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Big Finance Plays Nice

Coinbits's Photo
by Coinbits
Friday, Dec 05, 2025 - 22:20

Remember when bitcoin faced critics from every direction? Traditional finance called it "rat poison." Governments threatened bans. Media outlets published endless obituaries. Crypto projects promised to replace it. That chorus has largely gone silent.

This week, Vanguard, the $11 trillion holdout that once declared bitcoin unsuitable for long-term portfolios, listed bitcoin ETFs for sale. Bank of America now recommends that people allocate about 1-4% of their portfolio to bitcoin. BlackRock's Larry Fink, who once called bitcoin and digital assets "an index for money laundering," now admits "my thought process has evolved" while managing the world's largest bitcoin ETF holding $70 billion in assets.

The shift extends beyond traditional finance. The Trump administration actively champions bitcoin. Even altcoin hedge funds benchmark their performance against bitcoin, a tacit admission of bitcoin's supremacy. Altcoin projects themselves have quieted their "X will replace BTC" talking points.

Only one holdout remains: regime media, whose tired critiques grow more embarrassing by the day.

This capitulation was inevitable. Bitcoin's growth stems from bottom-up demand that no institution can manufacture or suppress. As more people discover sound money, the question shifts from "will they accept bitcoin?" to "when will they admit they were wrong?"

The answer, increasingly, is now.

Bank of America authorizes wealth advisers to recommend bitcoin allocations up to 4%, joining institutional stampede

Bank of America will allow its wealth management advisers to recommend up to 4% allocation to bitcoin starting in January, focusing initially on four spot bitcoin ETFs including BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC. The move comes hours after longtime holdout Vanguard reversed its stance and brings BofA in line with BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, intensifying pressure on remaining holdouts like Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs.

The dam breaks

When America's second-largest bank tells its advisors that bitcoin deserves a place in client portfolios, it signals a fundamental shift in institutional thinking. In the long term, the 4% allocation guidance will be understood not as a ceiling but a floor – a starting point that will inevitably expand as bitcoin proves itself as the superior store of value in an era of currency debasement.

Vanguard reverses course, opens platform to bitcoin ETFs for 50 million customers managing $11 trillion

Vanguard Group, the world's second-largest asset manager, reversed years of bitcoin resistance and will now allow its 50 million brokerage customers to trade bitcoin and other digital asset ETFs on its platform starting December 1st. The firm previously argued bitcoin was too volatile for long-term portfolios but now acknowledges that "bitcoin ETFs have been tested through periods of market volatility, performing as designed while maintaining liquidity."

The last dominoes fall

When a conservative giant managing $11 trillion finally capitulates, an uncomfortable is revealed: institutions that claimed bitcoin was "too risky" were really protecting outdated business models. Vanguard's reversal, led by former Blackrock executive Salim Ramji, demonstrates that bitcoin's inevitability eventually overcomes even the most stubborn resistance.

Tether buys more gold than any central bank in Q3, accumulates 116 tons to rank among top 30 holders globally

Tether purchased 26 metric tons of gold in Q3 2025, exceeding the gold acquisitions of all reporting central banks combined during the same period and bringing its total holdings to 116 tons. This places it among the world's top 30 gold holders – ahead of Greece, Qatar, and Australia. CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the purchases were made using company profits.

Smart companies acquire hard assets

Tether's gold accumulation demonstrates what sound money advocates have long understood: when you control monetary infrastructure, like Tether does, you should protect it with scarce, apolitical assets. Governments often ignore this at their own peril – but Tether's decision to funnel its profits into bitcoin and gold demonstrates strategic thinking from the most profitable firm per employee in history.

Bitcoin Policy Institute calls for Samourai pardon as petition surpasses 3,200 signatures

Bitcoin advocates and policy groups are urging President Trump to pardon Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill who are scheduled to report to prison in January 2026 for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The Bitcoin Policy Institute argues the prosecution misapplies federal law to non-custodial software, with high-profile supporters including Max Keiser and Walker America rallying behind the cause as a petition gains momentum.

