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Serbia will serve as the Future Digital Economy Partner Country at GITEX Global 2025 in Dubai, becoming the first European nation accorded that role. The designation foregrounds Serbia’s ambitions to reposition itself from outsourcing hub to innovator in global tech markets.

Serbia’s IT exports crossed €3.5 billion in 2023, and the sector has maintained close to 20 percent year-on-year growth. The number of IT firms now exceeds 4,000, with many branching into domains such as fintech, health tech, AI and gaming. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, which leads the national delegation, views the GITEX platform as an opportunity to elevate the country’s narrative beyond cost-competitiveness to creative capacity.

Marko Čadež, president of CCIS, said Serbian firms are now pitching themselves as long-term transformation partners rather than simple vendors. He emphasised that enterprises increasingly expect strategic collaboration, not just software delivery. Meanwhile, analysts point to Serbia’s strong foundations—high math and engineering education standards, English proficiency, and relatively affordable costs—as a competitive edge in Eastern Europe.

Yet Serbia confronts headwinds. Talent retention is an ongoing challenge: many trained professionals migrate to Western Europe or the U. S. Infrastructure remains uneven, with rural areas lagging behind Belgrade in connectivity. In addition, venture capital inflows to the Balkans are smaller compared to Western Europe, constraining the ability of startups to scale aggressively.

Serbia is attempting to counterbalance those constraints through targeted programmes. The Chamber of Commerce has launched “Start 2,” a support scheme for scale-up firms, which includes mentoring and market access, and will be showcased at GITEX Europe in Berlin. The programme focuses on Serbian companies already achieving revenues above €250,000 and aims to open doors into German and EU markets.

At GITEX Global 2025, Serbia will present a showcase of startups and products under “North Star,” highlighting innovations in AI, e-commerce, predictive analytics, and diagnostics tools. Its delegation will also include outsourcing firms pitching upscaled offerings—product co-development, R&D support, and domain expertise in sectors such as telecom and healthcare.

GITEX organisers themselves have underscored Serbia’s place among rising tech nations: the 2025 edition includes 6,800 tech enterprises, 2,000 startups, and participant countries from 180 nations. Serbia joins Brazil and Pakistan as Country Partners this year—a reflection of the broader intention to diversify the event’s global footprint. The spotlight on AI, biotech, semiconductors, data infrastructure, and robotics offers Serbia a chance to align its exposure with the global themes defining tech agendas.

Bitwise has launched a new exchange-traded product on Deutsche Börse Xetra under the ticker AVNB, offering regulated exposure to Avalanche’s native token AVAX along with integrated staking rewards.

The ETP is physically backed and domiciled in Germany, aiming to deliver price-tracking performance plus yield, while eliminating the need for investors to manage staking infrastructure or custody themselves. Staking rewards are credited daily and automatically reinvested. The product references the “CF AVAX Staked Return Index” as its benchmark.

Bitwise positions the AVAX staking ETP as part of its growing European suite of institutional crypto products. Earlier offerings in its staking line-up include Ethereum and other digital assets. The firm emphasizes that this launch addresses demand from institutional and professional investors seeking yield-bearing digital asset exposure within regulated frameworks.

Under the terms, the ETP carries a total expense ratio of 0.85 per cent annually. Bitwise retains roughly one-third of the staking rewards generated, as a staking service fee to cover operational costs including validator services and infrastructure. The remainder is passed to investors, net of protocol fees and slashing risk.

Bradley Duke, Head of Europe at Bitwise, stated that AVNB “opens the door for investors to access price movements in AVAX coupled with staking rewards through an exchange-traded total return product.” He noted that its regulated structure and transparency aim to bridge the traditional capital markets with crypto infrastructure. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, welcomed the development, saying that offering access through established market systems expands participation in Avalanche’s ecosystem.

Avalanche has gained traction as a scalable, energy-efficient layer-1 blockchain capable of supporting subnetworks tailored for compliance, governance and performance. Its adoption extends across tokenisation, decentralised finance, gaming and payment systems. The ability to stake AVAX is an integral feature of the network’s consensus, making yield products a natural extension for investors.

