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• Deutsche Bank is building a future that will be radically different from anything the financial world has ever known. Tokenized securities, digital settlement, programmable assets.
• As the technical vision becomes clearer, a crucial question remains: Which blockchain should the new financial architecture actually run on? The name VeChain appears more and more frequently.

VeChain has earned its reputation as Specialist in supply chains, but has now become a serious candidate for general RWA tokenization. VeChain is a highly interesting partner for a bank that not only wants to manage digital assets but also connect them with real data.

Why VeChain is an option

Deutsche Bank is observing the development of tokenization with the calm of an actor who knows that he cannot afford to make a wrong decision. Scalability, governance, compliance with existing and future regulation – all of this must be taken into account.

VeChain covers areas that are increasingly critical for institutional capital markets because its systems are designed to REmbedding eal-world data into digital assets in a tamper-proof manner is something that goes far beyond classic cryptocurrencies. For Deutsche Bank, which is heavily involved in ESG reporting, supply chain financing and tokenization, this is more than just a technical detail.

It is a possible building block for products that are regulatory-compliant and innovative. Nobody is officially talking about a partnership yet; But in the logic of the “Tokenized Capital Markets Thesis” – the assumption that real assets will be digitized, fragmented and programmable in the future – VeChain inevitably comes into focus as a technology basis.

Capital markets in transition

The Deutsche Bank Research Institute is convinced that tokenization is not just a trend, but a structural change. A global wealth transfer of over $80 trillion is imminent, and digital assets could provide the infrastructure to make it efficient. If capital markets are based on real-time data in the future, if CO₂ certificates, supply chain status data and proof of production become tradable assets, then proven technology is needed to reliably provide this data.

Vechain fits

VeChain has specialized in exactly this in recent years and has thus occupied a – now former – niche that is now becoming strategically relevant. This does not mean that a Deutsche Bank/VeChain collaboration is imminent.

But it means that highly specialized systems like VeChain are no longer peripheral, but are becoming the infrastructure elements of a new financial world.

In this world, securities are no longer printed – they are programmed.

• 2026 begins with three events that could hardly be more different: a technical builder meeting in Lisbon, a global Web3 expo in Dubai and an exclusive institutional summit in St. Moritz.
• Together they set the agenda for the crypto industry with topics that will define the year: infrastructure, tokenization, regulation and institutional adoption.

Die BUIDL Europe remains true to its claim of being an event for doers. The conference is aimed at developers, protocol teams and founders who work on the technical basis of Web3.

7–8 January: BUIDL Europe Lisbon – The path to the web3

The focus is on new Layer 2 architectures, zero-knowledge technologies, interoperability and the question of how Web3 applications can be scaled without losing their decentralization.

The intention of the event is clear: less marketing, more code. Lisbon is once again positioning itself as a European center for Web3 development. The impact is traditionally noticeable because many projects deliberately set their technical roadmaps, toolkits or protocol upgrades for this date.

For the market, this means: new standards, new narratives and often the first signals about where the infrastructure is heading in the new year.

January 14th to 15th: Web 3.0 Expo Dubai – Tokenization and AI

Dubai uses this Web 3.0 Expo as a stage to consolidate its role as a global Web3 location. The event is much broader than BUIDL Europe.

It attracts startups, AI companies, gaming studios, regulators, investors and media. The intention is to showcase the fusion of tokenization, artificial intelligence, digital identity and DeFi while underlining Dubai’s liberal regulatory ambitions.

The impact of such expos is less technical and more geopolitically and economically relevant. New partnerships are emerging, tokenization projects are announced, and the MENA region is providing momentum that is increasingly being perceived globally.

For investors, Dubai is an indicator of which topics are gaining regulatory and economic tailwind – particularly RWA tokenization, AI-powered protocols and Web3 gaming.

January 14th to 16th: CfC St. Moritz – setting the pace for institutions

The CfC St. Moritz remains one of the most exclusive crypto events worldwide. The list of participants consists of family offices, banks, asset managers, regulators and founders. The intention is not public visibility, but rather confidential exchange about regulation, macro trends and institutional strategies.

The impact of this peak is subtle but significant. Many regulatory and institutional trends that become big later in the year arise here in a small circle. Switzerland is using the event to strengthen its position as a regulated, yet innovation-friendly location in Europe.

