Well-known digital asset investor Dan Tapiero is merging private equity firms 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners under a new brand 50T, reflecting his forecast that the digital asset ecosystem will reach a market value of $50 trillion in the next decade.

«50T is a natural evolution from our original thesis in 2020 when we launched 10T with the belief that the digital asset ecosystem would grow from $300 billion to $10 trillion in 10 years,» Tapiero said in a Tuesday press release.

«Today, we estimate that we’re already at $5 trillion, far exceeding our initial timeline, which is why we’re adjusting our outlook upward,» he said. «Recent successes like the Circle IPO and Deribit acquisition demonstrate the maturity of this sector and validate our investment thesis that all value will eventually move on-chain.»

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle surged nearly 10-fold from its initial price following its the stock market debut last month, while crypto exchange Coinbase acquired Deribit for $2.9 billion in May.

Funds under 50T were investors in Circle, Deribit, and digital trading platform Etoro, which also went public recently, and other portfolio companies are also gearing towards going public, the press release said.

50T is also launching a $500 million growth equity fund dubbed 50T Fund alongside the rebrand.

It’s a closed-end fund with a ten-year horizon, designed to back later-stage companies building out core infrastructure in blockchain and web3, with a first close planned in Q4 2025.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved — then abruptly paused — Bitwise’s plan to convert its Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW) into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Tuesday, raising fresh uncertainty around the agency’s standards for crypto ETFs.

The fund holds 90% of its weight in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), with the remainder spread across Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Chainlink (LINK), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Uniswap (UNI) and Polkadot (DOT). It manages $1.68 billion in assets and rebalances monthly.

Bitwise launched the fund in 2017. The 2.5% expense ratio remains steep by ETF standards, but the conversion to a spot ETF would make BITW the first multi-asset crypto index ETF in the U.S. — if it proceeds. The asset manager has not yet disclosed if the management fee would stay at 2.5%.

A similar product, Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC), which tracks BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA, also received initial SEC approval before the agency reversed course, pausing the fund’s launch.

A letter from the SEC on Tuesday said «the Commission will review the delegated action,» identical wording to the letter Grayscale received when its ETF was paused.

According to sources who spoke to CoinDesk at the time, the SEC’s hesitation likely stems from the need to establish consistent standards for crypto ETFs, particularly for tokens like XRP and ADA that do not yet have standalone ETFs.

The SEC’s ETF docket has been busy. On Tuesday, the regulator published filings from Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Invesco Galaxy, and others seeking to amend redemption mechanics for their Bitcoin and/or Ethereum ETFs. It also launched a review of the Canary Capital SUI ETF and extended the deadline on 21Shares’ SUI ETF application.

Separately, 21Shares filed a proposal for an ETF tracking ONDO, the token powering real-world asset platform Ondo Finance.

Ethereum’s validator exit queue swelled on Tuesday to its longest wait time in more than a year, that could signal a rush among stakers to pull funds after a major price rally in ether (ETH).

There was nearly 519,000 ETH as of Tuesday U.S. afternoon, worth $1.92 billion at current prices, in line to exit the network, data by validatorqueue.com shows.

That the largest amount in the exit queue since January 2024, extending withdrawal delays to over 9 days, per the data source.

The congestion is due to the dynamics of Ethereum’s proof-of-stake model, which limits how quickly validators can join or leave the network. Validators are entities that stake tokens to help secure the blockchain in return for a reward.

Profit-taking after ETH rally

The ongoing exodus is likely due to profit-taking by those who staked ETH at much lower prices and now cashing out after ETH rallied 160% from the early April trough.

«When prices go up, people unstake and sell to lock in profits,» said Andy Cronk, co-founder of staking service provider Figment. «We’ve seen this pattern for retail and institutional levels through many cycles.» He also added unstaking spikes could also happen when large institutions move custodians or change their wallet tech.

Notably, there was a surge of validators entering the network during March and early April, a period when ETH traded between $1,500 and $2,000.

ETH staking demand also soars

Despite the wave of tokens being unstaked, a large sell pressure may not materialize as there’s a consistent demand to stake tokens and activate new validators.

There’s over 357,000 ETH, worth $1.3 billion, waiting to enter the network, stretching the entry queue beyond six days, its longest since April 2024.

Behind this opposite dynamics could be «a mix of older stakers capturing profit as well as stakers shifting to a treasury strategy,» said David Shuttleworth, partner at Anagram.

Indeed, some of this fresh demand may have come from the new wave of ETH corporate treasuries such as Sharplink Gaming, which has acquired over $1.3 billion in ETH since its pivot in late May and staked tokens as part of its strategy.

Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarified on May 29 that staking does not violate U.S. securities laws, which bolstered institutional appetite.

Underscoring the trend, the number of active validators grew 54,000 since late May to reach a record high of nearly 1.1 million, per validatorqueue.com.

«Since the SEC provided guidance on staking in May, Figment has seen a more than 100% increase in Ethereum staking delegations from institutions and a more than 360%+ increase in Ethereum queue times, which is inline with the price increases we’ve seen in ETH,» Cronk told CoinDesk.

Read more: Institutions Are Driving Ethereum’s ‘Comeback’