BizwavemediaPersonal Finance and Crypto Updates

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Nasdaq ISE, LLC (ISE) has proposed rule amendments to increase the position and exercise limits for options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from 250,000 contracts to 1,000,000 contracts.

The fund, managed by BlackRock, provides investors with exposure to Bitcoin through traditional brokerage accounts. IBIT was approved for options trading on the ISE last September.

The exchange states that IBIT’s current 250,000-contract cap has become restrictive, given the rapid growth in options demand for IBIT during 2025. Increasing the limits would support greater hedging efficiency, facilitate income-generating option strategies, and allow market makers to provide deeper liquidity.

The increased limits reflect surging institutional demand for Bitcoin ETF options as Wall Street expands its crypto trading operations. Nasdaq operates as a major stock exchange and has been adapting its infrastructure to accommodate growing institutional interest in crypto derivatives.

S&P Global, the financial services and credit rating company, today downgraded Tether’s stability rating to its weakest level. The move targets Tether’s stablecoin, USDT, which is the largest in the cryptocurrency market, with more than $184 billion in circulation.

The rating agency cited concerns over Tether’s increased exposure to volatile assets like Bitcoin and gold in its reserves, which creates potential depegging risks for the stablecoin. S&P Global also pointed to gaps in disclosures and governance as factors in the downgrade.

Tether has shifted its reserve composition to include allocations to Bitcoin and gold while maintaining a majority in cash and Treasury bills. The company’s USDT stablecoin is designed to maintain its dollar peg through these asset reserves.

The downgrade highlights perceived risks associated with holding volatile assets as backing for a stablecoin intended to maintain price stability.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway may be sitting on a sizeable paper profit from its recent Alphabet investment, with current market prices implying an unrealized gain of around $1.4 billion, if the conglomerate still holds the shares it disclosed last quarter.

Berkshire disclosed in its November filing that it owned about 17.8 million Alphabet shares, valued at $4.3 billion at the time.

With the stock now trading around the low $320 range, that stake would be worth close to $5.7 billion, putting the unrealized gain at $1.4 billion.

Alphabet continued to rise today as investors reacted to reports that Meta is evaluating Google’s TPUs as an alternative to Nvidia chips for powering its AI systems. With the latest uptick, Alphabet’s shares have gained about 24% in a month and roughly 70% so far this year, per Yahoo Finance.

World Liberty Financial, the crypto project backed by the Trump family, spent approximately $10 million to buy back 59 million WLFI tokens over the past six hours, according to Arkham Intelligence data.

The entity appears to be continuing its accumulation of WLFI through swap purchases on CoW Swap at the time of reporting.

WLFI climbed during the buyback activity, gaining 10% over the past six hours, according to CoinGecko.

Founded in 2024, World Liberty Financial aims to offer on-chain financial services supported by its WLFI token and USD1 stablecoin. The project promotes US-aligned crypto development with a focus on compliance and secure, dollar-based products.

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US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $129 million on November 25, with Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), an exchange-traded product that tracks Bitcoin’s performance and holds the digital asset directly, leading the group.

The positive flows mark a shift back to net inflows for Bitcoin ETFs after experiencing a period of outflows, signaling recovering investor confidence in the investment vehicles.

Fidelity’s Bitcoin fund has emerged as a key driver in recent ETF inflow trends, demonstrating its prominence among similar products in the market. Analysts believe long-term demand for Bitcoin through ETFs remains strong despite short-term fluctuations in capital flows.

Bitcoin spot ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to the world’s largest crypto asset without directly holding it, with custody services provided by established financial institutions like Fidelity’s digital asset services division.

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XRP was one of the few major digital assets to record net inflows last week. CoinShares Research reported that around $89 million moved into XRP investment products, while most other large-cap tokens experienced heavy withdrawals.

Still, XRP’s positive flow was insufficient to offset losses on other digital assets. Digital asset investment products experienced large-scale outflows totaling $1.9 billion last week, marking a four-week cumulative outflow of $4.9 billion, one of the largest since 2018.

Bitcoin saw the majority of outflows totaling $1.3 billion last week, but also recorded the largest rebound on Friday with $225 million in inflows.

Ethereum saw outflows totaling $589 million, representing 7.3% of assets under management, while Solana saw outflows of $156 million.

Nvidia shares fell more than 6% on Tuesday, wiping billions from the chipmaker’s market capitalization after a report revealed that Google is in talks to supply Meta with its custom AI chips by 2027.

The move would mark a significant shift in Google’s chip strategy, expanding from renting TPU access via its cloud platform to directly selling the hardware to external clients. That would place Google in direct competition with Nvidia in the fast-growing market for AI data center infrastructure, where Nvidia currently holds a dominant position.

The report, first published by The Information, raised concerns that one of Nvidia’s top cloud customers could turn into a rival, signaling longer-term demand risk just as the company faces mounting competition from other players like AMD.