Welcome to Kaupr Today

Good morning – today’s Kaupr Today connects global moves in AI, markets and regulation with what’s happening here in the Nordics. From Bitcoin’s volatility and new US green lights for stablecoins and custody, to AI’s challenge to SaaS business models, RWA debates, and fresh milestones in institutional staking and tokenized money markets, we also track Nordic policy signals, corporate moves and upcoming events shaping the region’s role in the next phase of digital finance.

Have a good read,
Morten

Kaupr Today is supported by BTCX, as one of our Season Partners.

Macro stress and legal shocks rattle crypto

Bitcoin drops below $63K as IBM suffers worst day in 25 years

Bitcoin briefly dropped below $63,000 in a broad risk-off move that also saw IBM plunge more than 13% in its worst single-day performance since 2000, triggering about $370 million in crypto liquidations across major exchanges. Analysts tied the slide to heavy selling in tech stocks and forced unwinds of leveraged longs, while some retail traders on Stocktwits cast the dip as a potential AI-driven long-term buying opportunity once volatility cools.

Why it matters: The synchronized selloff in bitcoin and a legacy tech giant like IBM underlines how tightly crypto now trades with broader tech and AI sentiment, with equity shocks increasingly spilling over into digital-asset pricing and leverage dynamics.

Source: Bitcoin price drops below $63K after IBM’s worst day in 25 years, Stocktwits

ETH, SOL and XRP slide as ‘AI scare trade’ hits crypto

Major altcoins extended losses as traders unwound crowded AI‑linked bets across risk markets, with Ethereum, Solana and XRP underperforming while bitcoin held up relatively better. Concerns that massive AI infrastructure spending could crowd out other risk assets are spilling into crypto, pushing traders toward more defensive positioning in BTC and stablecoins.

Why it matters: The AI‑driven risk‑off shift shows how quickly narrative trades can reverse across both equities and digital assets, highlighting the vulnerability of major altcoins when macro AI fears collide with already fragile crypto sentiment.​

Source: ETH, SOL, XRP Extend Losses as ‘AI Scare Trade’ Unsettles Risk Markets, CoinDesk

Terraform administrator blames Jane Street’s alleged insider trading for Terra collapse

The court-appointed administrator winding down Terraform Labs has sued Jane Street, alleging the trading firm used material nonpublic information from Terraform insiders to front-run trades during the May 2022 UST–LUNA meltdown and accelerate the project’s collapse. The complaint says Jane Street dumped roughly $85 million of UST minutes after Terraform quietly pulled $150 million from a Curve pool, while Jane Street argues Terra failed because of its own flawed algorithmic stablecoin design.

Why it matters: The lawsuit could become a landmark case for defining insider-trading and market-manipulation liability in DeFi, potentially reshaping how regulators, institutions and trading firms treat access to nonpublic information in decentralized markets.

Source: Terraform admin blames Jane Street alleged insider trading for collapse, TradingView / Cointelegraph

US stablecoins and custody green lights

SEC eases capital rules on stablecoins, lowering burdens

New SEC guidance slashes the capital “haircut” on qualifying payment stablecoins held by broker-dealers from effectively 100% to about 2%, bringing their treatment closer to low-risk money market instruments. That change means a firm holding 1 million dollars in stablecoins now sees only around 20,000 dollars deducted from regulatory capital instead of needing to reserve another 1 million, freeing balance sheets to use stablecoins more actively for settlement, collateral and liquidity under stricter standards on backing, redemption and transparency.

Why it matters: By dramatically reducing capital penalties, the SEC has removed one of the biggest structural barriers for Wall Street broker-dealers to hold and use stablecoins at scale, paving the way for deeper institutional adoption in trading, settlement and tokenized markets.

Source: SEC Eases Capital Rules for Stablecoins, Reducing Issuer Burdens, Binance Square

Crypto Com wins initial U.S. approval for federally regulated bank

Crypto Com has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter Foris Dax National Trust Bank, a limited-purpose national trust bank focused on services like digital asset custody, staking and trade settlement rather than traditional deposit-taking or lending. The new federal charter will sit alongside the company’s existing state-regulated custody trust setup and comes amid similar conditional approvals for firms such as Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets, pointing to growing institutional and regulatory acceptance of federally supervised crypto custody structures.

