bitcoinist.com

Kraken and Deutsche Börse has announced a strategic partnership that will integrate crypto with traditional market infrastructure.

Kraken And Deutsche Börse Have Partnered Up

As announced in a press release, US-based digital asset exchange Kraken has teamed up with Deutsche Börse Group to bridge crypto and traditional finance and deliver institutional investors access across asset classes.

Headquartered in Frankfurt, Deutsche Börse Group is one of the biggest financial market infrastructure providers in the world. It operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which ranks the 12th largest in market cap globally.

In the first phase of the partnership, Kraken will integrate directly with 360T, a subsidiary of the German multinational corporation that provides foreign-exchange trading services. This integration will provide Kraken clients access to the latter’s foreign-exchange liquidity.

The partnership will go the other way, as well. Via Crypto Finance, another Deutsche Börse subsidiary, and Kraken, Deutsche Börse Group clients will be able to trade cryptocurrencies and derivatives.

The two firms also plan to leverage Kraken Embed, the crypto trading infrastructure solution created by Kraken, to provide institutions in Deutsche Börse Group’s network with digital asset access.

The press release noted:

Together, the companies will develop advanced white-label solutions enabling banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions to offer secure, compliant crypto trading and custody services to clients across Europe and the U.S.

Another thing Kraken and Deutsche Börse Group are collaborating on is integration of xStocks in the ecosystem of 360X, Deutsche Börse’s tokenized trading venue. xStocks is a stock tokenization standard that has been gaining adoption. Kraken announced the acquisition of Backed, the company behind xStocks, just this Tuesday.

Arjun Sethi, Kraken Co-CEO, said:

By linking traditional and digital markets across a wide range of asset classes, we’re building a holistic foundation for the next generation of financial innovation: defined by efficiency, openness, and client access.

The companies are also looking to make derivatives listed on Deutsche Börse Group’s Eurex, the largest futures and options marketplace in Europe, available on Kraken, if regulators provide the nod.

Stephan Leithner, Deutsche Börse CEO, noted:

This collaboration with Kraken is a great strategic fit for Deutsche Börse Group. It underscores our ongoing commitment to shaping the future of financial markets by combining the trust and resilience of our regulated infrastructure with the innovation of the digital asset ecosystem.

Back in October, the German organization also announced another crypto partnership, this one with USDC issuer Circle. The collaboration aimed to integrate the latter’s USD and EUR stablecoins in the former’s infrastructure to boost stablecoin adoption in Europe.

Bitcoin Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $92,500, up 1% over the last week.

Quick Facts:

• Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan doesn’t believe that Strategy will sell any of its Bitcoins, saying that the company has ‘enough cash to cover interest payments for the foreseeable future.’
• This reinforces the digital gold thesis and supports a longer-term, institution-led $BTC accumulation narrative.
• Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) aims to fuse Bitcoin settlement with SVM-based execution, targeting sub-second, low-fee smart contracts to overcome BTC’s speed, cost, and programmability limits
• $HYPER just reached $29M in presale and targets a potential 1,395% post-launch ROI in 2026.

Institutional conviction in Bitcoin just got a fresh boost.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has indicated that Strategy has no plans to dump its massive Bitcoin position, easing fears of a forced sell-off and reinforcing the idea that large, regulated players are thinking in halving cycles, not headlines.

Strategy now holds 650,000 $BTC, valued at over $74B, and has just purchased another 130 $BTC on December 1.

For you as a Bitcoin holder, that matters. When big allocators telegraph ‘we’re not selling,’ it stabilizes expectations around future supply and dampens the tail risk of sudden institutional liquidation.

That macro backdrop is exactly why high-upside Bitcoin-adjacent plays are back in focus.

If core $BTC exposure is the conservative base layer, then infrastructure tied to Bitcoin’s success – especially Layer 2 networks – becomes the speculative frontier where upside can be multiples higher if adoption hits.

In that context, Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) and its ongoing presale stand out.

Positioned as ‘the fastest Bitcoin Layer 2 with SVM integration,’ $HYPER is pitching itself as a way to turn Bitcoin’s settlement layer into a high-throughput smart contract environment, effectively grafting Solana-grade performance onto BTC’s security model.

Read more about Bitcoin Hyper right here.

Why Institutions Are Forcing a Rethink of Bitcoin Infrastructure

Strategy’s public stance underscores a wider trend: institutional allocators are treating Bitcoin more like digital gold and less like a trade.

