TOKEN2049 Roundtable: Institutional Capital Flow into Digital Assets

ChainCatcher live report, Binance CEO Richard Teng, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, Circle President Heath Tarbert, and CME Group Global Head of Products Tim McCourt jointly attended the TOKEN 2049 conference to share insights at the roundtable discussion on "Institutional Capital Flow into Digital Assets." The speakers unanimously agreed that 2025 marks the true entry of cryptocurrencies into the mainstream institutional era.

The U.S. SEC and CFTC have shown remarkable speed in promoting regulatory clarity, and the UK's FCA will lift the ban on crypto ETPs in October. Hunter emphasized that this is not just a story of the U.S. market, but global regulators are reassessing their positions. Richard pointed out that while regulatory clarity does not equal innovation, support from the U.S. will accelerate institutional adoption and trigger global regulatory competition, as countries seek to attract talent and investment.

Tim revealed that the group's average daily open interest in the third quarter reached $23-23.5 billion, surpassing $40 billion in September, with an average daily trading volume of $15 billion in August, a year-over-year increase of over 200%. Additionally, Solana futures reached $1 billion in open interest in just five months, setting the fastest record, far exceeding Ethereum's eight months and Bitcoin's three years.

Keith emphasized that stablecoins are becoming a key channel for institutions to enter digital assets. Dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDC not only strengthen the international status of the dollar, allowing global users to seamlessly send dollars 24/7, but also provide institutions with a bridge to access a broader digital asset space.