Swiss regulator FINMA's approval of the country's first exchange-traded fund holding Bitcoin directly and Solana's live switch to a new consensus protocol headlined this week in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Other notable developments included Deutsche Bank's approaching crypto custody launch, the OCC's final stablecoin rule under the GENIUS Act, and JPMorgan's assessment of the failed Clarity Act.

FINMA approves Switzerland's first Bitcoin ETF

FINMA this week approved the first exchange-traded fund that holds Bitcoin directly in Switzerland. Two days later, the provider came forward: Zurich-based BIT Asset Management, a subsidiary of Singapore's BIT Group. BIT expects its "Bitcoin Fund ETF," ticker BBIT, to start trading on SIX from November.

Previous exchange-traded Bitcoin products are legally debt securities, giving buyers only a claim against the issuer. The new ETF, however, is a fund and is also open to retail investors. The distinction matters because a claim against an issuer is only as strong as the issuer itself, whereas a fund's assets belong to the fund. This structure required an exemption, because funds normally have to spread their risk across several investments. FINMA bases the exemption on Bitcoin's long trading history and high trading volume.

According to BIT, it is currently the only Bitcoin ETF in Europe that invests directly. At the same time, FINMA warns that market risk remains very high. BIT has not yet disclosed fees, and other providers are still awaiting approval. CVJ's full report, FINMA approves Switzerland's first Bitcoin ETF, covers the story.

Deutsche Bank will soon hold crypto assets for corporate clients

Deutsche Bank is close to launching crypto custody for corporate clients and plans to extend the service to Asian markets in 2027. Crypto custody — the safeguarding of the cryptographic keys that control digital assets — is the regulated service that lets corporate clients hold such assets with a bank instead of managing keys themselves. The bank's timeline is set out in Deutsche Bank set to launch crypto custody within weeks.

Stablecoin rewards: US regulator reviews each case individually

The OCC, the US bank regulator, has published its final rule under the GENIUS Act — the US federal framework for payment stablecoins — effective January 2027, and will review stablecoin rewards paid via partners on a case-by-case basis. The rule is examined in US bank regulator OCC sets out stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act.

JPMorgan: agency rules are no substitute for a crypto law

JPMorgan views recent US agency steps as only a partial substitute for the failed Clarity Act and expects elevated risk premiums to persist. The Clarity Act was the proposed US market-structure law for digital assets, and the questions it would have settled now sit with agency rulemaking — the gap JPMorgan links to the persisting risk premiums. The bank's position is detailed in Clarity Act: JPMorgan says failure only partly offset.

Solana changes its consensus mechanism while running

The Solana blockchain switched its consensus mechanism this week. These rules determine when the network finally confirms transactions. The new protocol, Alpenglow, took over on Wednesday in about 900 milliseconds, according to Solana. That the change took hold while the network kept operating is notable in itself: a consensus protocol only works when all participants follow the same rules at the same time. In total, 446 of the 654 validators — the operators who confirm blocks — signed the go-ahead. Roger Wattenhofer of ETH Zurich led the development of the concept.

Previously, validator votes ran as ordinary transactions on the blockchain. Now they exchange votes directly bundle them into certificates. As a result, the time to final confirmation — the point at which a transaction becomes irreversible — should fall from around 12.8 seconds to about 150 milliseconds, a margin that matters most for payments, trading, and other applications that need dependable confirmation within seconds. However, Solana has not yet officially published measured values, so the 150 milliseconds remain a target. Solana has so far reported no disruptions on its mainnet. Although the network can now withstand additional outages, its tolerance for attacks falls from 33 to 20 percent of voting power — meaning a smaller share of the network would suffice to threaten consensus.

Alpenglow replaces the TowerBFT consensus mechanism on October 21, after which validators pay 0.8 SOL per epoch instead of vote fees. The upgrade is described in Solana Alpenglow upgrade to cut finality to 150 milliseconds.

This weekly review was originally published by Crypto Valley Journal as Weekly review: FINMA approves Switzerland's first Bitcoin ETF.