Appold Market Watch - Week ending 10 October 2025

Market Update & Industry News - Week ending 10 October 2025

🔷 Bitcoin reached a new all-time high above $125,700 following a strong rally in mid-2025 driven by increased institutional demand and adoption, greater regulatory clarity, and macroeconomic factors, including post-election digital assets-friendly policies in the U.S.

Appold View: In the context of Bitcoin’s current rally, this new all-time high is arguably more than just a price milestone. Driven less by hype and more by institutional flows, ETF demand, and macro positioning, this is a significant reflection of how much the asset and perceptions of it have matured.

🔷 The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has officially lifted its four-year ban on retail access to digital assets exchange-traded notes (ETNs). The end of the prohibition on these ETNs, which are debt products that track digital asset prices without requiring investors to hold the assets directly, allows UK investors to purchase these products through regulated exchanges for the first time since January 2021.

Appold View: While lifting the ban on digital assets ETNs signals progress, the FCA’s choice to greenlight notes rather than funds raises concerns. ETNs are unsecured debt instruments, exposing investors to issuer risk and offering far less transparency and protection than Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Whilst the FCA has said its current regulatory framework for funds would require updating to allow scope for digital assets ETFs, for a regulator focused on consumer safeguards, this order of approvals does raise questions.

🔷 Samsung Electronics has partnered with Coinbase to offer Galaxy device owners in the U.S., around 75 million people, access to the exchange's priority trading service, Coinbase One, through Samsung Wallet integration. Samsung and Coinbase plan to expand the program to international markets in the coming months.

Appold View: This partnership has significant potential for Coinbase, with Samsung effectively turning its vast mobile user base into an on-ramp for Coinbase’s services. If expanded globally, this could quietly become one of the largest retail gateways into digital assets.

🔷 Luxembourg’s Intergenerational Sovereign Wealth Fund (FSIL) has invested 1% of its holdings in Bitcoin ETFs, to become the first state-level fund in the Eurozone to do so. The allocation follows a revision of FSIL’s which authorises an allocation of up to 15% of its assets to alternative investments, including digital assets.

Appold View: Whilst FSIL is relatively modest in size with an estimated $880 million in assets, a Bitcoin ETF allocation by a Eurozone sovereign fund marks a clear shift toward mainstream acceptance of digital assets within traditional state portfolios.

#Marketwatch #Blockchain #Investments