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Odaily News: As Wall Street and global financial institutions accelerate their entry into the digital asset space, the boundaries between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) are gradually blurring. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated that the era of "going long Bitcoin and short bankers" is over, and financial institutions are pivoting to the other side of the crypto industry, driving digital asset adoption.Hunter Horsley noted that this summer, two financial institutions, each managing over $1 trillion in assets, approved the launch of crypto products in a bear market environment, showing that large institutions are expanding client access to digital assets. "Everyone put on the crypto jersey this year. Now, everyone is working for the crypto industry," Horsley said. He pointed out that these institutions, managing over a trillion dollars in client assets, would not have opened such services during the 2022 crypto market downturn, but are now actively embracing this sector.Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer at Sygnum, also believes the relationship between banks and the crypto industry has undergone a structural shift. "The trade of 'going long Bitcoin and short bankers' is over. Banks have moved from resisting digital assets to building, supporting, and distributing them through custody, tokenization, and compliant trading," a change driven primarily by growing client demand and gradually clarifying regulatory rules, rather than short-term market cycles.Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, said that over the past two years, its client base has increasingly reflected the convergence of traditional and crypto finance. Large financial institutions typically choose to partner with specialized crypto infrastructure companies rather than building their own technology systems.In recent years, a growing number of financial institutions have entered the crypto space, including Swissquote, DBS Bank, BBVA, BNY Mellon, Credit Suisse-affiliated entities, as well as Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab. (CoinDesk)
Odaily News: Zurich-based crypto bank Sygnum Bank has integrated its regulated cryptocurrency services into the Bancastato online banking system, allowing clients in the Swiss canton of Ticino to buy, hold, and sell BTC, ETH, LTC, and SOL via Bancastato's web and mobile platforms without needing to open a separate exchange account. Bancastato has become the first bank to offer cryptocurrency trading through Sygnum's application programming interface within an Avaloq software-as-a-service banking environment. Clients can place market orders based on cryptocurrency quantity or dollar value, with Sygnum handling trade execution while Bancastato retains the client relationship, brand, and front-end experience. Sygnum stated that its B2B platform has provided trading, custody, compliance, and settlement infrastructure to more than 25 banks and international financial institutions, including partners such as Zuger Kantonalbank, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Postfinance, and VZ Vermögenszentrum. Sygnum noted that these collaborations have delivered regulated digital asset services to over one-third of the Swiss population through existing banking relationships.
the race for the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is coming to an end, but the real challenges for companies are just beginning. The high cost of maintaining ongoing compliance systems may reshape the European crypto landscape. The future competitive focus in the industry is likely to shift from "who can obtain a license" to "who can afford the regulatory costs," driving companies towards scaling through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, or partnerships with banks. As MiCA is gradually implemented and the UK's crypto regulatory framework takes shape, the European crypto industry is entering a new phase of consolidation. Insiders believe that high-standard regulatory requirements could fuel a new wave of M&A, and cooperation between crypto-native companies and traditional financial institutions will deepen further.This trend may be even more pronounced in the UK market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is developing a new regulatory framework for crypto assets, which is expected to bring crypto businesses under the existing financial services regulatory system, subjecting them to capital, operational, and customer asset protection requirements similar to those for traditional investment firms. Steven Lightstone, a partner at Morgan Lewis in London and co-head of the global fintech team, stated that while the FCA aims to promote market competition and support new entrants, its regulatory standards will be very strict when it comes to consumer protection. Unlike the EU's standalone MiCA framework, the UK's approach will directly leverage the existing financial regulatory system to manage crypto firms.Meanwhile, increased regulatory certainty is accelerating the entry of European banks into the digital asset space. Simon Schneider, CEO of Sygnum Europe, noted that currently fewer than 20% of banks in Europe offer crypto-related services, indicating a significant market gap. The greatest value of MiCA is not just creating a new licensing system but providing legal certainty for financial institutions to enter the digital asset market. Citing Switzerland as an example, he pointed out that after the introduction of distributed ledger technology regulations, most major Swiss banks have begun offering digital asset services, a path that other parts of Europe may follow in the future. Banks are unlikely to replace crypto-native companies altogether; instead, they are more likely to rely on specialized infrastructure providers and collaborate in areas such as custody, brokerage, staking, and asset tokenization.As companies that fail to secure MiCA licenses gradually exit the European market, assets may become further concentrated among regulated entities. However, Schneider believes that self-custody models and institutional custody models will continue to coexist for the long term.Industry insiders suggest that the European crypto industry is entering a "regulatory-driven consolidation cycle." For crypto startups that previously
瑞士州立银行 BancaStato 集成 Sygnum 加密交易服务，客户可通过现有银行应用买卖 BTC、ETH 等 4 种加密资产。
Odaily News, Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading services, utilizing the systems of digital asset bank Sygnum and banking software provider Avaloq. The bank serves the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland. BancaStato has joined Sygnum's B2B banking platform, integrating Sygnum's trading and custody services into its existing Avaloq banking system. Clients can buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, ETH, LTC, and SOL via the bank's web and mobile banking applications. Sygnum's B2B platform is already used by over 25 financial institutions, with its banking partners including Societe Generale-FORGE, PostFinance, and VZ Depotbank. In late June, Sygnum announced that its Liechtenstein subsidiary, Sygnum Europe AG, had obtained a license as a crypto asset service provider under the MiCA framework.
Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-8222 plans to leverage STARK-based cryptographic mechanisms to separate staking deposits from withdrawals and re-anonymize validators, aiming to reduce the traceability of validator activity. Currently, approximately one-third of all ETH is staked. Thibault Dubuis, Head of Staking and Decentralized Finance Products at Sygnum Bank, stated that current deposit addresses, validators, and withdrawal credentials form visible links, making institutional holdings sizes, entry timings, and staking strategies nearly public. The proposal remains in the discussion phase, with no deployment timeline yet announced. Its design may involve fixed deposit denominations, asset withdrawal waiting periods, and other arrangements, potentially requiring institutional users to bear higher execution costs, process delays, and compliance overhead.