What the numbers say: The crypto market saw a strong capital inflow over the last several days, reversing the downward trend after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) crackdown on two major crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. The total crypto market cap increased to $1.17T from $1.06T in just a week, with a nearly $120B surge. The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), also surpassed the $30,000 level for the first time since April, shortly after it retreated to under the critical $25,000 mark, alarming investors. Relevance: The surge in the crypto market cap and Bitcoin price followed an influx from the traditional finance (TradFi) giants to the crypto industry. The trend started with the world's largest asset manager BlackRock's application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on June 16. Then, $87B asset manager WisdomTree and $1.5T asset manager Invesco also joined BlackRock by filing an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF with the SEC. Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, made a similar move to enter into the crypto space by applying for a license to offer crypto custody services. Similarly, a new crypto exchange backed by Wall Street giants like Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp. recently went live, supporting the upward trend in the crypto market cap. This collective TradFi influx to the digital asset market caused a jump in key metrics of the industry in just a week. Brands that should care: Several other leading figures from TradFi also previously demonstrated their intention to have a presence in the crypto industry. Last year, the oldest bank in the U.S., BNY Mellon, added cryptocurrencies to its custody services. Earlier this year, Nasdaq, the U.S.-based financial services giant operating three stock exchanges, also announced its plans to offer a crypto custody service. Similarly, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), a U.K.-based stock exchange, announced in April that it would offer Bitcoin futures and options. |
