Market Insights: FEB 2025 | Week3
Wavebridge Research/
Bitcoin Ownership Trends: Retail Dominance, Institutional Investments, and New Indices
Bitwise's analysis of Bitcoin holdings found that 69.4% of the total Bitcoin supply is concentrated in the hands of retail investors. In its Q4 2024 report, Bitwise noted that retail investors hold more bitcoin than corporations (4.4%), investment funds (6.1%), and governments (1.4%). Goldman Sachs increased its Bitcoin ETF holdings by 105% and disclosed its $460 million IBIT Bitcoin ETF holdings. Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund disclosed a $455.67 million holding of BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF, IBIT. A pension fund in the US state of Wisconsin more than doubled its Bitcoin ETF holdings to $321 million, it was disclosed. Bloomberg launches the Bitcoin & Gold Blend Index, which combines traditional assets with cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Market Shifts: Ethereum Staking ETF, XRP & Cardano Moves, and USDC Surge
The New York Stock Exchange is moving forward with plans to introduce staking within a spot Ethereum ETF, as it filed a rule change with the US SEC on behalf of Grayscale. The SEC's review of the XRP spot ETF application raises the possibility of XRP being classified as a commodity. However, the SEC has not officially confirmed XRP's legal status. US asset manager Grayscale filed for a Cardano spot ETF. In response, the price of ADA surged. Circle's USDC hit an all-time high, surpassing $56 billion in market capitalisation. This growth surpasses the highs of 2022 and marks a full recovery for USDC, which was hit hard by the US regional banking crisis in 2023. In the past two weeks, the global altcoin market capitalisation has fallen by $234 billion, according to Glassnode. This is one of the biggest drops in history, with only 41 days in the past 1,662 having seen a bigger drop, the analyst said.
U.S. Crypto Policy Shifts: Stablecoins, Bitcoin Reserves, and Regulatory Moves
White House crypto policy director David Sachs has said that stablecoin legislation in the US is one of his top priorities. A senator from the US state of West Virginia has introduced the Inflation Protection Act of 2025. The bill would allow the state treasury to invest a portion of its holdings in digital assets or precious metals. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are considering a joint approach to regulating digital assets. Strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation is moving quickly in the US legislatures of Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma. There are currently around 30 bills under consideration in each of these states, and analysts estimate that if only 20 of them are enacted, it could result in up to $23 billion worth of Bitcoin buying. Fed Chairman Powell has pledged to address the ‘de-banking’ of the crypto industry, and has also stated that he believes in the future potential of stablecoins and supports regulating them. He also reaffirmed that the US will not adopt a central bank digital currency. Tether is working with members of the US Congress to develop a federal stablecoin regulatory policy. ‘Tether plans to comment on the STABLE Act, as well as two other stablecoin bills,’ the Tether CEO said.
Global Crypto Trends: Regulation, Investments, and Market Shifts
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority warned of investment risks from meme coin advertising. The move comes as the meme coin craze has seen its market value soar from $20 billion in January 2024 to $120 billion by the end of the year. The ‘Libra’ meme coin, which Argentine President Javier Millay promoted on social media as a private project to grow the country's economy, caused controversy when it plummeted 94 per cent in just a few hours. South Korea's financial authorities will gradually allow corporations to invest in virtual assets. The Financial Services Commission said it will allow the issuance of ‘corporate virtual asset real-name accounts’ for the purpose of ‘cashing out’ from the first half of this year. The Czech Republic is moving to deregulate digital assets, passing legislation to reduce the tax burden on bitcoin transactions. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Coinbase, with sponsorship fees paid in USDC. Hong Kong-based investment firm Avnir Group invested $599 million in BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF. Franklin Templeton launched an on-chain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Solana Layer-1 blockchain. Custodian BitGo plans to conduct an initial public offering in the second half of 2025. Ripple has partnered with Portuguese currency exchange Unicambio to support real-time international payments between Portugal and Brazil.