Crypto Market Fever Persists as Institutions Pile into ETFs, BlackRock Plans Europe Bitcoin Product

This week saw a slew of ETFs applications reach the US Security Exchange Commission's doorstep from enthusiastic exchanges on behalf of even more eager asset managers.

Institutions just can't get enough crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With Trump—“the Crypto President”—now in office, the industry is going full steam ahead with its ambitions to milk the digital asset market at every opportunity.

This week saw a slew of ETF applications reach the doorstep of the U.S. Security Exchange Commission from enthusiastic exchanges on behalf of even more eager asset managers.

Chicago’s Cboe Exchange has submitted four separate applications to the SEC for XRP ETFs from WisdomTree, Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary. Meanwhile, Franklin Templeton filed for regulatory approval from the SEC to launch a new crypto index ETF, and Crypto.com announced plans to launch an ETF for its native token, Cronos (CRO), while planning its own stablecoin. Even more surprisingly, 21Shares filed for a Polkadot ETF, much to the dismay of the crypto industry.

This all comes as the SEC intends to scale back its crypto enforcement unit. Lawyers from the unit are reportedly being reassigned to other departments within the agency, with one top lawyer being moved out of enforcement. This reassignment has been regarded as an unfair demotion, by some, potentially signaling internal disagreements about the agency’s direction on crypto regulation.

It's not just the U.S. that has crypto-institutional fever either. BlackRock this week revealed it plans to introduce an exchange-traded product (ETP) linked to Bitcoin in Europe.

Managing over $4.4 trillion in ETFs globally, the world's largest asset manager has already amassed $58 billion in assets through its U.S. Bitcoin ETF. Its new European fund is reported to be domiciled in Switzerland, with BlackRock expected to begin marketing the product this month.

But not everything is rosy in the world of crypto. MicroStrategy, which unexpectedly rebranded to "Strategy," reported a mixed financial performance in its Q4 earnings.

The company posted $120.7 million in revenue, falling short of analyst expectations of $123.25 million. Total revenue declined 3% year-over-year, while subscription services revenue grew 48.4% to $31.9 million. Other revenue streams, including product support and consulting services, saw declines.

Its stock price, which soared 740% in 2024 alone, has consequently taken a bit of a beating, trading at 20% below its 2024 high.

That said, it's not exactly like the market is having a great week either. Perhaps still hungover from the whole DeepSeek market crash last week, both the stock market and crypto market aren't performing at their best this week.

Bitcoin is down slightly under 1% but is still trading below its celebrated $100K mark. Ethereum is down more than 5%, far below the $3K mark.

Risk appetites have slipped last week's 76, "Extreme Greed," to 44, "Fear." The Fear & Greed Index uses 5-6 measurements to assess the current sentiment of the market and then rates that level of emotion on a scale of 1-100 – 1 is extreme fear and 100 is extreme greed.

But as always, BRN is here to calm your woes. "We anticipate that the numerous positive developments will drive Bitcoin and altcoins to significantly higher levels in 2025. As such, we maintain our recommendation to hold a heavy crypto allocation and buy the dip—continuing to favor Bitcoin over Ethereum," BRN analyst, Valentin Fournier suggests.

Yesterday, the SEC acknowledged ETF applications for $XRP, $SOL, and $LTC. While this does not guarantee approval, it signals a more favorable stance from the current administration towards lower-cap ETFs.