According to crypto trading firm Wintermute, crypto will be more deeply integrated with traditional finance (TradFi) through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and corporate holdings this year.
Additionally, a major corporate event such as an acquisition or merger will be settled in stablecoins, the market maker and liquidity provider said in its annual report and outlook.
Among his other predictions:
- The United States will begin consultations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve, followed by China, the United Arab Emirates and Europe.
- A publicly traded company will sell debt or stock to buy ether (ETH), mimicking MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) bitcoin acquisition policy.
- A systemically important bank will offer its clients spot trading of cryptocurrencies.
These forecasts follow substantial growth in demand last year, which saw institutional over-the-counter (OTC) trading volumes more than triple following last January’s approval of Bitcoin ETFs (BTC) and the subsequent arrival of Ether ETFs (ETH). The report attributes this interest to greater regulatory clarity and demand for capital-efficient transactions. The average size of OTC transactions increased by 17% and the total volume by 313%, it says.
Derivatives volumes have increased by more than 300%, driven by institutions seeking more sophisticated return and risk management instruments. In spot trading, Wintermute noted a record single-day volume of $2.24 billion, surpassing the 2023 weekly record of $2 billion.
Change in asset preferences
Memecoins have been one of the success stories in 2024, seeing their market share more than double to 16%. In the Solana ecosystem, this was primarily driven by tokens such as dogwifhat (WIF), bonk (BONK), and ponke (PONKE), although ether continued to dominate.
“We have seen record growth driven by demand for sophisticated products such as CFDs and options, reflecting a maturing market that increasingly mirrors traditional finance,” CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said in the report. “We anticipate even greater momentum as crypto becomes more deeply integrated into the global financial infrastructure through ETFs, corporate stakes, tokenization and the rise of structured products.”