Goldman Sachs and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority have entered into a co-investment alongside PAI Partners in Froneri, valuing the ice­cream conglomerate at around €15 billion, including debt. The transaction restructures PAI’s 50 per cent stake in Froneri by rolling it into a new vehicle, with ADIA as a “significant minority” and a Goldman-led continuation vehicle also taking a position.

PAI has formally completed the €3.6 billion equity transaction, creating a fresh ownership arrangement for its Froneri shareholding. The Goldman Sachs Alternatives instruments, deployed via a single-asset continuation vehicle, attracted oversubscription, while the ADIA subsidiary secured its role as co-investor. PAI emphasised the move underscores confidence in Froneri’s trajectory and enables further growth ambitions. The firm also appointed Weil as legal counsel for the transaction.

Froneri, launched in 2016 as a 50:50 joint venture between PAI’s R&R Ice Cream and Nestlé’s European ice cream operations, now reports annual revenues near €5.5 billion and over 12,000 employees across 25 markets. In 2019 it further expanded by acquiring Nestlé’s U. S. ice cream arm—bringing brands such as Häagen-Dazs, Drumstick, and Outshine into its portfolio. That acquisition elevated Froneri’s global presence and sharpened the competition with Unilever’s Ice Cream business, soon to be spun off as Magnum Ice Cream Company.

Nestlé is retaining its circa 50 per cent share in Froneri and has expressed support for this new capital injection and structural reset. PAI, on its part, expects the new format to help it maintain alignment with institutional investors while reaping long-term value from an asset already showing consistent growth.

The ADIA involvement aligns with the sovereign fund’s strategy to diversify into private equity and alternative investments. ADIA was among the most active sovereign wealth funds in the first nine months of 2025, particularly in co-investment deals and private equity events across global markets. Placing capital into a well–established consumer goods platform like Froneri helps balance its portfolio between growth and stability.

Continuation vehicles, such as the one orchestrated by Goldman Sachs in this case, have seen increasing adoption in private equity markets. They allow firms to extend holding periods for assets beyond the life of original funds, while offering liquidity options to existing limited partners. In this Froneri transaction, demand exceeded expectations—signalling investor appetite for high-quality consumer assets.

Bitwise has rolled out the Bitwise Avalanche Staking ETP on Deutsche Börse Xetra, offering investors regulated access to AVAX price movements along with integrated staking income. The product is fully backed by physical AVAX, with staking rewards credited daily and reinvested.

The Avalanche staking ETP joins Bitwise’s suite of index-linked staking vehicles in Europe, designed to cater to institutional demand for yield-bearing crypto exposure through familiar capital markets structures. Listing documents show that the ETP carries an annual management fee of 0.85 per cent and that approximately a third of staking rewards will be retained as a service fee to cover operational costs.

Deutsche Börse’s listing announcement notes that AVNB is tradable in both euros and US dollars and that all staking income is automatically reinvested to boost underlying token holdings. The product is being presented as a way to participate in Avalanche’s ecosystem without having to manage technical staking infrastructure, custody, or validator responsibilities.

Bradley Duke, Head of Europe at Bitwise, said the launch “opens the door for investors to access exposure to price movements in AVAX coupled with staking rewards through an exchange-traded total return product.” He emphasised Bitwise’s mission to make digital assets accessible to institutional investors via regulated, transparent instruments. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, welcomed the development, saying that access through established market structures broadens participation in the Avalanche network.

Avalanche operates as a high-throughput, energy-efficient layer-1 blockchain that enables subnetworks tailored for compliance, governance, and performance use cases. Its growing adoption in tokenisation, decentralized finance, gaming, and payments has made it increasingly of interest to institutional players. The ETP references the “CF AVAX Staked Return Index” benchmark to track performance net of costs and staking fees.

Regulators and exchanges across Europe have gradually warmed to crypto staking products, particularly as demand rises for yield-oriented digital assets within regulated frameworks. Bitwise has already launched similar staking ETPs in the region, including for Ethereum, and says its European product line is domiciled in Germany under oversight by BaFin. Critics caution, however, that staking rewards are subject to network conditions, validator performance, slashing risk, volatility, and protocol governance changes, meaning returns are not guaranteed.

