Today in crypto, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte, denied reports that the company is seeking a US federal bank charter, ARK Invest has said Bitcoin could hit a top of $2.4 million by 2030, and the CME Group said it plans to launch XRP futures contracts.
Circle executive denies claims of seeking US banking license
An executive at major stablecoin issuer Circle denied reports that the company is looking to obtain a US federal bank charter.
In an April 25 X post, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte, denied that the company is interested in obtaining a US federal bank charter or acquiring an insured depository institution.
Instead, he said that Circle intends to comply with future US regulatory requirements for payment stablecoins, “which may require registering for a federal or state trust charter or other nonbank license.” He also urged lawmakers to reach regulatory clarity for stablecoins sooner rather than later.
The statement followed recent reports that major cryptocurrency firms, including stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto custodian BitGo, were considering applying for bank charters or licenses. Other firms cited as seeking such licenses included publicly traded US-based crypto exchange Coinbase and stablecoin issuer Paxos.
ARK Invest ups its 2030 Bitcoin bull case prediction to $2.4 million
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has raised its “bull case” Bitcoin (BTC) price target from $1.5 million to $2.4 million by the end of 2030, citing increased institutional investor interest and Bitcoin’s increasing acceptance as “digital gold.”
It also bumped its “bear” and “base” case scenarios for Bitcoin to $500,000 and $1.2 million, up from the $300,000 and $710,000 respective predictions it made in February.
“Institutional investment contributes the most to our bull case,” said ARK research analyst David Puell, who estimated that Bitcoin would achieve a 6.5% penetration rate into the $200 trillion financial market in a best-case scenario (that figure excludes gold).
Bitcoin’s acceptance as “digital gold” was also a major contributor to the lofty estimate, with Puell estimating that it could capture up to 60% of gold’s market cap by the end of 2030 in a bull scenario.
At $2.4 million per Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s market cap would be $49.2 trillion, assuming that Bitcoin’s total supply will have reached 20.5 million by the end of 2030, making it more valuable than the current gross domestic products of the US and China combined.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group to launch XRP futures
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, which operates the largest financial derivatives exchanges worldwide, announced that XRP futures contracts will go live on May 19.
According to the April 24 announcement, investors have the option of choosing between micro-sized contracts, featuring 2,500 XRP, or standard contract sizes of 50,000 XRP. All XRP futures contracts will be cash-settled.
In January 2025, the CME Group signaled an impending launch of XRP futures before quietly pulling the related page from its website.
CME’s announcement is the latest in a growing wave of crypto-focused financial products entering the market or awaiting regulatory approval in the US, a sign that cryptocurrencies have reached a new level of institutional acceptance.
There are now more than 70 crypto ETF applications waiting to be reviewed by the SEC, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
