VanEck says 2026 will be a risk-on quarter despite the Bitcoin cycle break.
CEO Jan van Eck calls 2026 a “risk-on” year for investors despite Bitcoin breaking its four-year cycle. He sees artificial intelligence, private credit, and gold as intriguing potential after late-2025 declines.
The asset manager's Q1 2026 outlook emphasizes unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy visibility, a sharp departure from recent years of economic uncertainty and different from Goldman Sachs' forecast of 11% global stock returns driven by equities over alternative assets.
National Identification Numbers and Tax Records to Track Crypto Transactions in Nigeria
New tax legislation processes in Nigeria could make cryptocurrency traceable with national IDs.
The Nigerian Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025 states that the government will track crypto transactions in real time using TINs and NINs.
According to TechCabal, the technology will allow tax officials to follow largely invisible crypto transactions without accessing the blockchain. Links to national IDs allow crypto flows to be matched with income declarations and tax records, the paper said.
London Stock Exchange Lists 21Shares Bitcoin-and-Gold ‘BOLD’ ETP
BOLD combines Bitcoin and gold, the world's most liquid alternative assets, into one physically backed product. The method diversifies with gold, which has smaller price fluctuations and little correlation with digital assets, to capture Bitcoin's upside while decreasing volatility.
BOLD claims a 122.5% GBP return through 2025, including expenses, since launching in Switzerland in April 2022.
Over the same period, Bitcoin returned 111.3% and gold 113.0%, demonstrating the benefits of mixing the two assets in a rebalanced portfolio.
Ukraine Blocks Polymarket Over ‘War Bets’ as Global Crackdown Grows
Ukraine has restricted entry into Polymarket, deepening a global crackdown on prediction markets that regulators now deem illicit gambling or derivatives trading.
The verdict has cast doubt on whether real-world markets related to national gambling, banking, and public policy norms, especially on war and geopolitics, may operate alongside the fast-growing crypto platform.
Ukraine's National Commission for the Regulation of Electronic Communications published Resolution No. 695 on Dec. 10, 2025, banning it.
Internet service providers must block gambling sites without domestic licenses under the directive.
