The introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States has paved the way for the cryptocurrency to reach a broader audience, according to executives at Coinbase Institutional. This was reported by The Block.
“The most exciting thing is that now cryptocurrency can become mainstream for the first time. […] This is the moment we have been waiting for. So for us, this is the next chapter for this asset class,” said Brett Tejpaul, head of the exchange’s institutional division.
Regarding spot Bitcoin ETFs, representatives of the trading platform stated that more traditional names have entered the market in the form of asset managers who have a significant client base and demand for the product.
Greg Tusar, head of institutional product at Coinbase, believes the launch of exchange-traded funds based on the first cryptocurrency has prompted market participants to engage in “new discussions about attracting more capital.”
Primarily, ETF issuers are paying more attention to securing their product, the top managers emphasized.
Tusar explained that Coinbase spent a lot of time preparing a set of operational procedures for a physical redemption model, which then had to be replaced with a fiat one.
“Everyone wanted to de-risk the launch and ensure everything went smoothly, and then begin gradual scaling,” he added.
Tusar expects that the new products will attract a lot of capital, but this will not happen overnight and will take “months and even years.”
According to K33 Research, nine spot Bitcoin ETFs, excluding the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), have attracted a total of 109,221 BTC (~$4.26 billion). Meanwhile, the net outflow from GBTC on January 22 reached 4,537 BTC ($179.6 million).
Earlier, CoinDesk journalists learned about the sale of GBTC shares worth $908 million from the bankruptcy estate of the company FTX.
Analysts at Glassnode have noted a trend of capital rotation into Ethereum, Solana, and altcoins following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs.