institutions

According to the latest weekly report released by Gate, in the past week (from April 20 to April 26), driven by the easing of geopolitical tensions and rising expectations for interest rate cuts, BTC rose from $68,000 to above $77,000, with market sentiment remaining "cautiously optimistic." ETF funds continued to see net inflows, indicating that institutions are steadily increasing their positions amid fluctuations, with capital accelerating towards high liquidity assets and deep trading platforms.There was a noticeable rotation of on-chain funds: PancakeSwap's trading volume approached $36 billion, the supply of USDT was nearly $200 billion, while USDe saw a net outflow of about $2 billion; in the DeFi sector, Aave's lending balance decreased, with liquidity shifting towards Spark. In terms of derivatives, the funding rate for BTC remains negative, while the activity and volatility of options have increased. The market will pay attention to the FOMC interest rate meeting and the volatility effects brought by the unlocking of OP, SUI, and ENA.Against this backdrop, Gate continues to strengthen its institutional service capabilities, providing high-performance matching, deep liquidity, and multi-exchange strategy support to meet high-frequency and arbitrage demands. At the same time, through a comprehensive asset security and custody system, combined with a one-stop solution for spot, contract, and multi-asset trading, it helps institutions execute efficiently and lay out robust strategies in a volatile market.

According to official news, OKX Onchain OS released the Agent Payments Protocol (APP) yesterday. Subsequently, ecological participants from various fields such as public chains, infrastructure, and AI expressed their support on the X platform.Currently, the publicly supported institutions include more than twenty entities such as Paxos, Solana, RootData, Aptos, Pharos Network, Nansen, Sui, 0G Labs, HeySorin AI, Corbits, QuickNode, Otto AI, Ethy AI, AltLayer, pieverse, Optimism, Surf AI, KITE AI, Mesh, Sahara AI, Teneo Protocol, Zerion, Alibaba Cloud, Uniswap, and others.It is reported that the Agent Payments Protocol (APP) is an open payment protocol aimed at the commercial behavior of AI Agents, designed to support Agents in expanding their capabilities from payment to complete business processes.

According to Jinshi reports, multiple institutions have conducted forward-looking analyses on the future interest rate path of the Federal Reserve. Wells Fargo and ING both expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates by 25 basis points in September and December. ANZ believes the Federal Reserve may restart the rate cut cycle at the September meeting. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America pointed out that economic growth faces downside risks, which may prompt the Federal Reserve to cut rates later this year.

According to CoinDesk, 21Shares Chief Investment Officer Adrian Fritz stated that the spot Bitcoin ETF continues to attract inflows, reinforcing Bitcoin's core position in institutional asset allocation, even as prices remain fluctuating below $80,000. Adrian Fritz pointed out that since the beginning of this year, Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated nearly $2 billion in funds, with sources including retail investors, institutions, and hedge fund arbitrage and options strategy trading.As traditional asset management institutions like Morgan Stanley accelerate their layouts, crypto assets are being more widely incorporated into multi-asset portfolio allocations. Bitcoin's current daily trading volume has exceeded $50 billion, and liquidity levels are approaching those of large tech stocks like Nvidia. The ETF mechanism simultaneously provides liquidity in both primary and secondary markets, gradually giving it "institutional-grade asset" attributes.Although the market is still suppressed by macro and interest rate environments, Adrian Fritz believes that ETF inflows have shifted from being driven by speculation to structural demand. He expects that with improvements in geopolitical conditions, continued inflows, and short covering, Bitcoin is likely to challenge the $100,000 mark within the year. Meanwhile, the differentiation among altcoins is intensifying, and the market is shifting towards a logic of asset selection that emphasizes fundamentals and cash flow.

Paul Frambot, co-founder and CEO of Morpho, tweeted that he has been in intensive contact with several large institutions over the past week to understand the current DeFi situation. The main conclusions are twofold:The interest of institutions in DeFi will not disappear, as the fund distributors will not leave. The massive assets under management (AUM), payment, and lending businesses are migrating en masse to on-chain, and fintech companies hope to fully go on-chain, leaving institutions with no choice.Nevertheless, institutions have completely lost trust in the liquidity pool model. They want to have control over the code, risk management, and compliance, allowing them to flexibly choose the necessary parts while accessing a globally compatible liquidity network.Paul Frambot believes that the commitment to open financial systems will not fail, as it will create tremendous value for all participants.

