Market Update & Industry News - Week ending 22 November 2024

🔷 Global investment bank Goldman Sachs reported intentions to expand the use of the Goldman Sachs Digital Assets Platform (GS DAP), which tokenises financial assets and reduces settlement times. The bank announced its first strategic partner, Tradeweb, which will include its trading and liquidity capabilities to GS DAP. 

Appold view: We believe this is a good strategic move for growing the platform in an already competitive space. Becoming standalone offers more neutrality and encourages a wider industry collaboration from a more diverse range of participants. It also enables them to operate outside of the constraints of a bank regulatory environment, as well as protecting the bank from their actions, which should allow more focus on innovation.

🔷 Bitcoin continued its rally, breaching $99,000 for the first time on Friday following expectations of a pro-digital asset government led by President-elect Donald Trump. Bitcoin has more than doubled from its 2024 low of $39,507.

Appold view: Bitcoin’s surge to fresh highs this week highlights ongoing market confidence, driven by robust ETF volume inflows and growing institutional interest. If it hits $100k, it will be interesting to see if this triggers more Buy pressure or a sell-off. 

🔷 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler announced he would resign from the commission fully when the new U.S. Government takes office on January 20th, 2025. Mr Gensler was viewed by some as an adversary to the digital asset industry, with the new president-elect stating that he would “fire” him if elected.

Appold view: This anticipated resignation was well received by many in the blockchain community based on his previous negative comments. Market participants are closely monitoring the transition, with some expectations that the incoming administration could halt some of the ongoing SEC cases against digital asset firms. 

🔷 The Economic Secretary to the United Kingdom’s Treasury confirmed that the UK is planning a pilot to digitise a Gilt instrument using DLT, referred to as DIGIT. The pilot will use the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), a regulatory environment supervised by the Bank of England and the FCA. The bond will operate separately from the Debt Management Office’s current operations to endure independence from the UK’s debt management system. 

Appold view: This is a significant step in catching up with other sovereign nations as the government aims to position the UK as the primary innovation hub. We are curious about which blockchain they plan to run this scheme on. It’s critical that they select one with strong governance and longevity. 

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