Bitwise Asset Management is reportedly filing applications for 11 cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds. This indicates that traditional financial institutions are expressing confidence in digital assets. Bitwise Asset Management is one of the most aggressive asset manager groups that are pushing the development of more cryptocurrency exchange-traded products in the United States during this strategic period…
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Bitwise Asset Management is reportedly filing applications for 11 cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds. This indicates that traditional financial institutions are expressing confidence in digital assets. Bitwise Asset Management is one of the most aggressive asset manager groups that are pushing the development of more cryptocurrency exchange-traded products in the United States during this strategic period… Read More
Trustless BTCVaults aim to use Bitcoin as on-chain collateral without wrappers or custodians. Babylon’s staking previously reached over $2 billion in total value locked. An integration with Aave V4 is expected to bring native Bitcoin collateral to DeFi by April 2026. Babylon is moving to widen Bitcoin’s role in on-chain finance, following fresh backing from
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Trustless BTCVaults aim to use Bitcoin as on-chain collateral without wrappers or custodians.
Babylon’s staking previously reached over $2 billion in total value locked.
An integration with Aave V4 is expected to bring native Bitcoin collateral to DeFi by April 2026.
Babylon is moving to widen Bitcoin’s role in on-chain finance, following fresh backing from venture capital firm a16z Crypto.
The investment supports Babylon’s transition from a single-purpose staking platform toward a broader financial infrastructure built directly on Bitcoin.
Rather than focusing only on yield, the project is positioning BTC as usable collateral across lending and other decentralised applications, without relying on wrapped tokens or custodial bridges.
The shift reflects a growing push across crypto markets to unlock capital efficiency from Bitcoin’s large but largely inactive supply, while keeping security anchored to the Bitcoin network itself.
a16z crypto investment
On Dec. 7, a16z Crypto disclosed a $15 million investment in Babylon, made through the purchase of Babylon’s native BABY tokens.
Babylon was originally developed as a Bitcoin staking protocol that allows BTC holders to earn yield without transferring assets off the Bitcoin network.
The firm said the investment reflects confidence in Babylon’s approach to extending Bitcoin’s functionality beyond staking, while preserving Bitcoin’s core security assumptions.
a16z positioned the project as a potential neutral alternative to wrapped BTC models, which currently dominate decentralised finance but introduce reliance on issuers, custodians, or multi-signature structures.
Trustless BTCVaults explained
Babylon is now expanding into lending infrastructure through what it calls Trustless BTCVaults.
These vaults are designed to allow Bitcoin to act as verifiable on-chain collateral without bridges, wrappers, or custodians.
The architecture relies on cryptographic tools such as witness encryption and garbled circuits to enable conditional execution tied directly to Bitcoin transactions.
The aim is to let Bitcoin interact with decentralised applications while remaining native to its own network.
According to a16z, this design could reduce counterparty and settlement risks that arise when BTC is represented on other blockchains via synthetic tokens.
Babylon’s approach targets the large pool of Bitcoin capital that currently sits idle, estimated at more than $1.4 trillion, by making it usable in lending, credit, and other capital-efficient use cases.
Founders and technical roots
Babylon was founded by David Tse and Fisher Yu.
Tse is a professor at Stanford University and is known for his academic work in information theory and blockchai
Bitcoin price saw a slight dip and sat near $91,300 at the time of writing. Gains on Tuesday followed bullish news from the MSCI. Will BTC bounce to reclaim $94,000, or will another rejection push prices under $90,000? Bitcoin slipped to below $91,000 after hitting a fresh rejection near the $95,000 resistance level. The decline
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Bitcoin price saw a slight dip and sat near $91,300 at the time of writing.
Gains on Tuesday followed bullish news from the MSCI.
Will BTC bounce to reclaim $94,000, or will another rejection push prices under $90,000?
Bitcoin slipped to below $91,000 after hitting a fresh rejection near the $95,000 resistance level.
The decline came amid a 3% dump for the bellwether cryptocurrency in the early US trading session on January 7, 2026.
Market data shows the price of Bitcoin fell to lows of $90,986 across major exchanges. However, bulls were showing resilience as the price moved back above $91,300 at the time of writing.
Mixed market sentiment as Bitcoin slips to $91k
Bitcoin price faced renewed selling pressure on Wednesday as bearish forces regrouped and looked to regain control after the crypto market’s brief rally.
JUST IN: Bitcoin falls under $91,000 pic.twitter.com/4h25NgQydh
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 7, 2026
On Tuesday, Bitcoin had jumped to near $95,000 before hitting a fresh rejection.
The dip to under $91,000 showed a mixed market outlook regarding the MSCI announcement that the index provider would not remove Strategy and other digital asset treasury companies from its benchmarks.
As seen across the market, this decision alleviated fears of forced selling by passive funds, sparking optimism and contributing to BTC’s temporary pump.
Morgan Stanley’s filing for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs also acted as a fresh tailwind.
However, amid outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs, the positive sentiment soon gave way to some jitters. Bulls showed hesitation as investors weighed what the MSCI planned ahead of the upcoming review.
While many celebrated the news, some pointed to what the index noted.
CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn shared this cautious outlook via X:
“MSCI didn’t reject the idea of excluding crypto-heavy firms. They’re just delaying the decision and plan a broader review of investment-style companies,” he posted. “This feels more like a warning shot than a green light.”
Bitcoin price jitters
Bitcoin’s next move will be key for both bulls and bears.
Trading volumes have remained elevated in the past 24 hours, despite overall weakness and macroeconomic readings. A rebound from the pullback will accelerate a new rally.
But persistent bearish pressure could yet lead to another rejection. The RSI and MACD indicators on the 4-hour chart suggest sellers have an upper hand.
If prices slip under $90,000, a deeper correction may mean a revisit of support at $87k and then $85k.
Bitcoin 4-hour chart by TradingView
In the short term, the $91,000 zone will act as a pivotal support.
