HYPE Digital Asset Forum
Fresh capital key to growth
Digital asset leaders call for liquidity and regulatory suitability as markets start to diverge.
C ompanies in the digital among traditional asset owners, if they are to bring much-needed fresh capital into the market. That was the message from panellists speaking at the London Digital Assets Forum on 3 February 2025 in an opening plenary session exploring macroeconomic trends and predictions for 2025. assets ecosystem must do more to better understand the pedestrian pace of adoption BCB Group’s CEO, Oliver Tonkin, joined Tim Grant, CEO at Deus X Capital, Patrick Heusser, Head of Lending at Trident Digital, and Dadi Kristjansson, CEO of Viska Digital Assets. Addressing a near-capacity room, the business leaders agreed that while support was needed from European regulators to stimulate further innovation in the market, there was also a need to work harder as an industry to attract new capital from sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and pension funds. Deus X Capital CEO Grant acknowledged that traditional institutional investors were more interested than ever before in the sector but said this hasn’t yet translated to a mass inflow of new capital. He said: “The biggest issue, lubricant, determination of volume and progress in institutional crypto is leveraging capital. If I say that and you don’t know what I mean, you have to learn this. It will affect everything – what you build, who you sell to, and how you price risk.” Grant explained that there was a need for digital asset innovators to better understand and appreciate the world of traditional institutional finance if liquidity is to significantly increase. “Just look at the traditional model,
That does not exist in crypto yet. There are hedge funds including Brevan Howard and Marshall Wace who all want to trade [crypto], but there is not enough volume in the derivatives market as yet, and not enough service providers to allow this to happen.” Grant explained that if the market is to benefit from the ability to leverage at scale, then new capital needs to find crypto – and digital asset investments
“They are not expecting people in London or Brussels to end up in an arms race, but we need to ‘get real’ quite quickly. “If we don’t try to compete in terms of offering regulatory certainty and an innovation- and business-friendly environment, we might well lose out. I remain optimistic, but the window is very small,” he added. Trident Digital’s Head of Lending, Patrick Heusser, agreed that the European regulatory agenda had now slipped a considerable way behind the US and urged policymakers to act quickly to offer “regulatory clarity” to builders of new infrastructure. With the lead-up to President Trump’s inauguration coinciding with a long bull run for Bitcoin, some speakers asked whether Western government views had notably shifted on the asset since Trump’s previous presidential term. However, speakers were unable to agree on the extent to which Bitcoin would now become accepted as a major currency in its own right. “We have seen a lot of discussions around a National Bitcoin Reserve in the US and Bitcoin becoming a reserve asset more broadly,” said Kristjansson, CEO of Viska Digital Assets. “The Czech Central Bank said it was exploring its use as a potential reserve asset.” BCB Group’s Tonkin said he would be “surprised” if the UK were to ever recognise Bitcoin as a reserve asset, however, and maintained that he was equally sceptical about its adoption by the European Central Bank. “The chances of HM Treasury holding Bitcoin is pretty low,” he said. “Ursula von der Leyen was pretty bearish on it too. I would be pretty surprised if it happens here in any material way, but in the US, who knows?”
more broadly – more attractive. “We can’t just keep re-staking
because that is not leverage. We need sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and insurance companies. We have to ask, ‘how we get the next billion of fresh capital in?’ If we don’t solve that, we will have the same conversation in a year from now.” Speakers agreed, however, that the catalyst for market growth was not solely the tapestry of the market participants. The senior leaders addressing delegates said we were entering a critical time for European regulators to move more quickly, especially now that the US has outlined plans to aggressively fuel growth. “We know that, when the US regulation comes out, it will be quite aggressive,” said Tonkin, CEO of BCB Group.
We can’t just keep re-staking because that is not leverage. We need sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and insurance companies. We have to ask, ‘how we get the next billion of fresh capital in? Oliver Tonkin
where I raise money, I manage money and I get leverage from my prime broker.
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