The past few days have been quite lively in the global capital markets. On one side, the chain reaction caused by tense geopolitical relations; on the other side, the cryptocurrency market is telling a completely different story.

Let's start with traditional finance. Due to the escalation of tariff policies, European stock markets fell sharply, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index dropping 1.18%, luxury stocks plunging by 4%, and the automotive sector also tumbling 2.2%. Risk aversion sentiment surged, making gold and silver highly sought after—London spot gold broke through $4,690 per ounce, and silver soared to $94, both hitting record highs. Since the beginning of the year, silver has performed especially well, with a gain of 31%, marking the strongest start since 1983.

But the story on the cryptocurrency side is much more complex. On January 19, Bitcoin ETFs experienced a net outflow of 1,106 coins in a single day, and BTC price even briefly fell below $92,000. Such volatility has prompted a re-examination of the widely discussed four-year cycle theory. Interestingly, however, Ethereum and Solana ETFs attracted funds counter to the trend during the same period—Ethereum saw a single-day net inflow of 9,171 coins, accumulating 145,000 coins over 7 days; Solana had a single-day inflow of 41,000 coins, totaling 353,000 coins over 7 days. The movement of institutional funds is very clear: they are voting with their feet, gradually rewriting the underlying logic of the crypto market.

What’s even more noteworthy is the accelerating integration of traditional finance and blockchain technology. The New York Stock Exchange announced a major move—launching a tokenized stock trading platform based on blockchain technology, supporting 24/7 trading of U.S. stocks. This means the settlement efficiency, previously delayed by T+1, has been completely broken through, becoming real-time. Retail investors can even buy and sell blue-chip stocks like Apple and Tesla on weekends. This marks the actual convergence of Wall Street and decentralized technology, fundamentally destroying the time barriers in financial trading.

The current situation is very clear: fluctuations in US-Europe trade relations have triggered cross-asset turbulence, with gold and silver becoming the preferred safe havens; the crypto market has bid farewell to simple cycle rotations and entered an era dominated by institutional ETF-driven differentiation; the reform of traditional finance is also gradually unfolding. It’s no longer just a matter of choice, but more critically, whether one can understand this new set of game rules.