What’s Next for Institutional Crypto?

Talos CEO and Co-Founder Anton Katz joined industry colleagues in a panel discussion entitled, “Institutional: Predictions and What’s Next” at Consensus Hong Kong. He was joined by Lorien Gabel, Co-Founder & CEO of Figment; Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital; and Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Ripple. Ella Arwyn Jones, former Editor, Content & Business Director at Haymarket Media was the moderator.

The conversation covered the state of institutional crypto adoption, the evolution of trading workflows, and how regulatory progress will shape the global market. Here are the key takeaways from Anton’s comments.

Institutional needs are more sophisticated today than 6 years ago

Institutional needs have evolved beyond liquidity access to more sophisticated workflows and demand for tooling.

• Six and half years ago when we started Talos the entire conversation was about liquidity connectivity and aggregation
• Liquidity fragmentation continues today, but institutional trading strategies are becoming more sophisticated with demand for more advanced execution tools (e.g., to support spreading and multi-leg strategies, unified liquidity)
• Talos connects to 60+ liquidity providers including exchanges, OTC desks, and DeFi markets, ensuring institutions can efficiently execute trades at scale‍
• “We provide institutions with a one-stop shop to execute trades across multiple instruments and liquidity sources efficiently.”

Large traditional institutions are coming into the market

Trading volumes through Talos surged to record highs at year-end 2024, but recent client conversations show growing engagement from large traditional institutions.

• While the surge in activity is exciting, it’s not the full story
• In recent months, Talos has onboarded asset managers representing $18 trillion in AUM 
• Large institutions are preparing for market entry, but full-scale engagement takes time and their impact is not fully reflected in the market yet‍
• "We’re seeing a lot more involvement from banks. We’re seeing a lot of involvement from asset managers. We’re also seeing retail aggregators turn on capabilities for their customers. So it'll be a very interesting year ahead in 2025 for us."

US regulatory clarity will benefit global markets

Another topic of discussion was how regulatory progress in the US could impact the Asian market. Anton emphasized that the global regulatory landscape is interconnected.

• The entrance of large US-based institutions, previously restricted from engaging with digital assets, will unlock liquidity for the global markets.
• Regulators in Asia watch US policy, meaning shifts in US frameworks could affect regulatory developments in Asian markets.
• A more crypto-friendly US will attract capital and innovation, benefiting Asia’s institutional crypto landscape as well‍
• "The US unlocking crypto adoption isn’t just about the US—it’s an unlock for liquidity and capital for the entire world. There are a lot of larger institutions in the United States that have been effectively barred from interacting with digital assets. The United States unlock will bring that capital and activity to the global markets."

All assets are digital assets

We are headed in a direction where all assets will be digital assets, and while the timeline may be unclear, projects underway are exploring the benefits of tokenization and decentralized markets

• It’s just a question of time, but ultimately all assets will be digital assets in that they will be traded on digital asset infrastructure
• Projects like Singapore’s Project Guardian and Hong Kong’s Project Ensemble serve as early-stage regulatory sandboxes for tokenized finance
• While security and compliance remain challenges in DeFi the programmability and automation hold promise for transforming the financial markets‍
• “We’re seeing a level of innovation in decentralized markets that we haven’t seen in centralized markets; we can do things a lot faster, a lot more programmatically. So we’re excited about initiatives that look at how to blend the expertise of both.”

Watch the replay for more insights.