Son Min

Swiss virtual asset (cryptocurrency) specialist bank Sygnum is partnering with non-custodial (Non-Custodial) lending startup Debifi to introduce a Bitcoin (BTC)-collateralized lending platform. According to CoinDesk on the 24th (local time), Sygnum plans to officially launch the 'MultiSYG' platform in the first half of 2026. The service targets institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, and aims to minimize the 'reused collateral' risk pointed out as an issue in traditional finance. MultiSYG has adopted a 5-signatory-based multisig wallet structure. Borrowers deposit their bitcoins in a wallet jointly controlled by the bank, themselves, and independent signers, and collateral movement requires at least three signatures. This allows borrowers to directly verify the existence of their assets on-chain during the loan period. Pascal Eberle, head of Sygnum's Bitcoin business, said, "MultiSYG is a model that combines the trustworthiness of traditional finance with the asset control of blockchain," and explained, "Borrowers can enjoy bank-level interest rates and flexible loan terms along with cryptographic proof of bitcoin holdings."

The virtual asset (cryptocurrency) Fear & Greed Index rose 3 points from the previous day, showing an improvement in investor sentiment. The Fear & Greed Index is an indicator of market sentiment, where values close to 0 indicate extreme fear and values close to 100 indicate extreme greed. On the 24th (local time), the Fear & Greed Index provided by virtual asset analysis firm Alternative stood at 30 out of 100, maintaining the 'Fear' stage. The index rose 3 points from the previous day (27 points), showing a slight improvement in market mood. The Fear & Greed Index is calculated based on volatility (25%), volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

Tether has participated in the Series A investment round of Pave Bank, which proclaims itself as a 'programmable bank' for the AI and digital asset era. According to The Block on the 23rd (local time), Pave Bank secured a Series A investment of $39 million. The round was led by Accel and included Tether Investments, Wintermute, Quona Capital, Helios Digital Ventures, among others. Pave Bank is a commercial bank licensed by the Georgian financial regulator and is developing an enterprise platform capable of managing fiat currency and digital assets simultaneously. Pave Bank said, "These funds will be used to expand the regulatory network, accelerate product development, build institutional-grade infrastructure, and expand the customer base in global markets." Pave Bank CEO Salim Danani said, "The global financial system is moving toward on-chain regulated finance," and "We will become a trusted multi-asset bank bridging traditional finance and digital assets."

Stablecoins and blockchain-based financial services are spreading in the Latin American region. Analysts say that amid inflation and a lack of traditional financial infrastructure, crypto assets are taking root as new means of payment and savings. On the 23rd (local time), Cointelegraph reported that Patricio Mesri, co-CEO of Bybit LATAM, said, "In Latin America, stablecoins are becoming established as everyday means of payment," and "adoption rates are rapidly increasing, especially in Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico." He added, "Crypto assets are changing people's lives in reality, beyond mere speculation." In particular, cases using stablecoin payments to reduce remittance fees, or using crypto-backed loans for large transactions such as car or home purchases, are also increasing. Especially in Argentina, where the annual inflation rate has exceeded 100%, demand for the dollar-linked stablecoins USDC and USDT has surged. According to local exchange Bitso, as of 2024 stablecoin trades accounted for 39% of total purchases. Chainalysis data also showed that in Latin America the share of payments and savings among crypto asset use cases is continuously expanding.

Türkiye has emerged as the largest virtual asset market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, but analysis suggests its character is more speculative than for actual use. On the 22nd (local time), Cointelegraph reported that Chainalysis said in a report, "Türkiye's annual virtual asset trading volume reaches $200 billion," adding, "this is about four times the United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s $53 billion and exceeds the combined trading volumes of neighboring countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco." However, it analyzed that Türkiye's surge in trading stems from speculative demand for altcoins rather than genuine adoption. The report stated, "Trading activity in the Türkiye market has surged in recent months, but this is largely due to short-term trading centered on altcoins," adding, "the share of stablecoin trading has fallen significantly compared to the end of last year." In fact, Türkiye's altcoin trading volume surged from an average of $50 million per day at the end of 2024 to $240 million by mid-2025. In contrast, stablecoin trading volume fell from $200 million to about $70 million over the same period. The report explained that this change reflects investors shifting to 'high-return-seeking trading' aiming for short-term profits amid inflation and declines in the Turkish lira's value.

