Execs at TP ICAP and Societe Generale say the identifier removes a major barrier for crypto acceptance.

Fraud, bad practice and poor governance … Participants in the crypto assets market have had good opportunity for learning, the hard way, lately. A panel at the Optic conference looked into the pace of institutional adoption. The market has slowed down, but the institutional setting is maturing and could well host growth over the longer term.

• Market for BTC and ETH remained relatively stable, dropping on news of FTX liquidations and Fed hawkishness before rallying to close above $27k. 
• SEC Chair Gensler’s approach to digital asset regulation is critiqued in congress, with the threat of subpoena levelled. 
• Volumes and transactions are growing on the peripheries, as Chainlink rallies off connectivity into institutions and crypto-natives speculate on each other’s value via Friend.tech. 

The digital assets ecosystem is going through a period of remarkable dynamism, moving from risky but exciting technology to production-grade, regulated business. Progress – both technical and regulatory – is extraordinarily rapid. This report from OMFIF’s Digital Monetary Institute identifies and analyses the assets, technology and service providers that are already shaping the future of digital finance. The winds of the crypto winter have blown away much of the speculative froth in the digital assets space and left us with a far clearer view of where real value and solid, reliable infrastructure is to be found.

OMFIF’s Digital assets report examines the developing ecosystem, highlighting those exchanges, custodians and other infrastructure providers that have demonstrated the most robust and resilient quality throughout this challenging period.

• Contagion spread across DeFi after Curve is hit with a $116m exploit that has cascading effects across the sector.
• Bitcoin and Ether prices collapse to quarterly lows due to continued hawkishness from the Fed and fragile market dynamics.
• Grayscale win court appeal against SEC on their spot ETF approval, momentarily pushing prices back up 8% before retracing as excitement wanes.

• XRP declared not a security when sold programmatically to the public 

• Increasing bifurcation of the market for alts and majors 

• Pick-up in futures and basis trade interest for Bitcoin. 

• The SEC takes further legal action against Coinbase, Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao. 
• Blackrock files for a spot Bitcoin ETF, shifting sentiment and momentum to close out the month at a 6-month high for the price of Bitcoin. 
• Volatility returns to the market leading to an uptick in volume for BTC futures and options on the CME. 

• Macro headwinds batter derivatives volatility across risk assets including crypto
• The evolving regulatory landscape in the US pushes big exchanges offshore and prominent market makers to halt trading in the region
• Spot trading volumes hit lowest levels since 2020, while transactions onchain hit new heights.

The Fusion Digital Assets marketplace opened last week offering trading in bitcoin and ether versus the U.S. dollar.

• Traditional financial firms building digital-asset services
• Fidelity Digital Assets providing trade settlement and custody

By Anna Irrera