Welcome to The Signal
If you’re reading this, you’re either a long-time part of the FINTECH.TV community, or someone who just stumbled into the most interesting corner of the internet. Either way, we’re glad you’re here.
We’ve been covering the collision of finance and technology for a few years now: the blockchain breakthroughs, the AI land grabs, the regulatory pivots, the market moves that nobody saw coming. We’ve done it on screen, on the NYSE trading floor, and at conferences from New York to Davos to Abu Dhabi.
But there’s always been something missing: a way to cut through the noise, and give you the brief on the stories you should have your eye on.
So here we are, this is The Signal.
Every edition, we’ll bring you the most important stories on fintech of the day, without making you wade through everything that isn’t. Here’s what you can expect each time it lands in your inbox:
- The Big Story. We’ll open with what we think is the most important topic of the day or week – what is happening, and why it matters.
- Markets Today. A quick, clean read on where things stand as the day opens. No fluff, just the numbers and context you need to orient yourself before your first coffee goes cold.
- Fintech Business News. The deals, the launches, the pivots, and the people making moves across the industry. We’ll keep it tight and relevant.
- Policy Watch. Policy and regulatory twists and turns are the whole story, half the time. We’ll track the rules being written (and rewritten) in Washington, Brussels, and beyond.
And coming soon, we’ll be adding podcasts to the mix, bringing guests that we believe thinking the most interesting thoughts. Plus, we’re launching a section we’re calling Hot Takes, in which guest contributors from across the industry give us their views on the direction of digitalization. Should be fun.
We’ll be honest with you: we’re building this as we go, and we want to hear what’s useful to you and what isn’t. Hit reply, tell us what you think.
Markets Today
Bitcoin is trading around $66,500 this morning, having been stuck in a narrow trading range centered around $70,000 since mid-February, and institutional yield-hunting strategies appear to be a significant reason why, according to CoinDesk’s analysis. Investors holding bitcoin on their balance sheets have increasingly been selling covered call options against their positions, a strategy that generates premium income in a flat or falling market. This activity transfers large amounts of gamma exposure to market makers, who are then forced to buy when prices dip and sell when they rise, mechanically anchoring bitcoin within a tight band.
The effect has driven down bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, by around 5% this month, a notable divergence from volatility spikes seen across equities, bonds, and oil. Two counteracting forces have reinforced the range-bound dynamic: a geopolitical haven demand providing a floor near $65,000; and elevated Treasury yields capping upside above $75,000.
The macro backdrop remains hostile. Dow futures fell around 300 points this morning, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures also in the red. Brent crude rose 2.5% to $115.45 a barrel this morning, while WTI gained 1.5% to $101.17, as Yemen’s Houthi forces fired fresh missiles at Israel and President Trump signaled interest in seizing Iranian oil assets, deepening fears over Middle East energy flows.
Tale to tell?
We want to hear from you
New colleagues, new products, new regulatory status, new insight on the future of finance and digitalization? We want to spread your news.
Crypto for BNP’s retail investors, Ethereum is set to transform, and the prediction market race heats up
The Fintech Business News
And then there was one: bar Musk, xAI’s founding team is gone
- The remaining two of Elon Musk’s 11 co-founders at xAI, Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen, have now departed the company, completing an exodus of the entire original founding team.
- The departures follow Musk’s own admission that xAI “was not built right the first time around” and is now being rebuilt from the foundations up.
Tackling Ethereum’s fragmentation challenge
- Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Foundation have unveiled the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ).
- The goal is to unify Ethereum’s networks so assets and applications can interact across them in real time.
- The EEZ includes founding members such as Aave and Centrifuge.
ICE doubles down on Polymarket, bringing its total bet close to $2 billion
- Intercontinental Exchange added $600 million to its investment in Polymarket.
- The firm has already begun packaging Polymarket’s trading signals into structured intelligence products for institutional clients.
BNP Paribas opens the crypto door for French retail investors
- BNP Paribas Commercial Banking in France extended its platform to include six new crypto-asset ETNs.
- The ETNs offer indirect crypto exposure through standard securities accounts.
ICYMI
The Rise of Tokenization: How Financial Institutions are Adapting to a New Era
Gurpreet Oberoi, Head of Institutional at Kraken, joins Remy Blaire to discuss the significant shift in institutional adoption of digital assets.
How Stablecoins Are Bridging Traditional Finance and DeFi: Insights from Nicholas Cannon
Nicholas Cannon, the Chief Business Officer at Gauntlet, joins Remy Blaire to discuss the role of stablecoins and yield markets.
Tax Season Challenges for Crypto Traders: De Minimis Exemption and Staking Tax Treatment
Miller Whitehouse Levine, founder and CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, delves into the complexities of the upcoming tax season for crypto investors.
Stablecoin yields, decentralization is challenged, and tech vs. labor
The Policy Watch
Stablecoin yield deal leaves both sides dissatisfied
- Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis reached a compromise on stablecoin yield in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
- The Senate Banking Committee is expected to take up the bill in April.
ECB paper puts DeFi’s decentralization claims under the microscope
- An ECB working paper finds heavy concentration of governance tokens among top holders and delegates.
- The findings could matter for MiCA’s “fully decentralized” exemption.
Washington’s AI debate splits along tech-labor fault lines
- Silicon Valley executives and administration officials pushed for AI acceleration while labor leaders warned about disruption.
- Congress may pass bipartisan AI legislation within months, though compromise remains difficult.
Kenya’s draft crypto rules risk hollowing out local startups
- Kenya’s proposed VASP regulations would impose high paid-up capital requirements.
- Industry groups warn this could push smaller operators offshore or underground.