20th September 2023 > > TradFi & Cryptos.

tl;dr

Three more examples of the TradFi stampede into crypto, all driven by customer demand. That potential supply shock looms ever larger on the horizon as custodial and staking services become available to large investors.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

The FOMC announces its latest interest rate decision today with futures prices showing a 99% probability of no change. The accompanying statement though could cause some movement in risk assets.

With some speculative money still looking to exit with a 27-handle, a positive statement might possibly take out the last of those weak hands.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The TradFi charge into crypto 1

The list of the world’s largest banks with crypto product offerings for clients gets longer by the day.

Nomura – through its digital asset subsidiary – has launched a new fund for institutional investors. This fund has just one purpose. Investors will be long BTC.

Funds like these offer not just liquidity for clients to invest in size, but they remove all custodial and security risks from doing so.

You can be sure that developments like these are not being done for whimsical reasons. Nomura’s senior management are collectively responding to client demands.

The supply squeeze for BTC continues to ratchet tighter.

The question you might ask yourself, and only you can answer this, is a simple one. Do you want to invest before or after Blackrock’s spot BTC ETF goes live?

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The TradFi charge into crypto 2

Boerse Stuttgart Digital and Munich Re Group have announced a partnership to allow institutional and retail investors to stake cryptos:

https://www.boerse-stuttgart.de/-/media/files/gruppe-boerse-stuttgart/pressemitteilungen/en/2023/230912-mr-munich-re-boerse-stuttgart-digital.ashx?la=en&hash=B718F5FA037857BEF1AB54D7A62E6654

This initiative builds on their partnership which provides custodial solutions for investors.

Dr. Oliver Vins, MD of Boerse Stuttgart Digital, makes this point about the motivation for this development:

“We have noticed an increasing interest from institutional investors in the staking sector, eagerly anticipating the chance to participate, provided they have complete confidence in the security of the environment.”

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The TradFi charge into crypto 3

Sticking with the staking theme, Standard Chartered – through its crypto subsidiary Zodia Custody – has launched the “Zodia Custody Yield” service in partnership with OpenEden:

https://zodia.io/zodia-custody-partners-with-openeden-to-provide-yield-opportunities-for-institutions/

Co-founder of OpenEden, Jeremy NG, makes the business case:

“There are billions of dollars worth of stablecoins sitting on the sidelines when they could easily be generating yields for investors. That’s a huge opportunity and one that we and Zodia Custody hope to bring to institutions through our respective service platforms which will allow issuers and investors to enter the digital asset market through tokenised financial products, in a way that is both safe and transparent.”