Clear regulation is leading to obvious success in cryptocurrency futures, while the spot market is being hindered by regulatory opacity. And so, while the approval of an ETF is just a matter of time at this stage, we still don’t know how much time.
Once prominent crypto exchanges like FTX and Binance have seen changes in leadership, with more regulated players like Coinbase, Bullish (now owner of CoinDesk), and EDX leading the market. Meanwhile, traditional futures exchanges like CME are seeing growing volumes for bitcoin.
Looking back, 2023 was unmistakably a year of transition for the emergent asset class. Positioning, leverage and the speculative excesses from the previous market cycle were swept away in 2022, allowing for the seeds of the next cycle to sprout in 2023.