Why it matters: Conditional OCC approval moves Crypto Com closer to becoming a nationally supervised qualified custodian, a key credential for winning business from ETF issuers, asset managers and other institutions that prefer federally regulated partners for digital asset storage and settlement.

Source: Crypto.com approved for U.S. federally regulated crypto custodian bank, CoinDesk

AI challenges SaaS business models

Agentic AI pressures SaaS to rethink seat-based pricing

Agentic AI is changing how software is actually “used,” with autonomous agents rather than human users driving much of the value, making traditional per-seat licenses a poor fit. As vendors lean more on customization, continuous adaptation and embedded engineering support, they are being pushed toward hybrid models that blend platform fees with ongoing service components and outcome-based pricing.

Why it matters: Agentic AI could force a structural reset of SaaS economics, pushing vendors beyond scalable seat licenses toward outcome- and service-driven pricing models that reshape margins, competition, and how enterprise software is bought and sold.

Source: Why Agentic AI Is Breaking The SaaS Pricing Model, Forbes

Is the share market heading for a SaaS-pocalypse?

The Guardian looks at how fears that AI could replace many SaaS tools have sparked a sharp selloff in software stocks, knocking Australia’s tech index about 17% lower year to date and more than 25% over six months, while Atlassian’s share price has roughly halved. Strategists argue SaaS firms with strong moats such as proprietary data, complex systems or network effects are better placed to withstand AI disruption than those offering easily copyable tools.

Why it matters: The “SaaS-pocalypse” debate shows how AI is simultaneously driving fears of a tech bubble and of deep structural disruption, forcing investors to reassess which software business models and data advantages can survive in an AI-centric market.

Source: Is the share market headed toward a ‘SaaS-pocalypse' – and what would that mean?, The Guardian

Nordic news, comments and events

Don’t mix Bitcoin with ‘crypto’, Sandbakken argues

In a Dagens Næringsliv op-ed, Håkon Sandbakken, deputy leader of Bitcoinpolitisk Institutt Norge, urges policymakers and investors to clearly separate Bitcoin from the broader “crypto” universe, arguing that lumping them together hides Bitcoin’s distinct monetary properties and risk profile. He warns that treating Bitcoin as just another speculative token leads to misguided regulation and debate, and calls on media, regulators and banks to use more precise language to avoid conflating Bitcoin with high-risk crypto schemes.

Why it matters: The argument reflects a growing push, especially in Europe, to regulate and analyze Bitcoin separately from the broader crypto market, which could shape future policy, public perception and institutional adoption paths.

Source: Ikke bland bitcoin og krypto, Dagens Næringsliv

Northstake adds Solstice to institutional staking vault network

Northstake has added Solstice Staking to its Staking Vault Manager, bringing a security-focused validator operator that currently safeguards over $1 billion across more than 9,000 validator nodes into its stVault ecosystem. Solstice-operated validators are now live within stVaults, giving Solstice’s institutional clients streamlined access to stVault-based Ethereum staking through a single interface, in line with Northstake CEO Jesper Johansen’s vision for institutional-grade staking via Lido Finance V3 stVaults.

Why it matters: The partnership tightens the link between institutional clients and liquid staking infrastructure, strengthening the security and operational backbone behind Lido-based Ethereum staking flows.

Source: Institutional staking just got stronger, LinkedIn

Kaupr TV Live Friday 27 February - here is your quick guide

Supported by our Season Partners:
BTCX ▪ BYBIT ▪. COINMOTION ▪ K33

Here are your quick links to where you can get more information, watch and register for Kaupr TV Friday February 27 at 12:00 - 13:00 CET
Kaupr TV landing page
Linkedin Event
YouTube
Luma Event

What to watch for

Track how banks, SaaS and AI names trade around fresh macro data, Trump policy headlines and any new stress in credit or geopolitics, especially given fragile risk sentiment and stretched moves in parts of tech.

Why it matters: The next swing—orderly consolidation, a rotation out of crowded AI/SaaS leaders or a broader relief rally—will show whether the current market is still a sentiment‑driven risk trade or shifting toward a more durable, fundamentals‑led repricing in digital finance.

Share Kaupr Today

Thank you for reading Kaupr Today. If you find this briefing useful, please share it with a colleague or friend who should be following Nordic and European digital‑finance news more closely. Wishing you a great Tuesday — and welcome back on Wednesday morning for the next edition of Kaupr Today.

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Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor