Appold Market Watch - Week ending 9 January 2026
Market Update & Industry News - Week ending 9 January 2026
🔷 The Financial Conduct Authority has announced that companies will be able to apply to the UK’s new crypto asset licensing regime starting from September this year. All firms undertaking regulated crypto asset activities must apply before the regime takes effect in late 2027.
Appold’s view: Although the regime is still some way from going live and has been a long time coming, this progress is a positive and encouraging step that will help the UK keep pace with the EU’s more established regulatory framework.
🔷 Morgan Stanley has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, marking one of the first formal moves by a major U.S. investment banking group to offer publicly listed digital asset products under its own asset-management platform.
Appold’s view: BlackRock's BTC ETF has been a very successful product and Morgan Stanley appears to have moved ahead of some of its peers in following suit. What's interesting is that their strategy of anchoring issuance at the platform level and applying internal distribution controls appears to be treated less as a trading product and more as a regulated financial infrastructure.
🔷 Visa reportedly saw a 525% increase in spending on its blockchain project-associated digital asset cards in 2025, rising from $14.6 million to $91.3 million. ether.fi led this rise with $55.4 million in total spending.
Appold’s view: This significant growth and the fact that ether.fi accounted for the majority of volume underscores how this market structure is evolving. Where staking, yield, and payments are beginning to converge into a single, user-facing financial stack rather than remaining siloed crypto activities.
🔷 Bank of America will allow its wealth advisers at Merrill and its private bank to proactively recommend four U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. These ETFs include Bitwise, Fidelity Investments, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (Btc), and BlackRock products.
Appold’s view: While Bank of America has permitted client access to digital asset ETFs for some time, this change now allows its advisors to recommend these products within client portfolios. The distinction between permitting access and endorsing allocation sends a clear signal about' the confidence in this asset class.
🔷 J.P. Morgan is launching its USD-backed deposit token JPM Coin (JPMD) natively on the Canton Network. The phased rollout, developed with Digital Asset and Kinexys, aims to enable real-time settlement and synchronisation of tokenised money and assets.
Appold’s view: The collaboration reinforces the institutional direction of travel toward shared infrastructure rather than expensive and limiting proprietary rails.
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