Morpho CEO Paul Frambot posted on X, stating that over the past week, he communicated with several large institutions to understand their views on the current DeFi situation. The core conclusions are as follows.First, institutional interest will not disappear. The reason is simple: distribution channels will not vanish ------ massive assets under management (AUM), payment, and lending operations are moving on-chain. Almost all fintech companies aim for full on-chain integration. For institutions, this is not a question of "whether" but "a must."Second, they have lost trust in the pool/hub model. Institutions and distributors want to control everything, including control over the code, control over risks, and control over compliance. At the same time, they also want flexibility, meaning the ability to isolate their own business and connect to a global liquidity network that is compatible with them.

The Humanity Foundation has recently made significant adjustments to the $H token allocation plan, requiring investors to make a final choice between two options by April 26 at 09:00 UTC: one, extend the distribution, pushing the Cliff to September 25, 2026, and changing to equal distribution over 12 quarters; two, a 3:10 discounted immediate unlock, replacing the original 16,666,666 tokens with 5,000,000 $H (a 70% reduction), to be fully distributed on June 25, 2026.It is understood that the Humanity Foundation has sent adjustment notifications to over 100 investors. Early investment firm Trix Ventures has publicly disclosed its choice of the discounted immediate unlock.It is reported that this firm invested during the project's valuation phase of approximately $60 million, and even after the 3:10 discounted replacement, it can still achieve about 7 times return. Notably, the Humanity Protocol previously reached an in-depth cooperation with payment giant Mastercard, and the project's fundamentals have received endorsement from traditional financial institutions. The on-chain identity verification sector it belongs to is currently in its early market stage, but with the continuous expansion of AI-generated content and automated accounts, the demand for on-chain real identity verification is widely believed to grow exponentially, giving this sector long-term potential to become a leading project in the Web3 infrastructure field.The project is about to face a test of significant selling pressure from a one-time massive unlock, and whether it can grow explosively alongside the AI sector is crucial. Analysts point out that choosing the one-time unlock on June 25 is a safer decision. In the current market cycle, "certain liquidity" far outweighs paper numbers. The deferred plan extends the cycle to 3 years, with huge uncertainties regarding the protocol's survival and team stability.From a market structure perspective, June 25 faces obvious concentrated selling pressure risks: the Sablier contract release node is transparent on-chain, and quantitative and short-selling funds will precisely target this node; institutions may lock in profits by hedging in advance during the two-month window; market makers may withdraw buy depth in advance, causing the actual realization value to be less than 10% of the nominal value. Historically, large-scale concentrated unlocks of Starknet (STRK) and ApeCoin (APE) have triggered severe selling pressure, with the former dropping over 95% from its peak and the latter declining 77% within 7 months.

The crypto lobbying organization Blockchain Association, along with CCI and more than 120 industry institutions including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and Circle, jointly sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee urging the acceleration of the review process for the CLARITY Act.Industry representatives stated that the U.S. needs to establish a unified regulatory framework for the digital asset market, clarify regulatory responsibilities, and strengthen investor protection. Relying solely on law enforcement and regulation cannot create a long-term stable environment. Institutions warned that prolonged policy ambiguity will lead to the outflow of capital, talent, and technology, weakening the strategic advantage of the U.S., while also calling for the development of appropriate federal unified regulatory rules for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized technologies.

Chief Economist Fu Peng of New Fire Group delivered a speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit, stating that the integration of traditional financial institutions and the cryptocurrency market will herald the arrival of a new era in the market. The participants who will truly succeed in the future are those who can quickly complete their transformation at critical turning points.Fu Peng cited the Cold War, oil crisis, and the simultaneous rise of computer and semiconductor technology in the 1970s and 1980s as examples, pointing out that technological advancements and global order turmoil often go hand in hand, with risks and opportunities always accompanying each other. He believes that AI and data computing power are now widely recognized as the core productive forces of the next era, indicating that the first half of the cryptocurrency industry has essentially ended, and the industry is at a critical stage of reconstruction and rebirth.Looking ahead, Fu Peng predicts that stablecoins will take on payment functions, Bitcoin will evolve into a core asset with both value storage and financial transaction attributes, and a brand new chapter of the era is about to begin.

Gate held the Institutional Circle event in Hong Kong, focusing on the theme "AI Reshaping Crypto Liquidity & Market Access," gathering several institutional representatives from the Asia-Pacific region to discuss the evolution of the crypto market structure and the path to liquidity reshaping. Gate's founder and CEO Dr. Han attended the event and interacted with institutional guests on-site.At the event, Gate's Global Institutional Head Addis Hu delivered the opening speech and shared insights on the platform's service capabilities and market changes in the context of deepening institutional participation. AWS Senior Regional Business Development Manager Ethan Hui shared industry insights from the perspectives of technical infrastructure and asset services.During the discussion session, attendees engaged in in-depth discussions on the evolution of liquidity, changes in market structure, and trends in multi-asset allocation against the backdrop of continuous institutional capital inflow. Overall, this event provided institutions with a reference for understanding current market structure changes and future allocation logic, further reflecting that the industry is moving towards a more mature and structured development stage.

