Two financial institutions, each managing over $1 trillion in assets, have recently approved crypto products for their clients. This move is notable because it comes in the middle of a bear market. This situation stands in stark contrast to the 2022 correction cycle, when many traditional financial players chose to retreat from the digital asset class to protect their clients’ portfolios.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley was the one who revealed the move. Although he declined to publicly disclose the identities of the two institutions, Horsley sees their actions as evidence of a shifting attitude on Wall Street. Describing the current state of the industry, he noted that this year, everyone has ultimately put on a “crypto jersey” and is now working for the digital asset industry.
An Increasingly Blurred Line
The entry of these two trillion-dollar players extends the list of banks that have already crossed over. This institutional adoption began with Swissquote in 2017, followed by DBS in 2020, BBVA in 2021, and BNY Mellon in 2022. This wave of entries expanded throughout 2023 as Nubank, LGT, St.Galler Kantonalbank, and Santander joined the market.
The adoption momentum carried into 2024 with the entry of Zürcher Kantonalbank. Other major players have also climbed aboard, including Standard Chartered, Charles Schwab, SoFi, and Morgan Stanley. Observing this trend, Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley revealed that his company’s client list over the last two years increasingly shows a fusion between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The world is moving rapidly toward a point where the barrier between the two disappears, leaving a single financial system without dividing labels.
Is the Market’s Character Changing Too?
This institutional integration has also killed an old ideology that lived for years within the crypto community. Sygnum CIO Fabian Dori stated that the trading era themed “long Bitcoin, short the bankers” is now officially over. Global banks are no longer taking a hostile stance toward digital assets. They have pivoted and are now actively building infrastructure, granting access, and distributing digital assets directly to their clients’ pockets.
However, this institutional acceptance does not automatically overhaul the inherent nature of crypto on the ground. Dori warned that the entry of traditional financial players into this sector only places a new layer of supporting infrastructure on top of an existing market. Behind the clean banking systems, crypto trading activity will continue to run with its original character - reflexive and driven by market narratives.
As reported by CoinDesk.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.