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Welcome to Kaupr Today

Good morning! In today’s Kaupr Today we look at Bitcoin’s latest macro‑driven sell‑off and rising institutional influence, a quieter but focused crypto VC and trading landscape, accelerating tokenization and stablecoin rails, and Nordic finance stories from GreenMerc, H100 and women taking charge of their long‑term crypto finances.

We are also sharing a summary of and links to a video interview with “the new kid on the block”, 21X and its CEO Max Heinzle.

Have a good read,
Morten

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Bitcoin, macro headwinds & institutional flows

Bitcoin slips 66,000 dollars as hawkish Fed minutes rattle markets

CryptoNews Australia reports that Bitcoin dropped more than 2.5% and slipped under 66,000 dollars after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January meeting came in more hawkish than expected, strengthening the US dollar and souring risk sentiment across markets. The move extended Bitcoin’s longest weekly losing streak since the 2022 bear market and pushed it toward the bottom of its recent trading range, with traders now eyeing support around 60,000 dollars if 66,000 fails to hold. Crypto‑linked stocks such as Coinbase and MicroStrategy also reversed earlier gains, while the Crypto Fear and Greed Index plunged to extreme fear as commentators like Michael Burry warned that Bitcoin is trading more like a speculative risk asset than a macro hedge.

Why it matters: The sell‑off underlines how closely Bitcoin now trades with broader macro risk, reacting to Fed rate expectations and dollar strength much like equities, and shows how tightening financial conditions can quickly spill over into both crypto prices and listed companies with large Bitcoin exposure.

Source: Bitcoin Slips Below 66K as Hawkish Fed Minutes Rattle Markets, CryptoNews Australia

This crypto sell‑off points to increased institutional influence

A recent Forbes analysis argues that the sharp early‑2026 crypto sell‑off looks less like a retail panic and more like a macro‑driven, institution‑led repositioning, noting that drawdowns in Bitcoin and major tokens coincided with selling in precious metals, AI stocks, and other risk assets. The piece suggests that large funds are increasingly trading crypto as part of a broader macro portfolio, de‑risking across asset classes when rates, inflation, or growth expectations shift, rather than treating digital assets as an isolated “casino” market.

Why it matters: The sell‑off is framed as evidence that institutional investors now have enough weight in crypto to shape market cycles, meaning future moves will be more tightly linked to traditional macro factors and portfolio flows than to purely crypto‑native sentiment or retail speculation.

Source: This Crypto Sell‑Off Points To Increased Institutional Influence In 2026, Forbes

Crypto venture, platforms and trading rails

Dragonfly Capital closes 650 million dollar fourth fund as crypto

CoinMarketCap Academy reports that crypto venture firm Dragonfly Capital has closed its fourth fund at 650 million dollars, exceeding an initial 500 million dollar target despite a sharp downturn in overall crypto VC funding. The fund will focus on real‑world financial use cases like stablecoins, DeFi infrastructure, and prediction markets, building on early bets in projects such as Polymarket and Ethena rather than more speculative consumer web3 experiments.

Why it matters: The raise shows that while headline crypto VC is down, capital is concentrating in established managers backing regulated, finance‑first crypto infrastructure — a signal that institutional investors still want exposure to blockchain, but via projects that look and feel more like core financial plumbing than hype cycles.

Source: Dragonfly Capital Closes $650M Fund Amid Crypto VC Slowdown, CoinMarketCap

Crypto trading isn’t coming to Elon Musk’s X (yet)

Decrypt reports that X product head Nikita Bier has poured cold water on expectations that Elon Musk’s platform will soon offer in‑app crypto trading, despite earlier teasers around “Smart Cashtags” and ambitions to build X into a broad money and payments app. Bier indicates X is focusing first on payments, tipping, and financial content tools rather than becoming a full exchange, suggesting that any direct trading features are on hold for now.

Why it matters: The update tempers hopes that X will quickly emerge as a major new crypto trading venue, highlighting how regulatory risk and execution complexity are pushing even ambitious “everything apps” to move cautiously on full‑blown trading products.

Source: Crypto trading isn’t coming to Elon Musk’s X (Yet), says product head, Decrypt

Tokenization, stablecoins and on‑chain credit

Tokenized US Treasuries sector nears 11 billion dollars as 2026 inflows accelerate

Bitcoin com reports that the market for tokenized U.S. Treasuries has grown to nearly 11 billion dollars in early 2026, after drawing around 1.9 billion dollars of new inflows since the start of the year despite a wider crypto bear market. The piece highlights how issuers like Ondo and Franklin Templeton are turning short‑term U.S. debt into on‑chain yield products that can settle 24/7 and plug directly into DeFi for collateral and liquidity.

Why it matters: The continued growth of tokenized Treasuries underlines how real‑world assets are becoming one of crypto’s strongest adoption stories, as investors and institutions use public blockchains to access dollar yield and as a bridge between traditional fixed income and programmable finance.

Source: Tokenized US Treasuries Sector Nears $11B as Inflows Continue in 2026, Bitcoin com

21x is building Europe’s first regulated DLT market infrastructure

Kaupr highlights a video interview (in English) with co‑founder and CEO Max Heinzle of 21X, who explains how the firm became the first regulated DLT trading and settlement system under the EU’s pilot regime and is bringing issuance, trading, and near‑instant settlement of tokenized securities onto public blockchains. He describes this as a “Spotify moment for capital markets,” focusing on tokenized stocks, bonds, and funds within a familiar, regulated user experience where the blockchain layer stays largely invisible to end investors.

You can watch the video interview on YouTube and read an article in English, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish on the Kaupr news site.

