Welcome to Kaupr Today

Welcome to Kaupr Today, your morning briefing where global risk, regulation and digital rails meet. In today’s issue, US and EU rule‑making around stablecoins and MiCA, the Nordic push on listed crypto and everyday payments, and Ethereum’s zk‑powered “decentralized renaissance” are all converging to decide whether digital assets become core macro plumbing or stay a speculative sideshow.

If you’re new to Kaupr Today or missed the first issues, you can jump straight into the latest editions from 4 - 14 January via the Kaupr Today home page.​

Welcome!
Morten

Markets and makro

WEF report: Global risk backdrop

The World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Risks Report ranks “geoeconomic confrontation” — the use of sanctions, tariffs and other economic weapons — as the single biggest threat to global stability this year, ahead of misinformation, societal polarisation, extreme weather and state‑based conflict. In a survey of more than 1,300 leaders, about half expect a turbulent or stormy world over the next two years, while economic downturn, inflation and asset‑bubble risks all jump in the rankings as debt and tariff battles raise the odds of renewed market volatility.​

Why it matters: This is a year where trade and tariff shockwaves, rather than pure military escalation, are seen as the main trigger for supply‑chain stress, price spikes and policy uncertainty.​

Source: Economic confrontation biggest global threat in 2026, WEF report says, Euronews.

Shift from fear to “high plateau” and Solana’s push

AInvest argues that crypto sentiment shifted from prolonged fear to a neutral‑to‑greedy “high plateau” in late 2025, with the Fear & Greed index around 48, Bitcoin consolidating near 87k–88k, ETF inflows above 25 billion dollars and a 0.52 correlation to the Nasdaq 100 as BTC trades more like a high‑beta tech asset than an isolated macro hedge. Solana’s Gen 3 architecture is highlighted as an infrastructure winner, with reported 1,054 TPS, roughly 0.017‑dollar fees, 1.4 billion dollars in 2025 network revenue and a growing role as a yield‑bearing treasury asset in ETFs and corporate balance sheets.​

Why it matters: The report frames 2026 as an “institutional era” where entries are less about extreme fear or euphoria and more about allocating to assets that pair ETF access with real throughput and yield—putting SOL alongside BTC on many institutional shortlists.​

Source: The Shift from Fear to Greed in Crypto Markets: Strategic Entry Points and Solana’s Emerging Dominance, AInvest.​

Regulation and policy

US market‑structure fight

Coinbase is ramping up pressure on US lawmakers as a major crypto market‑structure bill heads into Senate markup, signalling it could withdraw support if negotiators move from disclosure rules into directly curbing stablecoin reward programs. The exchange argues that yield on regulated stablecoin holdings is now a core consumer product and warns that over‑tight rules would push activity offshore and weaken US competitiveness in digital assets.​

Why it matters: Stablecoin yield is becoming a political fault line in US crypto policy, and the outcome will shape how attractive regulated dollar rails remain versus offshore structures and non‑US currency options.​

Source: Coinbase Ups Pressure as Crypto Bill Moves to Senate Markup, Bloomberg​

MiCA pressure inside the EU

France’s markets regulator AMF says a large share of crypto companies operating in France without an EU licence have still not said whether they will apply for MiCA authorisation or shut down before the June 30, 2026 transition deadline. The watchdog is pushing for “orderly wind‑down” plans and warning the public about unregulated platforms that may have to exit, signalling strict MiCA enforcement and likely consolidation into fully licensed venues across the EU.​

Why it matters: MiCA is now an execution story, and firms that cannot meet the bar face real business‑model risk as licences become the main ticket to staying in the EU market.​

Source: French regulator says some crypto firms unresponsive as EU licence deadline approaches, Yahoo Finance/Reuters.​

Nordic crypto and payments

Bitwise entering the Nordics

US crypto manager Bitwise is entering the Nordic market with seven physically backed crypto ETPs on Nasdaq Stockholm, led by an ultra‑low‑fee Core Bitcoin product at about 0.05% annually—far below the roughly 2% Swedish market level. Bitwise is targeting what it calls one of Europe’s most mature and sophisticated digital‑asset regions, where Sweden already accounts for roughly a quarter of the continent’s crypto ETP market despite its small population.​

Why it matters: This sharply raises the bar on fees, transparency and regulated cold‑storage custody for exchange‑traded crypto exposure, signalling intensifying competition around institution‑grade listed products.​

Source: US crypto giant Bitwise bets on the Nordic region, Kaupr.

Klarna has launched peer-to-peer payments

Klarna has launched instant peer‑to‑peer payments in 13 European countries, positioning its app more clearly as a hub for everyday banking, consumption and money management while directly challenging incumbent mobile payment apps in the Nordics. The new feature builds on growth in Klarna Balance and the Klarna card, which have reached over 4 million sign‑ups and roughly 14 billion dollars in deposits by late 2025.​

Why it matters: Klarna is moving deeper into everyday banking, pulling P2P payments, cards and money management into a single interface and increasing pressure on traditional banks’ consumer apps.

Source: Klarna steps up fight against Nordic payment giants with peer-to-peer payments, Kaupr.​

Ethereum renaissance and roadmap

Vitalik: “The decentralized renaissance is coming”

Vitalik Buterin says that by early 2026 tools like Fileverse have become good enough that he now regularly writes and collaborates on documents fully on decentralized infrastructure, calling this a sign that “the decentralized renaissance is coming.” He frames this as a shift from talking about decentralization in the abstract to actually using censorship‑resistant, open tools for everyday workflows such as document sharing and collaboration.​

Why it matters: The comment underlines a key 2026 test for Ethereum and Web3 more broadly: whether core contributors and teams genuinely live on decentralized tools day‑to‑day, turning decentralization from an ethos into default, practical infrastructure.​

Source: “The decentralized renaissance is coming”, Vitalik Buterin on X.

Ethereum’s roadmap and zero‑knowledge proofs

An Ethereum Foundation director says zero‑knowledge proofs have shifted from niche research to a core pillar of Ethereum’s long‑term roadmap, underpinning privacy, rollups and new scaling architectures. Zk‑based rollups, verification and identity tooling are expected to shape how enterprises and institutions interact with public chains, from L2 throughput and settlement to compliance‑friendly privacy and tokenized asset workflows.​

Why it matters: Serious Ethereum strategies now need a clear zk story—whether in rollup selection, compliance‑friendly privacy, or how to anchor tokenized assets and payments on public infrastructure.​

Source: Ethereum’s Future Hinges on Zero-Knowledge Proofs, EF Director Says, CoinDesk.

What to watch out for

Watch how bitcoin trades after the latest CPI‑driven short squeeze and whether it can actually hold current levels as rate‑cut expectations shift again, or snaps back if the Fed pushes back on market optimism. Keep an eye on whether Asia’s AI‑ and chip‑led equity rally extends as Japanese and Chinese tech earnings roll in, and how Beijing balances access to Nvidia‑class hardware with tighter domestic AI rules.

Why it matters: Together, these moves will determine whether bitcoin and digital tokens behave more like credible payment and allocation rails through 2026 – plugged into ETFs, banks and consumer apps – or slide back into being traded mainly as a speculative macro side bet.​

Keep Kaupr Today in your inbox

Thanks for reading – and feel free to reply with story tips, Nordic launches or people and projects that should be on the community’s radar. Forward today’s briefing to a colleague who watches bitcoin, policy and Nordic digital finance, and help grow this community at the edge of markets and the internet.

Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor