Source: CryptoValleyJournal Original Title: Weekly review calendar week 49 – 2025 Original Link: https://cryptovalleyjournal.com/hot-topics/news/weekly-review-calendar-week-49-2025/

Weekly Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Review

Vanguard Opens Platform for Crypto ETFs After Two-Year Blockade

Vanguard, the asset manager with 11.6 trillion USD in assets under management, has ended its two-year restriction and now allows its over 50 million brokerage customers to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETFs. The company positions itself as a distribution platform without developing its own crypto products. CEO Salim Ramji, who previously managed the IBIT Bitcoin ETF at BlackRock, drove this strategic shift. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that five percent adoption could generate additional inflows of 15 to 25 billion USD. The announcement came while Bitcoin traded at 86,000 USD – 32 percent below the October high of 126,000 USD. Notably, memecoin ETFs remain blocked.

Bank of America Authorizes Bitcoin ETF Recommendations

Bank of America has granted its over 15,000 advisors at Merrill Lynch, Private Bank, and Merrill Edge the ability to recommend four Bitcoin ETFs with allocations of one to four percent, effective January 5, 2025. Approved products include those from Bitwise, Fidelity, Grayscale, and BlackRock. This decision ends a restriction spanning over 15 years, during which advisors could only mention crypto products upon explicit client request. With 3.6 trillion USD in assets under management at Merrill, BofA signals industry-wide normalization of institutional Bitcoin exposure. Morgan Stanley took a comparable step in August 2024 for high-net-worth clients, while Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and UBS remain restrictive.

Sovereign Wealth Funds Accumulate Bitcoin During Price Corrections

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink confirmed at the New York Times DealBook Summit that several sovereign wealth funds have systematically expanded their Bitcoin positions during recent price corrections. The purchases occurred at 120,000, 100,000, and below 90,000 USD as long-term strategic positions spanning multiple years. Fink characterizes Bitcoin as an “asset of fear” – a hedge against currency devaluation, sovereign debt, and geopolitical instability. Abu Dhabi holds approximately 1.1 billion USD in iShares Bitcoin Trust shares via two sovereign wealth funds, while Bhutan holds over 13,000 BTC worth 1.2 billion USD. Fink predicted in Davos that a two to five percent allocation of the 13 trillion USD in sovereign wealth fund assets could drive Bitcoin to 500,000 to 700,000 USD.

Major Exchange Acquires Swiss Tokenization Platform

Kraken has acquired Backed Finance AG from Switzerland, a leading issuer of tokenized securities with over 60 products on Solana and Ethereum. The xStocks platform reached a combined trading volume of ten billion USD within four months after launching in early 2025. Over 11,000 users hold the Tesla token, with volume exceeding two billion USD already in August. The purchase price was not disclosed. This transaction marks Kraken’s fifth acquisition in 2025 and follows an 800 million USD funding round in November. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasizes vertical integration of issuance, trading, and settlement as the foundation for programmable capital markets. Analysts project growth for the RWA sector to two to 30 trillion USD by 2030-2034.

Zurich Authorities Seize Bitcoin from Mixing Platform

Zurich city and cantonal police seized approximately 23 million francs in Bitcoin from Cryptomixer.io in late November in cooperation with Europol and Eurojust. Active since 2016, the service obscured transaction paths by mixing deposits, thereby facilitating money laundering from darknet marketplaces, ransomware payments, and crypto thefts. The cumulative volume of laundered funds exceeded one billion francs. Investigators secured twelve terabytes of data and server infrastructure and took the platform offline. The Zurich Public Prosecutor’s Office clarified that using mixing services is not inherently criminal – criminal liability arises only when laundering proceeds from crime. Operators generated several million francs in profit.