Code is speech, not crime

The Samourai case threatens to criminalize open-source development and chill innovation in privacy-preserving tools. If non-custodial software publishers are treated as money transmitters, bitcoin development in the United States will migrate to friendlier jurisdictions – and America's stated goal of becoming the bitcoin capital of the world will be looked back upon as hollow rhetoric.

BlackRock CEO: Sovereign wealth funds accumulated bitcoin through recent price dip, buying for "years not trades"

Larry Fink revealed that multiple sovereign wealth funds have been steadily buying bitcoin throughout recent market volatility, including purchases in the $80,000s as prices fell from $120,000 highs. Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit, the BlackRock CEO emphasized these state actors are establishing "longer positions" to hold for years, not trading for short-term gains, while reiterating bitcoin's "big, large use case" as a hedge against government debt and inflation.

Smart money accumulates during volatility

Sovereign wealth funds buy bitcoin when the price is down. And why not? They are the world's most sophisticated investors, and rightly view temporary price weakness as a massive opportunity for long-term gains.

BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

Xapo Bank expanded its Byzantine BTC Credit Fund to wider audiences after attracting $100 million in member allocations during its initial phase with Hilbert Group.

The CFTC approved leveraged spot bitcoin trading on regulated U.S. exchanges, with Chicago-based Bitnomial set to launch next week.

Bitkey hardware wallets can now ship to nearly 9,000 Walgreens locations plus FedEx, Dollar General, Albertsons, and Kroger pickup points, allowing customers to avoid providing home addresses.

Russia's second-largest bank VTB is positioning itself to become the first major Russian bank to offer direct bitcoin trading to clients, with plans to launch services as early as 2026 after testing with high-net-worth customers.

Twenty One Capital, led by Jack Mallers, begins trading Tuesday on the NYSE under ticker XXI with 43,514 coins, making it the third-largest corporate bitcoin holder.

JPMorgan Chase filed a structured note linked to BlackRock's IBIT spot bitcoin ETF that offers amplified returns based on bitcoin's four-year halving cycle through 2028.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week:

Bitcoin within the global public goods framework

In a recent essay, financial analyst Michael McNair examines what he calls the "Miran Doctrine" – a shift in how the United States views the dollar and Treasury system. Instead of treating these as neutral global infrastructure, the Trump administration now explicitly frames them as "global public goods" that America provides at its own expense, and for which other nations should pay.

Stephen Miran, now a Federal Reserve Governor, has outlined specific mechanisms for charging countries that hold large Treasury reserves. These include potential "user fees" on foreign official holdings – essentially withholding portions of interest payments – and leveraging Federal Reserve tools to make dollar savings more expensive for surplus nations. The message is clear: if you want to use our currency and our debt as your reserve asset, you will pay for the privilege.

This marks a decisive break from decades of pretense. Treasury securities were long marketed as the world's safe, neutral reserve asset – above politics, reliable regardless of which party held power. That fiction is now deliberately exposed. The dollar system is being repositioned as a tool of American power, subject to policy, political leverage, and variable pricing based on geopolitical relationships.

McNair notes this strategy requires Federal Reserve cooperation to backstop bond markets while Treasury unsettles foreign investors. Whether or not these specific tools are implemented, the framing itself changes everything. Reserve managers worldwide now must treat dollar holdings not as neutral savings but as exposure to the U.S.’s integrated foreign policy stance.

This environment will make bitcoin's value even more clear to foreign banks and funds. Bitcoin has no management team that Treasury could coordinate with. It cannot impose user fees on foreign holders. Its monetary policy cannot be weaponized in trade negotiations. It simply exists, running the same rules for everyone.

COIN CHECK

When did spot bitcoin ETFs begin trading in the U.S.?

A. 2021
B. 2013
C. 2023
D. 2024

Check your answer at the end of the page.

FROM THE MEME POOL

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ANSWER

Answer: D. 2024

Since launching in January 2024, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs account for 1,310,746 BTC, or 6.242% of the 21M BTC that will ever be created, worth approximately $121,132,867,404. In ETF terms, that places them among the largest and fastest-growing launches in history, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust widely cited as the single most successful ETF debut ever, reaching tens of billions in assets faster than any prior fund.

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
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