Predictions for the Future of Crypto

The crypto IPO market is heating up.

Stablecoin issue circle closed yesterday at over $116 a share after opening for trading on Thursday at just over $70 a share.

And crypto trading platform Gemini has also filed for a confidential IPO.

Now Circle's success could show pent up crypto demand among trad 5 firms.

Non-crypto businesses have gained exposure to digital assets through Treasury strategies, and businesses are also seeking mergers and acquisitions with companies with blockchain capabilities.

Well joining me live here at the New York Stock Exchange is Salman Tesfaye, head of capital markets at APO's Lab.

Well, thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

Well, 2025 has turned out to be quite the year for the broader markets and of course digital assets, and today all eyes are on the nation's capital, but as we look ahead, plenty of catalysts on the horizon.

So what do you make of what we've seen so far in the first half?

So there's a lot going on.

I really think we're at an inflection point when it comes to just digital assets more broadly speaking.

If you look at the last half of last month, you saw record highs from the Bitcoin perspective.

You also see strong stablecoin growth.

We're at $240 billion of value on chain.

Also you're seeing cryptolink exchange traded products acting as somewhat of a moat when it comes to just bolstering the whole ecosystem.

So I'm very, very optimistic.

And also, of course our friends at Circle going public last week.

You see what the markets expectations are around growth.

Yeah, and as you mentioned, we saw record highs yet again for Bitcoin, and in New York recording trade, we are looking at that crypto major hovering right below the 110 level, but with a lot of expectations for regulatory clarity and hopefully legislation on the horizon, we could see new all-time highs for Bitcoin as well.

But when it comes to the institutional adoption that we're seeing in this space, give us an understanding.

Of where you stand, yes, so when it comes to its regulatory clarity, it promotes institutions to actually be able to lean in.

We are seeing institutions start to tokenize more and more products as more capital comes on chain through trading and stablecoin.

You also start seeing investors demand a greater level of diversification of products on chain.

And so you see Apollo, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and many others that are actually issuing everything from money market funds to private credit on chain.

And of course when it comes to your predictions, when it comes to integration of capital markets with blockchain companies, give us an understanding of where you stand.

So as you see just traditional capital markets and blockchain really start to converge, you're going to see a lot more in my view, emanate within.

Space just because some of the web 3 oriented businesses are going to need the appropriate licenses to actually be able to issue certain types of products and then also some very traditional players are going to look to be able to enhance or actually establish any level of blockchain capabilities on their side as well.

And of course when we're taking a look at the landscape we're hearing about public companies keeping Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

So what do you make of this trend that we're seeing here?

I think it's just good treasury management as these institutions learn more and more about Bitcoin and other digital assets, they realize it's prudent for them to include it on their balance sheet.

And I also do.

I want to ask you when it comes to digital asset applications, what is your take on this?

And when it comes to AI generated information as well, there's a lot of discussion about this, but for the late person out there who's watching, give us an understanding of what this actually means.

So from my perspective, I cover, of course, capital markets at Apsos Labs.

I really Focused on just really bringing financial products on chain, so that could be in the form of commodities, equities, fixed income, more esoteric products like art, music, royalty streams, and so forth, but then making them accessible on chain as opposed to all the capital that is accumulating on chain having to basically remove itself and enter the traditional markets to access those particular products.

And because you focus on capital markets for investors out there, they may be familiar with ETPs as well as just access to other products that are currently waiting for approval by the SEC, but not just by the end of this year, but 5, 10 years from now.

What do you expect the investment landscape to look like?

So right now for some investors, the only way they can Access digital assets is through these exchange traded products, whether it's of course the Bitcoin ETF or there's a much, much wider variety if you go to Europe around exchange traded products and accessing.

So I do think that at this point that is the entry point for some firms, but I think a lot of these products are just going to inherently be natively on blockchain at some point, but it's just very incremental as of course the back office and the back and infrastructure starts to catch up.

And I'm sure that you're having conversations with stakeholders, not just stateside, but also overseas, as you mentioned, Europe as well as Asia.

And given that a lot of talent has moved overseas in recent years, how do you think some of the frameworks when it comes to regulation, not just in those regions, but also say to our neighbors to the south or even to the north, I think this will serve as a blueprint for regulators here in the US?

So really, when you look at the US, of course it typically sets the tone from a regulatory perspective.

We are playing catch up to a meaningful degree on this particular topic, but I do think we also get the benefit of seeing what's working and what's not working in other jurisdictions.

And also at the end of the day when we talk about digital assets or specifically real world assets, it's really going to lean.

Heavily on securities laws and so it's not going to be a blank slate by any means, but there are going to be some nuances naturally because it is a different level of technology, different level of capabilities, and I'm glad you brought up real world assets because that is something that we're keeping an eye on when it comes to the tokenization.

So where do you think the opportunities are for both institutional as well as retail investors? just given the momentum on the stablecoin side, I'm really excited about the applications within remittance, microfinancing.

Most of them are targeted toward emerging markets at this point.

I think that's really, really going to democratize credit access as well as just, you know, broader financial services to, you know, this particular demographic, but then from an institutional perspective, I think it's really growing distribution and also over time also offering very unique products.

And for viewers out there who heard about Circle's IPO and they're thinking about the use cases of stablecoin, especially in the US, it might not be as familiar as viewers out in other parts of the world.

So what do you think will happen when it comes to stablecoins, especially as we hear trad by names, consortiums of tag names getting into the space or considering stablecoins?

What do you expect to see in the near term?

Well, I think it's just To be the back end to all infrastructure when you think of this value movement, more specifically we can talk about money movement.

I think that a lot of players are not going to even know that they're interacting with anything from a blockchain perspective.

It's going to be more of a Web 2 front end and a web 3 back end, and I think that they're just going to be the recipients of all the benefits, whether it be settlement, whether it be cost associated with their transactions going forward.

And finally, before I let you go, you mentioned M&A, but what do you think will happen state side when it comes to IPOs?

I think a lot more companies are actually going to start to tap into the capital markets, the traditional capital markets, to access capital, and these worlds blockchain as well as traditional capital markets are going to coexist, but they also are going to overlap to a very meaningful degree.

OK, well thank you so much for joining me.

My pleas at the New York Stock Exchange, and thanks for sharing your perspective.

My pleasure.

Thank you.