For the market, this means: signals on ETF structures, custody, compliance standards and institutional capital flows. What is being discussed in St. Moritz has influenced the strategic direction of major investors more than once.

• Bitcoin and Ethereum have been the favorites of almost every institutional investor for over a decade.
• But in 2025, capital flows and strategic allocations increasingly shifted to XRP and Solana.

This is not only an indicator of the technological quality of the two new champions, but it also reflects the new, clear regulation and real-world use cases that institutions are looking for.

The data speaks for itself: XRP and Solana had the largest growth in inflows, while Bitcoin suffered a loss of importance for the first time since 2018.

ETFs and RWA tokenization were the deciding factor

The rise of XRP was largely aided by the approval of several spot ETFs in the US and Europe. All of them have not had a single day of net outflows since their launch – a first in crypto ETF history.

At the same time, the CLARITY Act provided new regulatory certainty, positioning Ripple-based payment infrastructures as Ripple has arrived in the EU banking system.

Solana, on the other hand, impressed with its role as a leading platform for the tokenization of real assets. Over $873 million in real world assets, including tokenized shares of Tesla, Nvidia and even treasuries, were issued on Solana in 2025.

Institutional heavyweights such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance relied on the network’s scalability and low transaction costs. Western Union also announced a Solana-based stablecoin platform for over 150 million customers – a move that underscores the network’s relevance in global payments.

Bitcoin and Ethereum remain relevant

Despite their market capitalization and historical dominance, Bitcoin and Ethereum suffered a decline in importance in 2025.

Although Bitcoin remains the asset with the highest turnover, institutional investors are increasingly seeing innovation potential elsewhere. Although Ethereum was reclassified as a “core asset”, XRP and Solana overtook it in terms of growth dynamics and real economic integration.

The new institutional crypto elite is no longer just defined by large market shares, but increasingly by regulatory compliance, technical scalability and strategic integration into global financial infrastructures.

XRP and Solana meet these criteria – and have therefore established themselves as new favorites.

• The Bitcoin Core v30 upgrade not only affects technology, but also network policy. The limit for OP_RETURN data is to be increased drastically.
• While it was previously only possible to embed comparatively tiny amounts of data in transactions, the new version allows up to 100 kilobytes.

Critics say the adjustment is a risky design decision that could have dire consequences. They warn that this could cause the blockchain to reach a size that would jeopardize the decentralization of the Bitcoin project.

However, supporters argue that the change merely formalizes existing options and creates more flexibility. The discussion shows how sensitive interventions in the Bitcoin infrastructure are perceived by the community and how quickly technical decisions can take on political dimensions.

Central structure is affected

The operators of the full nodes, which as a whole form the backbone of the blockchain network, are particularly affected. In the future, you will have to provide significantly more storage space and bandwidth because large amounts of data can be stored in the blockchain via OP_RETURN.

For many node operators this means: they need new, expensive hardware. Exchanges and mining pools must adapt their infrastructure in order to continue to work reliably and not risk overloading their nodes.

Developers of alternative Bitcoin implementations also have to decide whether to adopt the change or consciously distance themselves from it.

Uncertainty about how the network will behave in the coming months is causing reluctance to upgrade nodes. Some operators are waiting, others are testing the new version in isolation in order to better assess possible effects.

What those affected can do now

For many, the question arises as to how they should deal with the situation. The most sensible recommendation is not to implement the update too quickly, but rather to first follow the ongoing discussion in the developer community. Anyone who runs a node can also adjust local rules to limit or simply reject large OP_RETURN transactions.

Companies should review their capacity planning and set up monitoring systems to detect unusual mempool activities early. Since the debate is ongoing, there is a possibility that the change will be modified or withdrawn in a later version.

Until then, caution is advised. Bitcoin Core v30 shows once again how complex and sensitive the further development of a global, decentralized system is and how important it is to critically monitor technical innovations.

• IOTA is aiming for mainstream presence and real adoption in 2026, with a focus on cross-border trade.
• South Korea is the focus: the foundation and Schiener emphasize cross-border as a bottleneck and are planning more activities on site.

