In a Monday blog post, Bitwise cautioned that the U.S. crypto sector has roughly three years to demonstrate real-world utility amid deepening uncertainty over the Clarity Act. The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its market-structure markup from Monday to Thursday due to a winter storm. Bitwise's Matt Hougan outlined positioning that favors resilient, Bitcoin-centric assets if ambiguity persists.

Standard Chartered said in analysis cited by Bloomberg that growing stablecoin adoption could pull up to $500 billion from U.S. bank deposits by the end of 2028, pressuring lenders reliant on net interest margins. Stablecoin supply has risen more than 40% to just over $300 billion, and regional banks appear most exposed.

Gold printed a new all-time high at $5,350 after briefly spiking to $5,450, with its market cap topping $35 trillion and price last near $5,338. Shanghai silver traded around $140, reflecting a sharp local premium amid industrial demand and yuan volatility. Year to date, gold is up about 22%.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency aims to enable spot cryptocurrency ETFs by 2028 through amendments to the Investment Trust Act, aligning crypto assets with eligible ETF holdings. Parallel tax reforms are expected to lower the current maximum individual crypto tax rate of about 55 percent to a flat 20 percent on specified investments, while major securities groups such as Nomura and SBI prepare related products and estimate potential ETF assets around one trillion yen.

Tether is purchasing up to 2 tons of gold per week and storing the bullion in a high-security Swiss vault, significantly increasing its role in the global gold market. The company's gold-backed token XAU₿ accounted for about 60% of the gold-backed stablecoin supply in 2025, while Tether also launched the dollar-pegged USA₿ for U.S. jurisdictions under the GENIUS Act. Tether reports that its gold reserves exceed 140 tons and that its primary dollar stablecoin has $186 billion in circulation.

Tether Holdings has accumulated around 140 tons of gold after buying over 70 tons last year, CEO Paolo Ardoino said. The firm adds more than a ton weekly and stores bullion in a Swiss bunker; its gold-backed XAUT rose 3.99% in the last 24 hours and logged weekly and monthly gains.

On Wednesday, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon said South Korea's top regulator is advancing plans to limit major shareholders' stakes in domestic crypto exchanges to roughly 15%–20%. The proposed caps would be written into the forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act as part of a shift from a notification regime to an authorization system that treats exchanges more like public financial infrastructure. Leading Korean platforms and some ruling party members oppose the plan, warning it could force founders to sell large holdings and diverge from global norms, while officials argue the rules are needed to reduce ownership concentration and strengthen governance.

Summary: Tether has become a major gold buyer, adding about 27 tons in late 2025 as gold surged past $5,200, signaling a shift toward gold as a neutral reserve asset amid geopolitical and currency risk. The purchases back both USDT reserves and Tether Gold (XAUT), making Tether one of the largest institutional players linking physical gold with blockchain-based finance and reinforcing gold’s structural bull trend in 2026.