Galaxy Digital UK, the subsidiary of Mike Novogratz-led digital asset financial services firm’s application for a license to execute derivatives trading in the U.K. has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The firm’s Investment Banking arm will also use Galaxy Digital UK’s FCA authorization to provide capital raising and investment banking services, according to a statement on Wednesday. The Galaxy U.K. subsidiary will also support its asset management business with fund distribution activities.

Galaxy Digital UK is on the FCA’s investment firms register, which is for firms authorized to perform MiFID investment services or activities. Galaxy also joined the FCA’s crypto register in 2021.

“London is a critical financial hub, and this authorisation allows us to deepen our presence in the U.K., aligning with our mission to bridge traditional finance with the digital asset ecosystem,” Leon Marshall, CEO of Galaxy Europe and Global Head of Sales said.

The U.K. has attracted crypto companies like Coinbase, Bitpanda and most recently assigned BlackRock a slot on its crypto register.

FDUSD, the stablecoin issued by Hong Kong-based First Digital, has wobbled from its $1 price peg as investor concerns mounted over its reserves, though the company said Wednesday that it was «completely solvent.»

FDUSD has dropped to 0.87 against Tether’s USDT stablecoin and 0.76 against Circle’s USDC on Binance, the main exchange where FDUSD is listed. Notably, bitcoin (BTC) also nearly hit 100,000 against FDUSD. The token has stabilized around $0.98-$0.96 later, still trading below its supposed price anchor.

The sudden price action happened as CoinDesk earlier Wednesday reported that some of the TrueUSD stablecoin’s reserve assets were stuck in illiquid investments, according to filings. Tron founder Justin Sun bailed out the issuer company. First Digital Trust, a trust company affiliated to First Digital, was appointed to manage TUSD reserves.

«First Digital Trust (FDT) is effectively insolvent and unable to fulfill client fund redemptions. I strongly recommend that users take immediate action to secure their assets,» Tron founder Justin Sun claimed in a Wednesday X post.

First Digital refuted the allegations in an X post, saying that «First Digital is completely solvent» and «every dollar backing FDUSD is completely, secure, safe and accounted for with US backed T-Bills.»

«This is a typical Justin Sun smear campaign to try to attack a competitor to his business. As we told the reporter at CoinDesk, we have not yet had the opportunity to defend ourselves and instead of letting the TUSD matter be dealt with in court, Justin has instead resorted to a coordinated social media effort to try to damage FDUSD as a business competitor,» the company said. «FDT will pursue legal action to protect its rights and reputation.»

FDUSD’s latest monthly reserve report showed that the $2 billion of reserve assets were held mostly in U.S. Treasury bills and a lesser part in repo facilities and fixed deposits.

UPDATE (Apr. 2, 17:15): Updated FDUSD price action.

Avalanche’s AVAX token is poised for major gains in coming years that should outpace already bullish outlooks for both bitcoin and ether, according to Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick.

“The unique thing about Avalanche is how it is attempting to achieve scale. Unlike Ethereum or Solana, Avalanche (AVAX) uses a set of subnets, or sidechains,” Kendrick said in a note on Wednesday, initiating coverage on AVAX with a $55 price target for the end of 2025, $100 for 2026, $150 for 2027, $200 for 2028 and $250 by the completion of 2029.

“While it is still too early to tell whether the new subnet approach will work, we think the fact that one-quarter of active subnets are already Etna-compatible is encouraging.”

He also pointed out the network’s growing developer number since its upgrade in December, which cut the cost of establishing a subnet close to zero.

Avalanche, which stands at a $9 billion market cap, is currently the 15th-largest cryptocurrency by that metric, making it a great candidate to profit from a big impact even through incremental improvements, according to Kendrick. Among blockchains, it is the tenth-largest by total value locked (TVL).

“As a result, we see AVAX outperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of relative price gains in the coming years, reaching a level around USD 250 by end-2029, more than 10x today’s price.”

Ahead of the December upgrade, the Avalanche Foundation, the issuer of AVAX, raised $250 million in a token sale, led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly and ParaFi Capital.