Rope-a-Dope
A Week of Table-Turning Developments
ETF Summer
Over the last five years, there have been numerous calls for traditional financial institutions to enter the crypto industry. Once total crypto market cap surpassed the $1 trillion mark for the first time, the industry’s investors, developers, and followers began to discuss how crypto had transformed into an investable asset class and projected a significant influx of institutional investors.
Until recently, several signs suggested that institutions were showing interest, and by some measures, one could argue that they had already begun to penetrate the industry. Major banks are now starting to cover crypto and offer ancillary services related to this domain. However, this past week, we witnessed the most significant foray by a major traditional finance player into crypto since the industry's inception.
On June 15th, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, filed for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This move by BlackRock has had a profound impact on market sentiment, prompting other institutions to take action. Following the BlackRock filing, WisdomTree, Invesco, Valkyrie, and Bitwise have all followed suit. Each of these applicants has made previous unsuccessful attemp...