Major financial institutions deepened their crypto involvement this week as Bitcoin reclaimed the $80,000 milestone and stablecoin issuance accelerated. The developments underscore crypto's expanding role within traditional financial markets.
Asset manager Charles Schwab, which manages $13 trillion, announced it is expanding its digital asset offerings beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum to include Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink. The move reflects growing institutional interest in cryptocurrency assets over the past two years.
Circle minted approximately 5 billion USDC over the past week, marking one of its largest weekly issuance pushes. The stablecoin expansion signals increased liquidity as overall stablecoin supply rebounded after a recent downtrend.
Bitcoin's price movement reflected broader market dynamics, with the cryptocurrency reclaiming $80,000 per unit after breaking past a $79,000 resistance level on Thursday, driving its market capitalization to $1.61 trillion. The price movement coincided with U.S. Treasury announcements regarding bond buybacks, which prompted debate among market observers about yield suppression and its effects on alternative assets.
In a notable development for crypto-traditional finance integration, Coinbase and Better launched bitcoin-backed mortgages following a waitlist that projected over $260 million in demand. The product allows qualified homebuyers to use Bitcoin as collateral for down payments while maintaining standard Fannie Mae mortgages.