London-based CoinShares, a leading European digital asset manager with about US$10 billion in assets under management, has struck a deal to acquire FCA-regulated Bastion Asset Management. The transaction, which must clear approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority, is intended to bolster CoinShares’ actively managed crypto offerings and accelerate its push into the US institutional market.

Under the agreement, Bastion’s strategies, quantitative team and leadership, including CEO Philip Scott and CIO Fred Desobry, will be integrated into CoinShares. Bastion is known for deploying market-neutral and systematic investment strategies tailored for institutional clients. The acquisition allows CoinShares to complement its existing passive exposure products with alpha-oriented solutions.

CoinShares is already positioning for expansion across the Atlantic. It is in the process of going public in the United States via a definitive business combination with SPAC Vine Hill Capital Investment Corp, valuing the firm at roughly US$1.2 billion on a pro forma basis. CoinShares currently holds a dominant 34 percent share of the EMEA crypto ETP market and ranks as the fourth largest global digital asset ETP manager after BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity.

With Bastion’s integration, CoinShares aims to fuse its Investment Advisor registration in the US with new actively managed strategies targeting institutional investors. By combining quantitative alpha models with its distribution infrastructure, the firm seeks to differentiate itself from both traditional asset managers entering the crypto space and crypto-native infrastructure providers.

Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO and Co-Founder of CoinShares, described the acquisition as closely aligned with the firm’s goal of offering comprehensive digital asset solutions to its global clientele. Bastion’s team brings extensive expertise: Fred Desobry has over 17 years’ experience in systematic investing and quantitative research; Philip Scott brings more than 25 years in financial services.

The acquisition takes shape against evolving regulatory backdrops. In Europe, CoinShares recently secured Markets in Crypto-Assets authorisation for its French subsidiary, making it the only continental European asset manager to hold all three major regional licenses. The US regulatory environment is also shifting: the Securities and Exchange Commission’s adoption of generic listing standards for commodity-based exchange traded products is shortening approval timelines from roughly 240 days to 75 days. This regulatory clarity is viewed as conducive to faster rollout of actively managed crypto funds.

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Kuwait Petroleum International and payments provider WEX have launched a joint fuel card in Italy, called CartissimaQ8-WEX, offering business customers access to a network of more than 3,400 service stations, including Q8, Q8easy, and authorised partners.

Under the partnership, WEX cardholders will be able to refuel across Italy’s Q8 network and partner sites, gaining visibility over fuel consumption and simplified billing. KPI said the initiative is part of its strategy to deepen its footprint in the Italian market by introducing a new sales channel in collaboration with a payments specialist.

The agreement provides WEX customers access to a broad distribution system spanning Q8, Q8easy and authorised stations across Italy. KPI’s network in the country already includes several hundred stations, and this card linkage aims to consolidate its reach by leveraging WEX’s fleet and payments infrastructure.

WEX has been actively expanding its European fuel network via partnerships in countries such as France and the Netherlands, tying up with Carrefour and Sakko to broaden its acceptance footprint. That expansion effort dovetails with this new agreement, enabling cross-market leverage.

While KPI is the local operating arm of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, WEX is a US-based payments and fleet services firm. The alliance represents a fusion of upstream fuel retailing and downstream payments infrastructure. It also reflects a broader trend in the energy sector: fuel retailers seeking to strengthen customer retention through integrated payment and fleet management services.

Stakeholders in the Italian fuel and mobility markets view the move as a response to intensifying competition from independent fleet card providers and mobility fintechs. By embedding payments into its fuel ecosystem, KPI hopes to capture a larger share of corporate fleet spend and lock in recurring usage.

Industry analysts note that acceptance scale is key to fleet card uptake; the more stations that accept a given card, the more attractive it becomes for fleet operators. With 3,400 stations accessible under CartissimaQ8-WEX, the offering is immediately competitive.