Silicon Valley's leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is reportedly seeking to raise a new fund of about $10 billion (about KRW 13.8 trillion). However, virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) are said to be excluded from the investment targets. According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 23rd (local time), a16z has begun soliciting investors to form a new fund focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and the defense industry. Of this, $6 billion will go to growth-stage company investments, $1.5 billion to AI applications and infrastructure funds each, and the remaining more than $1 billion will be allocated to defense and manufacturing-related investment vehicles. It is unusual that a dedicated crypto fund was not mentioned in this plan. a16z has been regarded as a VC that has played a key role in building the global digital asset ecosystem by investing in major projects such as Coinbase, Uniswap, MakerDAO, and Dapper Labs. In particular, considering that in the '2025 State of Crypto' report released the previous day it stated, "crypto has now established itself as a global market, stablecoins are becoming mainstream, and financial institutions are embracing them," the decision to exclude crypto this time has been met with surprise. However, a16z has not completely withdrawn from the crypto space. Earlier this month it invested $50 million in Jito (Jito), a Solana-based liquid staking protocol, and in April it invested $55 million in LayerZero (LayerZero), a cross-chain messaging protocol.

The European Union (EU) has stepped up sanctions on Russia and, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, introduced cryptocurrency-related sanctions. The measure focuses on blocking virtual assets used as means of money laundering and sanctions evasion. On the 23rd (local time), according to Cointelegraph, the European Commission adopted the 19th package of sanctions against Russia and fully banned the distribution within Europe of Russia-based cryptocurrency payment service providers and related software. The sanctions included not only Russian energy companies and banks but also institutions based in China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates that aided sanctions evasion. Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said, "These sanctions directly target Russia's energy, financial, and cryptocurrency sectors," and added, "They also include restrictions on the movement of diplomats to prevent Russian attempts at diplomatic disruption." The EU pointed out that Russia has been rapidly increasing the use of cryptocurrencies to evade financial sanctions. The Council of the EU said, "Recent activity shows that Russia is increasingly using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions." The sanctions include a full ban on the ruble-pegged stablecoin 'A7A5' within the EU. The EU described A7A5 as "a key means used to finance the war" and included the Kyrgyzstan-based company that issued it and the unidentified cryptocurrency platform where the token was heavily traded in the sanctions list. Additionally, eight banks and oil traders in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates were barred from transactions for sanctions evasion. The EU first proposed measures to block Russian cryptocurrency platforms on September 19 and has now begun full implementation with this package.

Fintech firm Revolut has obtained a 'Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)' license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), allowing it to provide regulated crypto asset services across the 30 countries of the European Economic Area (EEA). According to CoinDesk on the 23rd (local time), Revolut said, "We have obtained a MiCA license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission," calling it "a key turning point in our strategy to expand our crypto asset business." Revolut is a global fintech company with more than 65 million users worldwide. The company plans to launch a 'Crypto 2.0' platform based on this approval. The platform will offer trading of more than 280 tokens, fee-free staking with up to 22% annual reward rates, and a 1:1 stablecoin-to-dollar direct conversion feature (no spread), among other things. Costas Mikael, chief executive officer (CEO) of Revolut's European crypto arm, said, "This authorization enables us to offer the European community trustworthy next-generation crypto asset products."

Canada's anti-money-laundering agency FINTRAC has imposed the largest-ever fine on Vancouver-based virtual asset platform 'Cryptomus' for violations of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF) laws. According to CoinDesk on the 23rd (local time), FINTRAC imposed a penalty of CAD 176.96 million (about US$126 million) on Xeltox Enterprises Ltd., which operates Cryptomus. The sanction relates to more than 1,000 unreported suspicious transactions and over 1,500 large virtual asset transactions between July 1 and 31, 2024. FINTRAC's investigation found that the unreported transactions included cases linked to serious crimes such as the distribution of child sexual exploitation material, fraud, ransomware payments, and evasion of sanctions against Russia. FINTRAC said, "Because many of the violations in this case were related to transactions involving child sexual exploitation material, fraud, ransomware payments, and sanctions evasion, unprecedentedly strong sanction measures were unavoidable."