Why it matters: The interview shows how Europe’s new digital‑asset rules are being used to turn public blockchains into regulated capital‑markets infrastructure, potentially shrinking settlement from days to seconds while making it easier to issue and trade real‑world assets on‑chain.

Source: 21x is building Europe’s first regulated DLT market infrastructure, Kaupr.

Stablecoin transactions hit record 33 trillion dollars in 2025

A recent LinkedIn post highlights new data showing that global stablecoin transaction volumes reached around 33 trillion dollars in 2025, after growing more than 70% year‑on‑year and outpacing traditional payment networks like Visa on raw throughput. The figures underscore how dollar‑denominated stablecoins are evolving from trading tools into core “internet money” rails for settlements, remittances, and B2B payments across crypto and traditional finance.

Why it matters: The milestone illustrates how stablecoins are rapidly becoming systemic financial plumbing, turning public blockchains into a de facto global settlement layer and raising fresh questions for regulators, banks, and payment providers about how to integrate or compete with on‑chain dollars.

Source: Stablecoin transactions hit 33 trillion dollars, LinkedIn post by Vid Hribar

Apollo Global lines up 9% stake in DeFi lending protocol Morpho

Apollo Global Management has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Morpho Association that allows Apollo affiliates to acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over 48 months, equivalent to roughly 9% of the protocol’s 1 billion‑token supply. The tokens can be accumulated via open‑market purchases, OTC deals, and other contractual arrangements, with ownership caps and transfer restrictions in place, and Galaxy Digital’s U.K. arm acting as Morpho’s exclusive financial advisor on the deal. Morpho, a decentralized on‑chain lending network providing infrastructure for lending markets and curated yield vaults, currently holds about 5.8 billion dollars in TVL, making it the sixth‑largest DeFi protocol.

Why it matters: The partnership shows one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, with more than 900 billion dollars under management, taking a sizable governance stake in a DeFi lending protocol, underscoring how institutional capital is increasingly using on‑chain lending as part of a broader shift toward tokenized credit markets.

Source: Morpho Association Announces Cooperation Agreement with Apollo, Morpho

Nordic finance, Bitcoin and women in crypto 

Women should take responsibility for crypto and long‑term finances, argues Norwegian expert Kaja Vagle

Norwegian newspaper VG profiles Kaja Vagle, founder of CryptoClarity and former police investigator and bank compliance specialist, who argues that women need to take more responsibility for their own long‑term finances and not leave investing and crypto decisions to partners or “the men in the room.” She points out that women often live longer, earn less, and save less for retirement, yet remain underrepresented in both stock and crypto markets, and says that learning basic investing and understanding crypto’s use cases is now part of modern financial literacy rather than a niche hobby.

Why it matters: The piece highlights how gender gaps in savings and investing risk being replicated in the crypto and digital‑asset era, and positions voices like Vagle’s as important in encouraging more women to see crypto and investing as tools for financial independence rather than something “too technical” or best handled by others.

Source: Kaja Vagle on crypto: “Women should take responsibility”, VG

GreenMerc’s march towards a modern niche bank continues

Kaupr reports that Swedish fintech GreenMerc is pressing ahead with its ambition to become a modern, regulated niche bank that bridges crypto and traditional finance, even after a tough quarter marked by lower trading volumes, one‑off costs, and leadership changes. The company continues to invest heavily in compliance, MiCA licensing, payments, and crypto infrastructure, positioning its crowdfunding, payment, and regulated crypto services as building blocks for a future digital bank rather than a pure‑play crypto broker.

Why it matters: GreenMerc’s strategy illustrates how smaller listed fintechs in Sweden are trying to turn early crypto and crowdfunding beachheads into full‑spectrum digital banking platforms, showing that the “future of finance” story in the Nordics is as much about upgrading legacy banking models as it is about standalone crypto startups.

Source: GreenMerc’s march towards a modern niche bank continues despite headwinds, Kaupr

H100 builds a Bitcoin axis between Switzerland and the Nordics

Kaupr reports that H100, the listed Nordic Bitcoin treasury company, is building what it calls a “Bitcoin axis” between the Nordics and Switzerland by combining Norwegian leadership, a Swedish stock‑exchange listing, and Swiss financial infrastructure to bring Bitcoin closer to Europe’s capital markets. The strategy builds on H100’s plan to acquire Swiss Bitcoin treasury firm Future Holdings AG, giving it a regulated foothold in one of Europe’s most mature financial hubs while it continues to scale its 1,046‑BTC balance sheet and develop Bitcoin‑native treasury and capital‑markets products.

Why it matters: H100’s cross‑border build‑out shows how specialist Bitcoin treasury firms are using Nordic risk appetite and Swiss institutional depth to create new on‑ramps between listed companies, family offices, and Bitcoin as a long‑term treasury asset in Europe.

Source: H100 builds a Bitcoin axis between Switzerland and the Nordics, Kaupr.

What to watch for

Watch whether bitcoin’s choppy range around the mid‑60ks finally gives way to a clean break—either a reclaim of 68–70k or a slide toward the low‑60s—as ETF flows, a firm dollar and broader risk sentiment set the tone into the weekend.

Why it matters: With spot BTC hovering just below recent highs, a decisive move from here will signal whether the post‑ETF uptrend still has momentum or is giving way to a deeper consolidation, at a time when pockets of stress in altcoins (from XRP to privacy and meme names) and a jittery macro backdrop could quickly tighten financial conditions for the entire crypto complex

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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 Wednesday — and welcome back on Thursday morning for the next edition of Kaupr Today.

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Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor