On Thursday, BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB), adding a staking-focused Ether ETF to its existing spot Bitcoin and Ether products that began trading in 2024. Robert Mitchnick said BlackRock will avoid more complex or exotic crypto ETF designs, even as ETHB recorded over $15.5 million in first-day trading volume and $43.5 million in inflows. He added that BlackRock is also developing a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF while investor demand remains concentrated in Bitcoin and Ether.

On its first trading day, BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) recorded around $15.5 million in volume from 592,804 shares traded on Nasdaq. The ETF invests in Ether, with 80% staked and 20% held liquid, launched with $106.7 million in net assets and charges a 0.25% sponsor fee, temporarily reduced to 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets.

Bitcoin-buying firm Metaplanet has created a new entity called Metaplanet Ventures K.K. to invest in Japan-based Bitcoin infrastructure, stablecoin and tokenization startups. The company plans to allocate 4 billion Japanese yen over the next two to three years as it anticipates Bitcoin being treated as a regulated financial asset by January 2028, while still prioritizing long-term BTC accumulation.

On Tuesday, Ghana's Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 crypto trading platforms to join a new regulatory sandbox created under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act adopted in December. The 12-month program will let the firms test products under SEC oversight, with the possibility of gaining a full license after six months if they are market-ready and fully compliant with regulatory requirements.

On Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission signed a memorandum of understanding to better coordinate supervision of financial markets, including crypto assets. The agencies plan to use technology-neutral rules, share data on common issues and apply a "minimum effective dose" regulatory approach to support innovation while preserving market integrity and global competitiveness.

In the fourth quarter, institutional investors disclosed more than $540 million in holdings of U.S. spot Solana ETFs, with Electric Capital reporting $137.8 million in exposure and Goldman Sachs following at $107.4 million. Investment advisors held over $270 million of these products, while hedge funds reported $186.4 million, even as the underlying 4.3 million SOL tokens have since dropped by more than 30% in price. Despite the price decline, cumulative flows into U.S. spot Solana ETFs have continued to rise.

NFT lending platform Gondi disabled its Sell & Repay smart contract after a hacker stole around $230,000 worth of NFTs, and it has started compensating impacted users. The team says the rest of the protocol remains safe, with lending and NFT trading functions deemed secure after reviews by Blockaid and an independent auditor.

The team that departed Electric Coin Company in January to form Zcash Open Development Lab has raised over $25 million from investors including a16z Crypto and Coinbase Ventures to develop the privacy-focused, self-custodial Zodl wallet. Following the funding announcement, Zcash rose 4.1% to $217.80 and is up 9.8% over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin fell close to 2% in about 15 minutes on Sunday, slipping to around $66,272 after earlier strength during the recent US-Israel strikes on Iran. Over the same period, oil prices surged from $95 to $113.7 per barrel before easing to $105, amid warnings that roughly 3 million barrels per day could be disrupted in the Strait of Hormuz. Crude is now trading at its highest level since April 2022, while Bitcoin has logged four consecutive days of decline after reaching $73,770 last Wednesday.