BizwavemediaPersonal Finance and Crypto Updates

CertiK, a New York based Web3 security firm, is preparing a roadmap toward a public listing. Founder Gu Ronghui said in an interview with CBS that the company is actively pursuing plans to go public and aims to become the leading Web3 infrastructure stock.

The move follows a strategic investment from Binance, which has become CertiK’s largest investor to date.

The firm is accelerating development of Skynet Enterprise, an institutional-grade security platform designed to meet transparency and risk monitoring requirements for regulators and large financial institutions.

CertiK is also expanding its core auditing business through formal verification technology powered by its proprietary Spoq engine. The framework integrates artificial intelligence to improve verification efficiency and scalability.

CertiK joins a growing list of crypto firms exploring public listings as institutional investor interest in the sector accelerates. Last year, USDC issuer Circle raised $1 billion in its IPO, while companies including Bullish, Gemini, Galaxy Digital, Figure, and Exodus also tapped public markets.

The trend is expected to continue in 2026, with BitGo debuting yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange after raising $213 million in its IPO, and firms such as Kraken, Ledger, Consensys, and Animoca Brands preparing their own offerings. With investor appetite rising, CertiK’s most recent private funding rounds value the company at over $2 billion.

The US dollar is heading for its steepest weekly decline in seven months as volatile US-Europe relations and rising policy uncertainty pressure the currency.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six peers, slipped to 97.8. The gauge is heading for a weekly loss exceeding 1%, the largest since June.

Analysts point to uncertainty around policy decisions by President Donald Trump, including his recent pullback from tariff threats targeting European nations. The reversals have added to concerns over the durability of US trade and economic strategy, undermining confidence in the greenback.

The latest slide extends a difficult stretch for the dollar. In 2025, the currency fell 9.4%, its worst annual performance in eight years, as investors reassessed US growth and policy direction.

Pressure is also building from interest rate convergence between the US and other major economies. Traders are now pricing in two interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2026, compared with the single cut projected by Fed policymakers, narrowing yield differentials that have supported the dollar in recent years.

Historical analysis suggests the dollar could weaken further in 2026, with models pointing to an additional decline of as much as 8% if current trends persist.

Silver surged past $100 per ounce for the first time on Friday, extending a rally that has seen precious metals sharply outperform risk assets.

The metal climbed more than 4% on the day, bringing its gains to roughly 40% in 2026 and more than 230% over the past year, pushing silver’s market capitalization to about $5.6 trillion.

Gold continued to advance alongside silver, trading near $5,000 after reaching about $4,970 on Thursday, with prices up roughly 11% in 2026 and nearly 80% over the past year as demand for traditional safe havens remains elevated amid macro and geopolitical uncertainty.

Investor appetite for precious metals has intensified since Donald Trump took office in 2025, as markets grapple with trade uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and questions around monetary policy.

Silver’s surge this week has been fueled in part by strained US relations with European allies and a lack of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

Concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence have also supported the rally. Demand for precious metals picked up after Trump said he had concluded interviews for the next Fed chair, reviving fears of political pressure on the central bank.

The broader metals complex has moved higher as well. Palladium climbed back toward the $2,000 level and is up about 21% in 2026 after more than three years of subdued prices. Platinum has gained roughly 18% this year, while lithium has surged around 68%.

UBS Group AG, the world’s leading wealth manager, is considering allowing select wealthy clients to invest in crypto assets, starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum, as it evaluates partners for a potential digital asset rollout, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

UBS may begin offering crypto services in Switzerland, with potential expansion to the Asia-Pacific region and the US. The $4.7 trillion wealth manager is still selecting partners and has not finalized plans.

The initiative comes amid rising interest in digital assets among wealthy clients and follows similar initiatives by competitors like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

The move would represent an expansion beyond UBS’s existing blockchain initiatives. In November 2024, the bank launched UBS Digital Cash, a private blockchain pilot for multi-currency cross-border payments.

UBS Tokenize, another initiative, enables on-chain issuance of tokenized financial products, including the first tokenized money market fund on Ethereum.

CEO Sergio Ermotti has emphasized blockchain as central to the future of traditional banking, citing its efficiency and scalability. UBS has previously described crypto as a limited segment of digital assets and refrained from direct offerings amid regulatory uncertainty.

Traders on prediction markets pushed odds of BlackRock’s Rick Rieder becoming the next Federal Reserve chair to fresh highs as President Donald Trump’s decision nears.

Rieder, BlackRock’s bond chief, saw his odds surge to nearly 35% on Kalshi and around 34% on Polymarket on Thursday.

While he still trails White House economist Kevin Warsh overall, the gap narrowed over the past 24 hours as Warsh’s odds dropped 7% on Polymarket and 5% on Kalshi.

Trump could decide on the next Fed chair as early as next week, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Speaking to CNBC this week, Bessent said the selection process began in September, included eleven candidates, and has now been narrowed down to four finalists whom Trump has personally met.

Trump has signaled that he may already have made up his mind.

In comments to CNBC at Davos, Trump said the shortlist had narrowed from three to two and “maybe one” candidate after months of interviews. Trump described Rieder as “impressive” while praising all the contenders.

Gold surged nearly 2% on Thursday afternoon, climbing to a fresh all-time high above $4,900 as investors returned to traditional safe havens. Silver also pushed to new record levels above $96, extending a multi-month rally that has seen precious metals print successive highs almost daily.

The rally came despite a brief pullback on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he would halt proposed 10% tariffs on NATO nations. That announcement initially eased risk concerns and pushed gold and silver lower, but the move proved short-lived.

Investors quickly returned to safe-haven positioning, driving both metals to fresh all-time highs by Thursday afternoon.

The rebound highlights a broader trend seen in recent months, with gold and silver continuing to attract defensive flows amid persistent geopolitical and policy uncertainty. Even as tariff fears briefly cooled, investors appeared reluctant to rotate out of precious metals.

Bitcoin has not followed that trend. Bitcoin remains stuck near the $90,000 level after plunging below it on Tuesday. Prices briefly recovered toward $95,000 last week but pulled back again following tariff headlines.

Bitcoin has been unable to reclaim that key resistance, weakening its positioning as a defensive asset relative to gold.

Risk assets reacted more favorably to the tariff pause. US equities advanced, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rising nearly 1% as investors welcomed the halt in trade escalation and shifted back into stocks.

BitGo, a digital asset custody and security firm serving institutional clients, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after pricing its IPO at $18. The stock opened near $22.4 and briefly surged to $24.1.

Shares later pared gains into the close, ending the session near $20.1, still up roughly 13% from the IPO price on its first day of trading.

Within hours of the debut, Ondo Finance made tokenized BitGo shares available through Ondo Global Markets, allowing users to access the newly listed equity onchain.

The tokenized stock launched across Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, marking one of the first cases where a newly public US company became globally accessible on-chain in near real time.

The rollout follows Ondo Global Markets’ expansion to Solana earlier this week, making BitGo the 205th stock available to users on-chain.

Since launching in September 2025, Ondo Global Markets has grown into the largest tokenized securities platform by total value locked, with about $466 million in TVL and more than $6.4 billion in cumulative trading volume.