Crypto Last Week:  Bitcoin tags $74,000, crypto’s payments utility, and the Fed’s remarks on tokenised securities

Last week tested both markets and traditional safe havens. Global markets staged a brief rebound following tensions in the Middle East, with Bitcoin climbing to $74,000 mid-week as investors scrambled for safe-haven assets. Crypto continues to prove its utility with payments solutions across Africa, while in regulation, the Federal Reserve says banks should treat tokenised securities like traditional securities. Read more below.

Newsmakers 

Bitcoin briefly rebounds amid Middle East conflict

• The price of Bitcoin rose to around $74,000 last week as geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran escalated, CoinDesk reports.
  
  
• S&P 500 futures declined to a multi-week low of 6,718 points earlier in the week on Tuesday, before recovering to around 6,840 on Friday. Despite these recoveries, bond markets remain uneasy, with rising yields pointing to renewed inflation concerns and uncertainty around Fed rate cuts.
  
  
• Strong US economic data also pushed bond yields higher and led markets to scale back their expectations for interest rate cuts, according to CoinDesk.
  

What does this mean?

Will Bitcoin’s price spike amid geopolitical conflict reignite the safe-haven investment narrative? 

Crypto proves its utility through payments integrations across Africa

• Mainstream adoption of crypto continues among merchants and customers, with the shift attributed to easing regulatory uncertainty and greater consistency in crypto regulatory frameworks, IT Web reports.
  
  
• Luno Pay recently integrated with Ezeebit, enabling merchants to accept crypto and stablecoins and settle in fiat, while also allowing customers to spend digital assets across a wide range of popular brands in South Africa.
  
  
• “We have seen growing use cases beyond trading, including cross-border transfers, hedging against currency volatility and treasury diversification, which signal a shift from experimentation towards practical utility,” said Christo de Wit, country manager for South Africa at Luno.
  

• “Adoption will hit hard this year, and the curve will be exponential rather than gradual. Banks and payments players are actively building tokenisation and stablecoin projects, and rand-backed stablecoins are beginning to reach ordinary users. The inflection point is not years away, it is here,” commented Daniel Katz, co-founder and chief executive of Ezeebit.
  
  
• Research conducted by Chainalysis found that sub-Saharan Africa recorded 52% year-on-year growth between July 2024 and June 2025, making it the world’s fastest-growing crypto market, with over $205 billion in on-chain value. South Africa specifically contributed an estimated $35 billion to $40 billion of that total, driven by growing stablecoin usage and increased institutional activity.
  

What does this mean?

The combination of regulatory clarity and stablecoin infrastructure means crypto is becoming an everyday financial infrastructure rather than an experimental alternative.

Treat tokenised securities like traditional ones, says Fed

• According to a report by The Block, the US Federal Reserve confirmed that banks should treat tokenised securities the same as traditional securities, emphasising that its regulatory framework is “technology neutral.” This means the underlying blockchain technology does not change how an asset is regulated.
  
  
• Securities are tradeable financial assets that hold monetary value and can be bought or sold, while tokenised assets are digital representations of those same assets recorded on a blockchain.
  
  
• The Federal Reserve Board said that the method used to issue or transfer a security does not affect its status. “An eligible tokenised security should be treated in the same manner as the non-tokenised form of the security would be treated under the capital rule,” the Fed wrote.
  
  
• Tokenised assets can also be recognised as financial collateral, provided banks meet the same legal and risk management requirements applied to traditional securities. “The capital rule does not provide a different treatment based on the use of permissioned or permissionless blockchains,” the Fed noted.
  
  
• The guidance aims to provide a consistent framework for banks exploring digital finance, as regulators adapt long-standing rules to blockchain-based versions of traditional assets.
  
  
• Luno also offers tokenised assets, in the form of tokenised stocks, to customers in South Africa and Nigeria. Investors can get easy access to some of the biggest US companies, including Tesla, Amazon and Apple. 

What does this mean?

It opens the way for banks and other traditional financial firms to explore the full potential of what tokenisation has to offer.

*Investing in cryptocurrency may result in the loss of capital. This information should not be construed as a solicitation to trade. All opinions, news, research, analysis, prices or other information is provided as general market commentary for information purposes only and is not investment advice or recommendation. Luno always advises you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.