Goldman Sachs and Nasdaq Leaders to Attend Finance Forum

The walls between Wall Street and the digital frontier continue to fall as banking titans and exchange leaders align with the administration for a historic policy summit. While institutional giants solidify their crypto roadmaps, retail investors are navigating a complex "milder" crypto winter and a transformative tax reporting landscape .Stay up on the crypto news that matters with "Crypto Currents," daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.WALL STREET LEADERSHIP AND POLICYMAKERS TO ALIGN AT FINANCE FORUM:The nexus of traditional finance and the digital asset industry is set to reach a new milestone as executive leadership from Goldman Sachsand Nasdaqprepare to join a high-stakes "future of finance" forum., CEOs of these major financial institutions will headline the event at Mar-a-Lago alongside political figures, signaling a profound tightening of ties between the administration's crypto initiatives and the banking sector. Reinforcing this trend, Intercontinental Exchangeannounced thatto increase institutional access to digital asset markets. This institutional shift is mirrored in Washington, D.C., wherethe launch of its new Policy Center led by veteran crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky. The center's primary objective is to draft a legal framework for perpetual derivatives and create a clear adoption pathway for decentralized finance within the United States.STARBOARD VALUE PRESSES RIOT PLATFORMS ON AI PIVOT AS ANALYSTS IDENTIFY MINING LEADERS:Infrastructure is becoming the primary battleground for crypto growth, with activist investor Starboard Value formally urging bitcoinminer Riot Platformsto accelerate its transition into artificial intelligence data centers.that Starboard believes Riot is significantly undervalued compared to competitors who have more aggressively courted hyperscaler tenants. This focus on infrastructure efficiency is echoed by JPMorgan, which has officially named Bitdeeras a leader in the mining sector. Amidst these shifts, Strategyexecutive chairman Michael Saylor noted onthatwhile the market is in a "crypto winter," it appears to be far milder and shorter than previous cycles.ETORO SURGES ON EARNINGS BEAT AS FIGURE TECHNOLOGY UPSIZES SECONDARY OFFERING:Publicly traded crypto-adjacent firms are seeing significant market action, with eToroshares jumping over 20% following a fourth-quarter earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations.that cryptoasset activity was the primary driver for eToro's $3.87B in Q4 revenue. Simultaneously, Figure Technology Solutionsannounced the pricing and upsizing of a secondary public offering for its Series A Blockchain Common Stock at $32.00 per share, as detailed in a. The deal, led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Cantor, includes a $10M share repurchase of Class A common stock by Figure.IRS REPORTING SHAKEUP LEAVES RETAIL INVESTORS WARY AHEAD OF TAX SEASON:While institutions find their footing, retail sentiment is being tested by new transparency mandates from the Internal Revenue Service.that a survey of 1,000 investors found over half are fearful of penalties related to the new Form 1099-DA, which requires brokers like Coinbaseto automatically report transactions. Despite these concerns, Wells Fargo analysts are predicting a massive liquidity injection, suggesting a "YOLO" trade could send $150B into risk assets like bitcoin and etherby the end of March as taxpayers receive larger refunds, per.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at$67,191.01, while ether was trading at $1,972.89,.