Trump Threatens Europe with Tariffs Tied to Greenland: Just ahead of Christmas Eve last year, U.S. President Donald Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as Special Envoy to Greenland, with a mandate framed around bringing Greenland under U.S. control. Since then, the rhetoric has intensified, with the administration repeatedly arguing that control of Greenland is a national-security imperative. Greenland, Denmark, and much of Europe have been equally consistent in rejecting the premise outright.
Over the weekend, Trump escalated by threatening tariffs on imports from eight European countries, including Denmark and Norway, that oppose his push in the Greenland dispute. The original proposal was a 10% tariff on all goods shipped to the U.S. if no deal was in place by February 1, stepping up to 25% from June 1 and staying in effect until an agreement was reached. Europe’s response was swift and forceful. EU lawmakers paused a vote on an already agreed trade deal with the U.S., and further retaliation looked likely if Trump followed through.
Just last night, Trump walked back the immediate tariff threat and said the planned tariff was no longer on the table after reportedly reaching some form of agreement related to Greenland. There are still few public details, but the U-turn reduced near-term escalation risk and sparked a partial recovery, particularly across risk assets, including crypto.
The U.S. Clarity Act Stalls: Since the U.S. “Genius Act” passed in July last year, the market has been watching for the next major step: the “Clarity Act,” a broader framework intended to define how crypto markets are regulated in the United States. In practical terms, the bill is expected to clarify where the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal agency that regulates securities markets, ends and where the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that oversees derivatives and certain commodity markets, begins.
That clarity matters. It could expand the range of crypto services that can be offered in the U.S. and reduce the risk that has kept many traditional financial institutions on the sidelines.
This month, the Clarity Act appeared close to a U.S. Senate vote, with the U.S. House already having passed its version and the White House signaling readiness to sign. Last week, however, Coinbase pulled its support, arguing that certain provisions on tokenized equities, decentralized finance, and stablecoin rewards were worse than the status quo and overly favorable to incumbent banking interests. The vote was postponed, and visibility on the revised timeline is limited.
The bottom line: the industry still needs this bill, but markets will care just as much about the details as the headline.
Germany’s Second-Largest Bank Enables Retail Crypto Trading: DZ Bank, Germany’s second-largest bank, announced the launch of “meinKrypto,” a platform designed to let other German banks offer retail crypto trading. At launch, the product supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Cardano.
Banks offering the service must hold a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license, the European Union’s framework for regulating crypto assets and service providers, issued through the German financial regulator. Even with that hurdle, the trend is clear: banks increasingly use crypto access to differentiate from competitors. We expect similar bank-led retail offerings to gain traction across Scandinavia over the next one to two years.