For IOTA, more presence in the mainstream press and a stronger focus on real adoption are the focus for 2026. In particular, the digitalization of cross-border trade should become a core issue.

The trigger for the latest communication was an interview by IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener with The Economist Korea. The official IOTA account on X shared the article on January 5th and stated:

“We are excited to launch 2026 in The Economist Korea Spotlight, featuring @DomSchiener and positioning IOTA as the core infrastructure for digitizing global trade… and it is already gaining traction in the Korean media landscape.”

We’re excited to start 2026 in the @Economist_Korea spotlight @DomSchiener and position IOTA as core infrastructure for global trade digitalization, both online and in print… and it’s already gaining traction in the Korean mediascape To sum up:

Korea is already leading… pic.twitter.com/oHMB0hvHrD

— IOTA (@iota) January 5, 2026

Visibility and adaptation for IOTA in 2026

The IOTA Foundation writes in the X-Post that South Korea is already a leader in implementing digital customs and paperless trading systems in the areas of logistics, ports, government and finance. From the IOTA Foundation’s perspective, the biggest problem continues to be with cross-border processes:

“However, the biggest bottleneck remains cross-border trade, where international processes are still based on paper and manual trust mechanisms. This is exactly where IOTA and TWIN come in: a neutral public infrastructure that connects these systems openly, securely and globally across borders.”

Against this background, the message from the IOTA Foundation is that 2026 should be seen less as a marketing year and more as an implementation and scaling phase. Stefan, aka “IOTA Penguin”, a person from the IOTA Foundation’s Ecosystem Growth team, writes via X:

“2026 will be a turning point for IOTA. We are sharpening our focus on what actually matters – and what no one else in this space can replicate. We are building infrastructure that solves problems far beyond Web3.”

The core message is clear: unlike other crypto projects (which rent large advertising spaces worldwide and implement other marketing measures on a large scale), it is not about pure self-expression, but rather about visibility in traditional channels in order to make the topic of digital trading processes and trust-minimized interoperability known beyond crypto circles. Stefan therefore explains:

“And the signal is getting louder and louder. We are moving to the fore in the mainstream media, far beyond the crypto scene. This recognition is no coincidence and will continue into the future. What awaits us in 2026 is scaling, relevance and broad acceptance.”

Korea in focus

Co-founder Dominik Schiener also ties the external impact directly to the adoption in 2026. In response to the foundation’s X-Post writes he said in a comment that it was gratifying to see that the “need for a neutral and trustworthy IOTA infrastructure to digitize global trade is increasingly recognized.”

He also emphasizes that although Korea needs little help in the area of ​​digitalization domestically, cross-border trade is still heavily based on paper-based and manual trust mechanisms.

“This is exactly where IOTA comes into play together with TWIN: We provide a neutral public infrastructure to connect these systems across borders in an open, secure and globally interoperable way. This positive response confirms the path we have chosen,” says Schiener.

What is striking is that Schiener does not describe Korea abstractly as a possible partner, but rather as a country in which initial contacts have already been made.

“I’m really looking forward to spending a lot more time in Korea this year and driving IOTA adoption across financial institutions, logistics companies and the government,” reveals Schiener.

• Japan’s current overhaul of its crypto regulation is a revolution. The government is moving it completely into the legislation of the traditional financial system.
• Taxes are falling dramatically and non-compliant providers are consistently excluded from the market.

This creates a new situation for the DACH region, which creates both regulatory pressure and opens up new opportunities for institutional providers. The development in Tokyo is changing the international market structure and has a direct impact on the EU.

Japan is integrating crypto into the classic tax system

With the decision to place cryptocurrencies under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act in the future, Japan is finally saying goodbye to the idea of ​​a parallel crypto regime. Bitcoin, Ethereum and other 103 crypto assets are classified as financial products, subject to strict disclosure requirements, insider trading legislation and consistent market standards.

In parallel, the government is introducing a flat rate tax of 20% on profits from qualifying crypto assets and allowing losses to be carried forward for three years. These measures create regulatory clarity that is unparalleled anywhere in the world.

While the MiCAR establishes a horizontal framework in the EU, Japan relies on vertical integration into existing capital market structures. For international investors, this creates an environment that is more predictable in terms of both tax and regulatory aspects than in many Western markets.