Long-term balance sheet positioning, ETF flows, and strategy mandates are tightening the ‘float,’ which is great for price stability but leaves a big question unanswered – what about utility and throughput?

Bitcoin’s base layer still clears roughly single-digit transactions per second, with on-chain fees spiking into tens of dollars during congestion. Lightning helps for simple payments, but it does not solve generalized programmability or DeFi-native use cases.

That gap is why you’re seeing a race among Layer 2 designs targeting Bitcoin: rollups, sidechains, and virtual machine bridges all battling for mindshare.

Projects like Stacks, Rootstock, and various rollup experiments each approach the problem differently, from separate smart contract layers anchored to $BTC to EVM-compatible sidechains.

As markets digest that the ‘digital gold’ thesis is intact, attention naturally shifts to which infrastructure can unlock yield, DeFi, and dApps on top of it – and that’s where Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is starting to enter the conversation alongside more established names.

Read more about Bitcoin Hyper in our guide.

Bitcoin Hyper’s SVM Layer 2 Pitch to Bitcoin Holders

Where Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) differentiates itself is in its technical bet: integrating the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) directly into a Bitcoin Layer 2.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, the project leans on an execution environment already proven to handle thousands of transactions per second with sub-second finality, aiming to exceed Solana’s own performance by optimizing specifically for L2.

The architecture is modular: Bitcoin Layer 1 handles settlement and security, while a real-time SVM Layer 2 processes execution.

A single trusted sequencer batches transactions and periodically anchors state to Bitcoin, while SPL-compatible tokens are adapted for the L2. The Canonical Bridge handles the wrapped $BTC, lowering confirmation times to seconds and improving the network’s scalability dramatically.

Investor interest is already material.

The Bitcoin Hyper presale has jumped over $29M recently, with the token priced at $0.013375, signaling that the market is willing to fund a serious attempt at Bitcoin-native high throughput.

Long-term, $HYPER positions itself as a potential slam dunk. Our price prediction for $HYPER, based on the project’s utility and investor support during the presale, hints at a 2026 target of $0.20. 2030 could push that number to $1.50 once the project breaches into the mainstream.

In terms of raw profit, think ROIs of 1,395% and 11,115% respectively.

For $BTC holders looking to stay within the Bitcoin orbit but earn on a more dynamic asset, that combination of yield, infrastructure exposure, and long-term profit-hunting potential could be compelling.

$HYPER is making an aggressive case that a Solana-grade execution environment, plugged into Bitcoin finality, is one of the more asymmetric ways to express that view. If that sounds appealing, read our guide on how to buy $HYPER today.

More importantly, do it soon, because Bitcoin Hyper has a targeted release window between Q4 2025, which is nearly over, and Q1 2026: time is not your friend.

Buy $$HYPER on the official presale page.

This isn’t financial advice. DYOR before investing.

Authored by Bogdan Patru, Bitcoinist: https://bitcoinist.com/strategy-wont-sell-btc-bitcoin-hyper-presale-reaches-29m.

Reports have disclosed a sharp rebound in crypto markets this week, with Bitcoin jumping 8% to trade above $93,000 after sliding from lows under $85,000 earlier in the week.

Traders are watching the Federal Reserve’s December actions closely as they try to gauge how much liquidity will return to markets. The move pushed bitcoin back within reach of a roughly $2 trillion market cap.

Sovereign Funds Building Longer Positions

According to BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink, several sovereign wealth funds have been quietly adding to positions as prices fell from a peak near $126,000.

“There are a number of sovereign funds that are standing by…. and they’re buying ‘incrementally’ as the Bitcoin price has retreated from its $126,000 peak,” Fink said.

He said these buyers are taking a gradual approach — adding over time rather than making quick bets — and treating holdings as multi-year positions.

Reports have disclosed that public funds in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg have bought into BlackRock’s IBIT bitcoin fund in recent months.

Fink warned that markets remain skewed and that volatility will persist while many players remain highly leveraged.

Tokenization Seen As A Long-Term Story

Fink has been vocal about tokenization as a major theme for the coming years. Based on reports, he wrote in The Economist that tokenization could grow as quickly as the internet did in its early days, noting that Amazon had only $16 million in sales in 1996.

BlackRock, the $10 trillion asset manager he runs, has pushed the idea that a digital wallet could one day hold stocks, bonds and tokenized assets together.

Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said some of the largest banks are already working with Coinbase on stablecoins, custody and trading services, though he did not name the banks.

