Crypto market regulatory clarity was cited as the top catalyst for growth in the digital asset industry, according to a survey by crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and consulting firm EY-Parthenon (EYP).

Coinbase and EY Parthenon surveyed 352 institutional investors between Jan. 13 and Jan. 24 this year.

86% of those surveyed said they had exposure to digital assets or planned to make allocations in 2025, and 84% said they had increased allocations to crypto and crypto-related products in 2024.

59% of respondents said they planned to allocate more than 5% of their assets under management (AUM) to cryptocurrencies in 2025.

An improving regulatory backdrop under Donald Trump’s new administration is viewed as a large tailwind for the digital asset industry. The President has promised to make the U.S. the «crypto capital of the world.»

Altcoins are also becoming increasingly popular amongst institutional investors, according to the survey. 73% of respondents said they held tokens other than bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), led by hedge funds at 80%.

About half of those surveyed said they leverage stablecoins, with yield generation, transactions, and foreign exchange cited as the main use cases.

60% of investors said they preferred to gain exposure to crypto via registered vehicles such as exchange-traded products (ETPs).

The survey focused on decision makers in the U.S. and Europe, with some participation from investors worldwide.

Read more: U.S. Crypto Investors Are Still Piling Into Memecoins Despite the Huge Risks: Kraken

Nasdaq officially asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow Swiss asset manager 21Shares list and trade shares of a polkadot (DOT) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The exchange submitted a 19b-4 filing to the SEC, asking for permission to list the ETF if it is approved by the regulator.

The proposed fund would track the spot price of DOT, the native cryptocurrency of the Polkadot network. The filing follows an amended S-1 form submitted by 21Shares earlier this year, marking another step in the firm’s push to bring more crypto investment products to the market.

21Shares is also seeking regulatory approval for funds linked to XRP and solana’s SOL. The company recently announced it’s set to liquidate two actively managed crypto ETFs amid the market downturn.

Grayscale Investments, a crypto asset-management company, has also filed with the SEC to launch a Polkadot ETF, signaling broader interest in the asset.

Tech giant Microsoft shared a new report warning of malware that targets 20 of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets used with the Google Chrome extension.

Microsoft’s Incident Response researchers raised alarms of a new remote access trojan (RAT), dubbed StilachiRAT, which could deploy “sophisticated techniques to evade detection, persist in the target environment, and exfiltrate sensitive data,” the team shared in a blog post.

According to the team, the malware was discovered in November 2024, and it could steal users’ wallet information, and any credentials, including usernames and passwords, stored in their Google Chrome browser. StilachiRAT targets 20 crypto wallets including some of the most widely-used ones like MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, OKX Wallet, and BNB Chain Wallet.

While the malware has not been distributed widely, Microsoft did share that it has not been able to identify what entity is behind the threat and laid out some mitigation guidelines for current targets including installing antivirus software.

“Due to its stealth capabilities and the rapid changes within the malware ecosystem, we are sharing these findings as part of our ongoing efforts to monitor, analyze, and report on the evolving threat landscape,” the team wrote.

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