Commercial banks raise around 0.1%P in a month 1-year bank bonds have also 'rebounded' since August While the Bank of Korea has kept its base rate unchanged for three consecutive months, banks have been raising deposit rates one after another. This reflects the market interest rate returning to an upward trend amid the deadlock in tariff negotiations with the United States, property measures, and other fallout. According to the financial sector on the 23rd, Woori Bank raised the top rate of its 'WON Plus Deposit' from an annual 2.55% to an annual 2.60% that day. Last month, it also increased the product's rate by 0.1%percentage point in two separate instances. Other commercial banks such as Kookmin Bank (top annual 2.55%), Shinhan (annual 2.55%), and Hana (annual 2.6%) also raised deposit rates by 0.1~0.15%percentage points over the past month. NongHyup Bank (annual 2.59%), KakaoBank (annual 2.6%), and K-Bank (annual 2.55%) also raised deposit rates. Banks have raised deposit rates reflecting the recent rise in market interest rates. On the 22nd, the yield on AAA-rated bank bonds (1-year maturity) was an annual 2.58%, up 0.09%percentage point from the 2.49% on August 14, which marked this year's low. Analysts say the deadlock in tariff talks with the United States, along with additional real estate regulations and a sharp rise in the won·dollar exchange rate that weakened expectations for a rate cut, had a large effect. Bank bond yields are used as a key benchmark when calculating deposit rates. There is an assessment that loan rates are also more likely to rise. The COFIX (COFIX·Cost of Funds Index), which is the benchmark for banks' mortgage rates, was 2.52% last month, up 0.03%percentage point from the previous month. This is the first time the index has risen in a year. Kookmin Bank, which uses COFIX, raised its variable-rate mortgage rate (annual 3.88~5.28%) by 0.03%percentage point on the 16th from the previous level. Banks are breathing a sigh of relief. The decline in market interest rates has stopped, allowing them to avoid a reduction in net interest margins for the time being. The net interest margin (NIM) of the five major banks — Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NongHyup — was an average 1.55% in the second quarter, marking the lowest level in three years. An executive at a commercial bank predicted, "There is a high possibility that deposit and lending rates will be kept at current levels, so net interest margins this year will not decrease further." Reporter Jinseong Kim jskim1028@hankyung.com

Democratic senators in the U.S. Senate and leading figures from the crypto asset (cryptocurrency) industry are reportedly clashing over a bill to regulate the crypto market. On the 22nd (local time), The Block reported that Democratic lawmakers discussed a draft of a market-structure bill with representatives of the crypto industry. The meeting was the first since a leaked six-page draft of a bill related to decentralized finance (DeFi) prepared by Democrats earlier this month. The draft directs financial authorities such as the Treasury Department to define whether a particular individual or institution exercises "substantial influence," prompting industry criticism that it is effectively a DeFi ban. One Democratic senator reportedly told industry representatives, "I'm really angry about the leak of the draft bill," and said, "Don't act as a tool of the Republicans." Another attendee said, "Trust has been broken, but Democrats are clearly intent on passing legislation." They also denied that discussions on the bill were being delayed by Democrats. One senator warned, "There are disagreements about the current draft even within the Republican Party," adding, "If the industry obstructs the negotiation process again, discussions could return to square one." Smith, head of the Solana Policy Lab, evaluated, "This meeting was a timely step, and Democratic lawmakers showed serious intent to finalize the bill." He added, "Concerns were raised about illicit funding and conflicts of interest related to the Trump family and crypto assets." Meanwhile, Republicans held a separate meeting that afternoon to continue discussions on their own bill. Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, emphasized, "The Democrats need to set a markup date so that the crypto industry can compete and innovate within a clear regulatory framework."