On Ownership & Worry

According to remarks made at a DealBook event alongside Andrew Ross Sorkin and Brian Armstrong, Fink described bitcoin in emotional terms: ownership often reflects worries about physical safety or financial security.

He tied demand to concerns over the debasement of financial assets and rising deficits. Reports have also quoted him warning that the US risks falling behind other governments if it does not speed up adoption of tokenization and other digital tools.

US President Donald Trump has similarly warned about competition from China in crypto innovation.

Market Reaction And Risks Ahead

Traders are already pricing in a variety of scenarios. Some are betting on a major development in 2026 that could reshape demand; others remain focused on short-term policy moves from the Fed.

Bitcoin’s recent 8% gain was the largest daily jump since May, but it came after sharp swings that highlighted how quickly positions can reverse.

With significant capital now involved — and big names publicly backing tokenization — the market is likely to see more headline-driven moves.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView

European exchange WhiteBIT announced the inclusion of its native token in major digital asset benchmarks by leading global provider of financial market indices, S&P Dow Jones Indices, marking a significant step for the platform and the region’s crypto infrastructure sector.

WhiteBIT Included In Major Crypto Indices

On Thursday, top crypto exchange WhiteBIT announced that its token, WBT, has been added to the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market (BDM) Index, curated by S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI).

The S&P BDM Index is designed to track the performance of crypto assets that meet strict institutional criteria, including liquidity, market capitalization, governance, transparency, and risk controls, and are listed on recognized open digital exchanges.

This marks an important milestone for both WhiteBIT and the broader fintech landscape in Central and Eastern Europe, the exchange noted, as it reinforces “the platform’s growing role in the global crypto economy” and highlights the industry’s move toward regulated, infrastructure-level players.

In a statement, Volodymyr Nosov, CEO of WhiteBIT, affirmed that “being recognized by S&P DJI is more than an index inclusion — it signals that crypto infrastructure from our region has reached global institutional standards.”

The announcement also revealed that WBT was added to the other four S&P Dow Jones digital-asset indices, including the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset (BDA) Index, S&P Cryptocurrency Financials Index, S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Ex-MegaCap Index, and the S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index.

Notably, index providers have been expanding coverage beyond protocol-layer tokens as the industry matures, acknowledging the systemic role of exchanges and financial infrastructure platforms, positioning these companies within the global map of institutional-grade digital asset providers.

The exchange underscored that the classifications require a remarkable record of liquidity stability, transparent price formation, and consistent market cap behavior. “This is a turning point not only for our company but also for the evolution of compliant crypto services worldwide,” Nosov continued.

WhiteBIT’s Expansion And WBT’s Momentum

The S&P index inclusions follow a strong market performance from WBT, which rallied around 50% over the last three months, despite recent market volatility that sent many leading tokens to multi-month lows in the past few weeks.

In mid-November, the altcoin reached an all-time high (ATH) of $62.96, fueled by last month’s positive developments. As reported by Bitcoinist, WhiteBIT unveiled its entry into the Argentine and Brazilian markets, building on its expansion to Australia, Croatia, Italy, and Kazakhstan.

The move is expected to integrate local fiat providers and add support for local currencies, aiming to further enhance accessibility and convenience for domestic users in the two largest countries in South America.

Moreover, the exchange signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Durrah AlFodah Holding, represented by His Royal Highness Prince Naif Bin Abdullah Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to drive the Kingdom’s development in blockchain technology, digital finance, and data infrastructure.

Under the strategic agreement, WhiteBIT is set to provide technological expertise and infrastructure design. Meanwhile, Durrah AlFodah will facilitate the exchange’s market entry, regulatory engagement, and partnership development across Saudi Arabia.

Now, being part of S&P’s indices offers WBT a clear benchmark, the announcement added, facilitating its use in future financial products and long-term investment strategies.

This expanded representation marks an important shift for WBT: from a utility token into a component integrated into global benchmark structures used by investment firms, ETF/ETN designers, and quantitative research platforms. Its presence in multiple institutional models means that WBT is now incorporated into the analytical frameworks that guide long-term allocation strategies, diversified exposure construction, and risk-adjusted portfolio modelling.

In the late hours of December 3, WBT rallied to a new ATH of $63.05 before stabilizing around the $62 mark, according to CoinGecko data. This represents a 14.5% increase from the recent lows and a 9% surge in the weekly timeframe.