Wall Street Pushes Deeper Into Crypto as Market Hits $3.22 Trillion

NEW YORK — Major Wall Street institutions are accelerating their integration of digital assets at the start of 2026, marking a decisive shift in how traditional finance engages with the cryptocurrency ecosystem. A wave of institutional actions helped propel the aggregate market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem up 2% to $3.22 trillion.

XRP led performance among top-tier digital assets, surging 12% over a 24-hour period to reach $2.37. Bitcoin, the market’s largest asset by valuation, rose 1% to trade at $93,780, while Ethereum advanced 2% to $3,240. Solana gained 3% to reach $139.

Bank of America officially introduced dedicated cryptocurrency investment guidance for its wealth management clients. Under the new framework, the bank’s financial advisers are permitted to recommend portfolio allocations of up to 4% in digital assets. The move represents one of the highest explicit crypto allocation benchmarks issued by a bulge-bracket U.S. wealth management firm to date.

Goldman Sachs adjusted its coverage of key digital asset brokerages, upgrading its rating on Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) to “Buy.” The upgrade reflects rising institutional trading volumes and Coinbase’s central position as the primary custodian for the majority of U.S.-listed spot crypto ETFs. Goldman Sachs also downgraded retail trading platform eToro, citing shifting retail participation patterns and competitive fee pressures.

Mid-cap and specialized utility tokens registered double-digit price increases. RENDER, the native token of the decentralized GPU rendering network Render Network, jumped 18%. SUI, the native asset of the Sui Layer-1 blockchain, also recorded an 18% increase, while Litentry (LIT) advanced 15%.

Concurrently, Morgan Stanley submitted a preliminary filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a proprietary Solana Trust. The filing signals expanding institutional interest beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum toward high-throughput Layer-1 blockchain protocols. Morgan Stanley previously became the first major wirehouse to allow its financial advisers to offer spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to eligible clients following the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin products in January 2024 and spot Ethereum ETFs later that year.

In Tokyo, Japan’s finance minister voiced support for deeper integration of cryptocurrency into the national financial infrastructure. Proposed measures under consideration by Japanese authorities include lowering capital gains tax rates on digital assets—shifting them from the current “miscellaneous income” classification, which can carry progressive tax rates up to 55%, toward a flattened tax structure similar to traditional equities—and implementing structural reforms at the national exchange level to enhance market liquidity.

Market participants also closely monitored macroeconomic developments in South America, where ongoing economic volatility and currency shifts in Venezuela continue to influence regional cross-border payment flows and local digital asset adoption.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the Ethereum network has effectively resolved the “Blockchain Trilemma”—a foundational computer science challenge first defined in the early days of public blockchains regarding the trade-offs between security, scalability, and decentralization. Buterin attributed the milestone to the execution of Ethereum’s Layer-2 roadmap.

By shifting transaction execution to secondary networks (rollups) while utilizing the main Ethereum layer for settlement and consensus, the protocol has expanded transaction throughput without sacrificing network security or node operator decentralization. This progress builds on the network’s March 2024 Dencun upgrade, which implemented EIP-4844 (“proto-danksharding”) to significantly reduce transaction fees on Layer-2 networks.

Despite market gains, the digital asset sector faces ongoing operational and security headwinds. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken confirmed it is conducting a forensic investigation into claims that customer data was put up for sale on dark web marketplaces following a potential security exploit. The San Francisco-based exchange, founded in 2011, has not yet released details regarding the scope or origin of the alleged breach.

Separately, hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger issued a security alert to its user base following a data breach involving Global-E, a third-party e-commerce partner managing the company’s international store checkout services. The breach exposed customer contact details, including names and email addresses.

Ledger emphasized that the incident was restricted to external order management databases and did not compromise hardware devices, seed phrases, or user private keys. The breach follows a similar 2020 incident in which a third-party marketing database breach exposed contact information for Ledger customers.