Nasdaq announced on Monday that it is working with U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, its parent Payward, and Backed, the issuer of xStocks, to build an equities transformation gateway for tokenized shares. The initiative follows Nasdaq's tokenization filing with U.S. securities regulators in September 2025 and Kraken's acquisition of Backed in December, with full issuer services expected to start in the first half of 2027.

Crypto investment products saw $619 million of inflows last week, with Bitcoin ETPs alone attracting $521 million and turning positive year-to-date. Total assets under management in crypto ETPs rebounded to $135.4 billion, even as geopolitical risks connected to Iran weighed on sentiment.

Vancouver city staff have concluded Bitcoin is not an eligible municipal investment under the Vancouver Charter and advised council to halt Mayor Ken Sim's 2024 proposal to establish a Bitcoin reserve, ahead of a Tuesday vote. The initiative, originally passed with six votes in favor and two against, aimed to diversify the city's financial reserves and use Bitcoin as an inflation hedge, but faces renewed scrutiny amid the cryptocurrency's price decline.

On Wednesday, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $462 million in net inflows, led by BlackRock's IBIT with $307 million, while Bitcoin briefly moved past $73,000. Over the last three trading days, cumulative ETF inflows reached $1.1 billion, pushing year-to-date flows back to around $700 million after a prior $3.8 billion outflow stretch.

On Tuesday, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $225.2 million in net inflows as BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) attracted $322.4 million, offsetting sizable redemptions from rival products. Fidelity’s FBTC and Grayscale’s GBTC saw outflows of $89.3 million and $28.2 million, while weekly inflows for US spot Bitcoin ETFs reached $683.3 million amid ongoing market fear and geopolitical uncertainty.

The European Central Bank, in a new working paper titled "Stablecoins and Monetary Policy Transmission" released on Tuesday, warns that rising stablecoin adoption is associated with declining retail bank deposits and weaker lending to firms. The study finds that as households and companies move funds from bank deposits into stablecoins, banks may face higher funding costs and monetary policy transmission to the real economy could be disrupted, especially given the dominance of US dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Qivalis, a consortium of 12 major European banks including ING, UniCredit and BBVA, is preparing to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The group is in advanced talks with crypto exchanges, market makers and liquidity providers to distribute the token, while member banks will also offer it directly. Qivalis plans full reserve backing, with at least 40% held in bank deposits and the remainder in short-term sovereign bonds from multiple euro-area countries.

Binance listed ten Ondo tokenized stocks, ETFs and commodities on its Binance Alpha platform following regulatory approvals in Abu Dhabi. The launch lineup includes AAPLon, NVDAon and QQQon, with additional assets planned. Alpha, introduced in late 2024, is separate from spot and futures, and these products are unavailable in the United States.

Over the weekend, Bitcoin fell below $65,000 before stabilizing on Monday, while Polymarket showed a 72% probability of BTC dropping under $55,000 with $1.2 million in volume. Bitcoin market capitalization decreased to $1.31 trillion, ranking 15th globally, and traders also priced 61% and 47% odds for dips below $50,000 and $45,000.