The prediction market platform Polymarket is seeking new funding and its valuation could reach up to $15 billion. This represents about a tenfold increase compared with four months ago. On the 23rd (local time), according to Cointelegraph, Polymarket is in talks with investors to raise funds at a $12 billion to $15 billion valuation. Earlier in June, Polymarket was valued at $1 billion in a $200 million funding round led by Founders Fund, headed by Peter Thiel. These talks follow Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, recently investing up to $2 billion in Polymarket and valuing it at $8 billion. Major competitor Kalshi is also pursuing a new funding round that has raised its valuation from about $5 billion to $10 billion. Polymarket has been expanding its business by signing partnerships with DraftKings, the National Hockey League (NHL), and OpenAI's digital identity project 'World', among others. DraftKings plans to use Polymarket as a clearing partner to enter the prediction market, and the NHL has named Polymarket and Kalshi as official prediction market partners. World is integrating the Polymarket application to enable users to trade directly within the app. According to Dune Analytics, global weekly prediction market trading volume surpassed $2 billion for the first time as of mid-October. Of that, Polymarket accounted for 52%, recording about $1 billion, followed by Kalshi with $950 million. The industry says Polymarket is rapidly expanding institutional investment inflows and solidifying its dominant position in prediction markets.

Global crypto asset (cryptocurrency) exchange Binance is listing Apriori (APR) perpetual futures. On the 23rd (local time), Binance said on its official website, "Today at 19:30 (KST) it will list Apriori perpetual futures." It supports up to 50x leverage.

Decentralized exchange (DEX) Bunni will suspend operations due to funding difficulties following a hack in September. It is the second crypto project to declare closure just this week. On the 23rd (local time), Cointelegraph reported that the Bunni team said in an official statement, "Recent hacks have halted our growth, and restarting monitoring and audits to strengthen security would require at least 6–7 digits (hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars), but we lack the funds." The team added, "We cannot cover development and operating costs in the current situation, so we are ending the project." On September 2, Bunni had approximately $8.4 million worth of assets stolen from Ethereum and the layer-2 network Unichain. The attacker is believed to have exploited a vulnerability in the codebase. Before the hack, Bunni's deposits (TVL) grew rapidly from $2.23 million in June to $80 million in August, but operations were suspended after the incident. Along with ceasing operations, Bunni changed its smart contract license from the Business Source License (BSL) to the MIT License. This allows other developers to freely use Bunni's liquidity distribution function, surge fees, automatic rebalancing features, etc. The community reacted positively, calling the move "a meaningful step to open up the technology Bunni leaves behind." Meanwhile, the founding team of layer-1 blockchain Kadena (KDA) also announced on the 22nd that it would cease operations due to market deterioration. The network will be maintained by the community, but the token plunged 70% to trade at $0.06.

The cryptoasset (cryptocurrency) Fear and Greed Index rose 2 points from the previous day, showing an improvement in investor sentiment. The Fear and Greed Index is an indicator of market sentiment; the closer it is to 0, the more extreme the fear, and the closer it is to 100, the more extreme the greed. On the 23rd (local time), the Fear and Greed Index provided by cryptoasset analytics firm Alternative is currently 27 out of 100, entering the 'Fear' phase. The index rose 2 points from the previous day (25 points), showing a slight improvement in market sentiment. The Fear and Greed Index is calculated based on volatility(25%), trading volume(25%), social media(15%), surveys(15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance(10%), and Google search volume(10%).

The won–dollar exchange rate surpassed 1440 won intraday, reaching its highest level in half a year. Uncertainty over Korea-U.S. trade talks and net selling by foreign investors appear to be contributing factors to the won's weakness. According to the Seoul foreign exchange market on the 23rd, as of 2:47 p.m. the won–dollar exchange rate was trading at 1439.8 won, up 0.49% from the previous session. It briefly jumped to 1441.5 won intraday. This is the highest intraday level since April 29 (1441.5 won), about six months ago. News that a plan is being discussed between the two countries for South Korea to invest 25 billion dollars annually for eight years, totaling 200 billion dollars (about 286 trillion won), as part of settling Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations appears to have led to the won's weakness. There is also an assessment that the recent rise in the won–dollar exchange rate stems from structural factors. Lee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, said at a press briefing held after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, "The impact of dollar strength on the recent rise in the won–dollar exchange rate is one-quarter, and the remainder is due to yuan fluctuations from U.S.-China tensions, concerns about expansionary fiscal policy by Japan's new prime minister, tariff negotiations and issues such as securing 350 billion dollars." He added, "If tariff negotiations proceed in a positive direction, the won–dollar exchange rate will fall." Ko Jeong-sam, Hankyung.com reporter jsk@hankyung.com

