and policymakers, such models offer a pathway to crypto adoption that maintains oversight while expanding access through established banking channels.

Infrastructure for the Next Phase of Digital Finance

Across the MENAP region, the emphasis is on how digital assets can be integrated responsibly into national financial systems, payment networks, and institutional investment frameworks.

“The next chapter of crypto is being built on infrastructure, not speculation,” said Tarik Erk, Regional Head for MENAT and Senior Executive Officer Abu Dhabi at Binance. “In MENAP, we’re working closely with regulators, financial institutions, and partners to create a compliant, secure, and scalable digital-asset ecosystem. Our ADGM license, regulatory progress in Pakistan, and partnerships in Bahrain reflect a clear shift from standalone platforms to integrated financial infrastructure that supports long-term adoption and institutional trust.”

As the region positions itself as a global hub for digital finance, platforms that can combine scale, liquidity, regulatory credibility, and technical depth are likely to play a defining role. For Binance, the message is clear: the future of crypto in the region is being built not on trading alone, but on the infrastructure that makes digital finance sustainable.

Bitcoin’s Wall Street-like fear gauge has spiked to its highest level since the collapse of the FTX exchange in 2022, signaling intense market panic as prices plummeted to nearly $60,000.

Volmex’s bitcoin volatility index (BVIV), which represents the annualized expected price turbulence over four weeks, jumped to nearly 100% from 56% on Thursday.

The index serves as a crypto equivalent to Cboe’s VIX, the so-called fear/panic gauge, which indicates the 30-day implied volatility of the S&P 500 and rises during market panics as traders bid up options prices to hedge against declines in the index.

The BVIV does the same more often than not, rising during market panics as observed on Thursday.

“A wave of panic swept through crypto markets this week, correlated to a sharp risk-off move across various asset classes. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility, as measured by the BVIV Index, surged from just over 40 to 95 in a matter of days, levels not seen since the infamous collapse of FTX at the end of 2022,” Cole Kennelly, founder and CEO of Volmex Labs, told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat.

Implied volatility is influenced by demand for options, or derivative contracts that help traders make asymmetrical gains from uptrends in the underlying asset and hedge downside risks. Call options are used to bet on the upside, while put options are typically bought as insurance against price drops.

On Thursday, traders scrambled to buy Deribit-listed options, especially puts, as bitcoin’s price tanked from $70,000 to nearly $60,000. The top five most traded options of the past 24 hours are all puts at strikes ranging from $70,000 to $20,000, according to data source Deribit Metrics. The $20,000 put represents a bet that prices will fall below that level.

“Volatility markets reacted sharply to last night’s price drop. Front-end volatility surged as dealers adjusted for gamma [near-term risks]. Short-dated vols led the surge, showing higher demand for protection, while longer-dated vols lagged, keeping the volatility curve steeply inverted,” Jimmy Yang, co-founder of institutional liquidity provider Orbit Markets, told CoinDesk.

Yang’s clients rushed to buy downside protection, fearing the price crash could devastate digital asset treasuries that bought bitcoin at higher levels. These firms could now liquidate at a loss, leading to a deeper slide in bitcoin’s price.

“With significant uncertainty still ahead — particularly around the DATs and the risk of further unwind cascades, we’ve seen a lot of client demand for downside protection,” he added.

Bitcoin’s price has bounced to over $64,000 at the time of writing, an over 5% recovery from overnight lows, according to CoinDesk data. Yang expects volatility to stabilize.

“Sentiment is deep in extreme fear, but bitcoin’s price seems to have found a base near $60K. If price action stabilizes, volatility looks stretched and could quickly pull back,” he said.