New opportunities for DACH companies

The DACH region is watching all this closely: the Japanese decision to give banks direct access to digital assets could signal to European regulators that they also need to bring about greater integration in order to remain globally competitive. At the same time, a strategic opportunity arises for companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland:

As Japan aligns its own rules with MiCAR and CARF, regulatory barriers to entry are decreasing. BaFin, FMA and FINMA-regulated providers can register more easily and benefit from the fact that Japan consistently excludes unregulated offshore exchanges. While Bybit and other platforms have to leave the market, regulated DACH companies gain credibility and potentially market share.

Global capital flows and ETF dynamics will change

The expected shift in global capital flows is particularly relevant for the DACH region. Japanese institutions are among the largest holders of international securities. If even a fraction of this liquidity flows into crypto ETFs, it will influence price developments on European trading venues and increase demand for products from issuers such as 21Shares and the ETC Group.

At the same time, Japanese stablecoin models that rely heavily on banks could accelerate the European debate about a MiCA-compliant Euro stablecoin. The combination of effective regulation, tax attractiveness and institutional openness makes Japan a global driving force whose decisions have an impact far beyond its own national borders.

• The XRP price is up 24% in 4 days; Volume and liquidations indicate a short squeeze.
• The price increase is driven by $46.1 million in ETF inflows, risk-on sentiment and a bullish signal in the XRP/BTC chart.

XRP has gained around 24% in the past four days, making one of the most noticeable moves in the large-cap segment. The token rose more than 11% to around $2.40 in the last 24 hours alone, pushing its market cap to over $144.3 billion.

Tailwind from US spot XRP ETFs

Apparently a central driver for the price rally was the increasing demand in the US spot XRP ETFs. According to SoSoValue, the ETF complex recorded net inflows of $46.1 million on January 5. This is the strongest day since December 3rd ($50.27 million) and the seventh largest day of inflows since the products launched on November 13th, 2025.

Cumulatively, net inflows rose to $1.23 billion and total net assets to $1.65 billion. Bitwise led with $16.61 million on January 5, followed by Franklin Templeton (XRPZ) with 12.59 million, Grayscale (GXRP) with 9.89 million, and 21Shares (TOXR) with $7.01 million.

Bitcoin is pulling the market along

At the same time, the mood in the entire crypto market changed over the weekend, with Bitcoin serving as the driving force. The reason for the sudden change in sentiment was the news that the US military had successfully completed an operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The following theory about US President Donald Trump’s strategy then became established in the financial markets: a freer supply from Venezuela’s oil reserves could cause oil prices to fall and thus depress inflation and interest rates. This is ultimately positive for risk assets like Bitcoin and altcoins. In this environment, XRP benefited disproportionately. Traders often see XRP as the leading token in altcoin rallies once BTC builds momentum.

Speculation returns

The data also suggests that risk appetite is noticeably returning. Spot trading volume jumped to $7.32 billion, up 144% in 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

According to Coinglass data, there was also an extreme increase in the derivatives market: volume increased by 128.96% to $13.44 billion, open interest increased by 19.30% to $4.64 billion. The options market is particularly noticeable, with an increase of 558.66% in options volume (US$18.03 million) and 27.19% in options open interest (US$49.14 million).

At the same time, there were $31.96 million in liquidations, including 7.23 million from longs and 24.73 million from shorts. The imbalance suggests that a short squeeze not only accompanied the upward move but also reinforced it.

Bullisches Setup im XRP/BTC-Chart

Additionally, XRP continues to be one of the most talked about cryptocurrencies on X, with bullish predictions abound. Well-known crypto analyst Matt Hughes (“The Great Mattsby”) wrote yesterday on the XRP/BTC pair:

“Something incredibly bullish is developing on the XRP/BTC chart that hasn’t been seen in a very long time. It’s about to break out above the monthly Ichimoku cloud for the first time since 2018. That would mean that XRP will massively outperform BTC.”

Hughes had already predicted a bullish move on X on January 4th:

“XRP has had a perfect bounce at the 20-month moving average as the upper and lower bands continue to tighten – setting up the next explosive push higher. Crazy how many people are bearish on a key high-time frame support of all places.”