Gold, long called a 'safe-haven' asset, lost $2.5 trillion in market capitalization in one day, marking the worst plunge in recent years. This decline exceeds the total market capitalization of Bitcoin (about $2.2 trillion). On the 22nd (local time), according to CoinDesk, financial analysis outlet the Kobeissi Letter reported that gold prices plunged for a second straight day, recording the largest drop since 2013. Gold fell more than 8%, shocking investors who had flocked to it as an inflation hedge and safe asset. Swiss resource investor Alexander Stahel said, "An adjustment of this magnitude is statistically a once-in-240,000 trading days event," adding, "the gold market is giving us a statistical lesson." He analyzed, "The recent gold rally was an overheating caused by FOMO, and the sell-off occurred as profit-taking and weak stop-loss selling followed." Veteran trader Peter Brandt pointed out, "This size of gold price decline corresponds to 55% of the total global cryptocurrency market capitalization," and "it shows that even assets called safe-havens are not free from sharp volatility." Bitcoin (BTC) fell 5.2% from an intraday high of $114,000 on the same day, and the daily decline at the time of writing was about 0.8%. However, experts analyzed that unlike gold, Bitcoin is an asset where double-digit daily moves are common, making the nature of this correction different. Along with the plunge in the gold market, cryptocurrency investor sentiment contracted. The cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index fell into the 'Extreme Fear' zone, its lowest level since December 2022. Marion Laboure, Deutsche Bank macro strategist, also said in a recent report, "Both gold and Bitcoin share scarcity and a store-of-value function," adding, "gold's volatility shows that Bitcoin has room to emerge as a store of value." Meanwhile, inflows into spot gold ETFs weakened, but Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $142 million in a single day, showing a contrasting trend.

Amid a stream of mixed corporate results in the U.S., U.S. stocks edged lower on the 22nd (local time). Around 10:20 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the S&P500 was trading just below a flat line, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%. Gold, which plunged by the largest margin in 12 years the previous day, continued to fall, with spot gold down 1.6% at 4,058.90 dollars per ounce, marking a second consecutive day of declines. The 10-year Treasury yield was essentially unchanged at 3.96%. The ICE Dollar Index (DXY) was trading around 99.01, similar to the previous day, and the Japanese yen was little changed at 151.95 per dollar. Digital assets continued to fall. Bitcoin traded down 2.5% at 108,063.33 dollars, and Ether traded down 2.8% at 3,845.33 dollars. Netflix plunged 7% after reporting quarterly results after the previous day's close that missed profit expectations. Intuitive Surgical jumped 18% after reporting strong revenue and earnings. Toy maker Mattel plunged 5% after a weak third-quarter report. Texas Instruments, the largest maker of analog chips, issued a bleak outlook for the current quarter and saw its shares fall 6%. Tesla, which is set to report earnings after the market close, was trading around 438 dollars, down 0.8% on the day. Beyond Meat (ticker: BYND) and Krispy Kreme (DNUT) surged as individual investors piled into them as new meme stocks. Beyond Meat jumped 140% after announcing an expanded distribution agreement with Walmart the previous day, recording its largest one-day gain on record. Earlier this week, Roundhill Investments added Beyond Meat to its meme stock ETF. Following strong quarterly results from Coca-Cola and GM the previous day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly topped 47,000 points, setting a record high. Starting with Tesla's results due after today's close, expected earnings from the tech giants known as the Magnificent 7 are set to be released. According to FactSet, more than three-quarters of S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beaten expectations. Solid results and continued investment in artificial intelligence (AI) are offsetting the negative impact of trade tensions with China and a government shutdown on the market. Bloomberg noted that U.S. companies are reporting their best results since 2021 so far. Alicia Levin, head of investment strategy and equities at BNY Wealth, told CNBC, "If results are better than expected and tech stocks prove that the AI industry is intact, we could move to a higher level." The September consumer price index (CPI) will be released late this Friday. It is particularly watched as all other economic data releases have been suspended due to a U.S. government shutdown. Markets expect the Fed to cut the policy rate by 0.25% point this month and to make additional cuts in December. Contributing reporter Jeong-a Kim kja@hankyung.com