Early Riders | Open Range Weekly | 01.11.26
Bitcoin remained mostly flat this week at a market capitalization of $1.81T.
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Industry & Institutional Updates
Morgan Stanley announced its registration for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana ETFs, which is extremely notable given the bank only has two ETFs under their brand today.
IBIT received almost $1.2B of inflows in the first two days of 2026, on pace for $150B of inflows per year.
Rumble & Tether launched a crypto wallet designed for the creator economy, enabling direct monetization, payments, and treasury management using stablecoins and bitcoin, reducing reliance on traditional payment processors.
MSCI confirmed that Strategy will remain eligible for inclusion in its indexes, signaling growing institutional acceptance of bitcoin treasury firms.
Walmart’s OnePay business enabled instant crypto-to-cash conversion at retail locations, as OnePay integrates bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody services into its mobile banking app.
Tether bought $780M in bitcoin, which is part of the firm's broader strategy to allocate 15% of its quarterly profits to fund additional bitcoin purchases.
Strategy added an additional $116M to its bitcoin treasury last week, utilizing its cash reserves to preserve flexibility with its bitcoin treasury strategy.
Barclays invested in Ubyx, a startup developing clearing systems for tokenized money, as global banks are prioritizing tokenized payment infrastructure for digital assets.
Regulatory Updates
South Korean regulators are grappling with whether to allow regulators to freeze accounts that are suspected of price manipulation before it actually occurs, as they look to take a tougher posture on the oversight of digital asset transactions.
Brazilian policymakers announced a stablecoin backed by the Brazilian government's debt, which aims to give foreign investors access to the country's high-yield environment.
What We're Watching
Morgan Stanley filed S-1s this week for spot bitcoin and Solana ETFs, as large banks integrate digital assets into their core product stack. Morgan Stanley manages over 20 different ETFs, but they all sit under sub-brand vehicles, and not the traditional Morgan Stanley umbrella. Morgan Stanley’s bitcoin ETF sits under the primary entity and will become the 3rd ETF in the firm’s history to receive the official Morgan Stanley name and branding.
The significance of Morgan Stanley’s move is commitment. Even after a year of muted price action, banks continue to expand access to bitcoin, reinforcing that the next phase of adoption will be slower, quieter, and more durable.
Chart of the Week
The average daily exchange rate of bitcoin in 2025 was only (0.02%), as 2025 highlighted the flattest year on record for the asset.
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