This week, the UK-related economic development agency invited the management of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit to London to meet with representatives from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the House of Lords to discuss topics such as cryptocurrency regulation, business establishment, and employment.Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated that the UK side hopes to attract large companies to establish bases locally and promote innovation through stablecoins, tokenization, and payment system reforms. Reports indicate that this invitation coincides with the UK's FinTech Week and reflects the UK's intention to reverse the trend of funds and businesses flowing to the UAE.

According to Bloomberg, 39 signatories, including Nasdaq, Stuttgart Stock Exchange Group, and various financial technology associations, are calling on the European Commission and the European Parliament to treat the distributed ledger technology pilot system as an independent legislative fast track and to separate it from the EU market integration and supervision scheme.The signatories stated that if the overall negotiation process takes too long, Europe may fall behind the United States in DLT applications, and they demand the removal of asset class restrictions, an increase in the total trading volume cap to €150 billion, and the elimination of license time limits. The letter also mentioned that the United States has established a stablecoin regulatory framework through the Genius Act and is rapidly establishing a leading position in the tokenized asset field.The European Commission is currently promoting a rapid resolution of the entire regulatory scheme and views it as a key part of the Capital Markets Union plan. Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque has previously called for all legislative proposals to be passed in sync.

ChainCatcher reported live that Ru Haiyang, CEO of HashKey Exchange Group, delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, focusing on three key themes: RWA, payments, and Asian connectivity. He announced that HashKey Exchange officially launched Hong Kong's first physical gold ETF that day, fully compliant with trading and custody regulations in Hong Kong. He also revealed that HashKey has received approval from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to jointly issue Asia's first true co-branded credit card with Shanghai Commercial Bank.Regarding industry trends, he pointed out that DTCC has received a no-action letter from the U.S. SEC to intervene in the custody and settlement of tokenized assets, Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency institution to connect to the Federal Reserve's FedWire, and Mastercard has acquired the UK blockchain payment company BVNK at an $1.8 billion valuation, indicating that traditional payment institutions have recognized the irreversible trend.In terms of expansion in Asia, he announced that HashKey officially announced its investment in the Vietnamese market on April 10, planning to jointly invest in VPBank, one of Vietnam's largest commercial banks, to help it become one of the first licensed exchanges. HashKey has also signed memorandums of understanding with leading Asian institutions such as Coins.ph in the Philippines, Indodex in Indonesia, Hata in Malaysia, and Bitazza in Thailand to explore cooperation in liquidity integration, cross-border payments, stablecoins, and asset tokenization distribution.

The "2026 Digital Asset Institutional Investor Survey" released by financial giant Nomura Securities shows that nearly 80% of institutional investors plan to allocate 2% - 5% of their total managed assets to the cryptocurrency sector. 65% of the surveyed institutions view cryptocurrencies as a diversification tool on par with stocks, bonds, and commodities.The survey covered institutional investors and family offices managing over $60 billion in assets. In terms of investment direction, more than two-thirds of respondents hope to earn returns through DeFi mechanisms such as staking, 65% are focused on lending and tokenized assets, and 63% are exploring derivatives and stablecoins. Additionally, 63% of respondents believe that stablecoins have practical uses for managing cash, cross-border payments, and investing in tokenized assets, with stablecoins issued by major financial institutions being the most trusted.Nomura Securities stated that regulatory clarity, increased awareness, and improved risk control frameworks are key to expanding investments. Although challenges such as the lack of clear methods for asset valuation and regulatory uncertainties still exist, the development of diversified investment products and improvements in risk management practices are accelerating institutional adoption.

According to Cointelegraph, after a recent rebound, Ethereum's price has stabilized above $2,300, with ETH futures open interest increasing to $25.4 billion, indicating a rise in demand for leveraged positions.Meanwhile, Ethereum spot ETFs listed in the U.S. have seen a net inflow of $248 million over the past 10 days, and Bitmine Immersion has also disclosed the purchase of $312 million worth of ETH. However, the funding rate for ETH perpetual contracts has failed to remain above 5% and has repeatedly fallen below 0, reflecting limited market confidence in this round of increases. Additionally, Ethereum's weekly DApp revenue has dropped from $24 million in early February to $11 million, and weakened network activity along with intensified competition among public chains may continue to affect ETH's trend.