Crypto industry players who spoke on two panel discussions on 18 November at FIA Expo agreed that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are on their way towards being fully investible by institutional investors, but opinions differed about when that will happen.
Christopher Perkins, president of CoinFund, a crypto investment firm focused on web3 and blockchain investments, argued that the industry is on the verge of “a golden age” in the near future because the current leadership in the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are all focused on setting up a workable regulatory framework. Once that happens, he said, “it’s going to unlock an incredible amount of institutional adoption.”
Others expect the integration of crypto-asset products into institutional portfolios will be much more gradual. “Capital markets move at an evolutionary pace, not a revolutionary pace, which is fine even when there is revolutionary technology underlying it,” said Amar Kuchinad, group CEO of Copper, a digital asset infrastructure provider offering institutional-grade custody, collateral management, trading and settlement services.
No place like home
Already, however, a number of institutional investors have begun trading crypto as the markets become more regulated and the infrastructure more secure.
“The crypto space really started with the retail markets, as well as what I’ll describe as native crypto funds. What I’ve seen it develop into today is a much more institutional marketplace,” said Noel Kimmel, president of Hidden Road, a firm specialising in prime brokerage, clearing and financing across both traditional and digital asset markets.
Institutional players want the same kind of infrastructure they get with the other asset classes they trade, Kimmel continued, “similar rails, legal agreements, market structure and risk management, and that’s what they are starting to demand from their service providers.”
Beyond regulation, some panellists said institutional investors want to see more “tradfi” – traditional finance – involvement in the market infrastructure.
In particular, they said, the shortage of established custodians is giving some investors pause. “They want a custodian that they’re familiar with. These companies trade multiple asset classes, but they use Custodian A or they use Custodian B, typically a bank, and they want the same type of service,” said Brandon Mulvihill, co-founder and CEO of Crossover Markets Group, a digital asset trading technology company. While there are “some banks that have stepped up and said that they’re going to scratch that itch,” he added, they haven’t opened for business yet.
Diffusion of Innovation
On the other hand, a number of new ideas coming out of the crypto trading markets are now being adopted by mainstream institutions:
24/7 trading. Panellists were generally bullish about CME’s decision to begin trading 24/7 early in 2026 for its cryptocurrency futures. “We actually think that’s a fantastic thing,” said Boris Ilyevsky, head of US markets at Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange. While the Coinbase platform already offers 24/7 trading for certain futures contracts, Ilyevsky thinks having CME in the fray will help encourage more investors to join the market.
Exchange-traded crypto. The growth of exchange-traded crypto funds has been very strong, panellists said. The draw: you don’t have to worry about storing your encrypted access keys. “If you have a 401(k), you don’t want to bother with that…it’s just a hassle,” said Hein Tibosch, head of digital assets product and OTC at Flow Traders, a global proprietary trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity across financial markets, including digital assets.
Perpetual futures. Another crypto market innovation that the institutional market has taken notice of is perpetual futures, a contract that never expires so long as the trader meets margin requirements. Shreyas Chari, director of trading and head of derivatives of Monarq Asset Management, said the perpetuals have two draws: the lack of expiration dates and the fact that some are highly leveraged.
Although the perpetual-style futures Coinbase launched this year are neither truly perpetual (the company believed they needed an end date to fit US market structures) nor highly leveraged, they have still proven popular. “We’ve seen that business absolutely explode,” Ilyevsky said.
Right now, Ilyevsky added, Coinbase only offers perpetual-style futures on Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana, but in “the next few weeks and months,” the exchange will introduce other digital currency perpetual-style products.
Tokenised collateral. Another application already in use in the crypto world could also have a significant impact on conventional markets: the use of stablecoins and tokenised money market funds as margin collateral.
Crypto traders have been using tokenised collateral for several years now, according to Copper’s Kuchinad, and have proven it to be a more efficient source of margin security. “It does reduce the amount of liquidity that gets tied up. It does reduce the amount of capital that you have to ascribe to your counterparty credit risk. And that’s a huge unlock…[that] frees up capital to lend and grow the economy,” he said.
