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The Evolution of Structured Crypto Products

Published

4 часа ago

19 марта, 2025

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Australia-based digital asset firm Zerocap is in a prime position to observe the development of the structured product space, having operated OTC, market making, derivatives and crypto custody businesses since it was founded in 2018.

Here Zerocap’s head of sales Mark Hiriart discusses how these products are changing, a new semi-principal protected product his firm is launching, how demand for structured products varies by geographical region, and the most unusual structured product request he’s seen.

Tell us about Zerocap.

Zerocap is Australia’s leading institutional digital assets firm, established in 2018. We operate multiple business lines including an OTC desk, market making and derivatives business, all underpinned by our custody offering. We operate as a Corporate Authorised Representative of an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) holder, which authorizes us to trade financial products like derivatives with wholesale accredited investors. We have also established a number of high-profile partnerships with institutions like ANZ Bank for their stablecoin, and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) for various proof of concepts and pilots. While we’ve become the leading liquidity player in Australia over the last 18 months, our reach extends to clients in over 50 countries.

You recently announced a new product — tell us about it.

We’ve partnered with CoinDesk Indices to launch a semi-principal-protected structure on the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20). The product offers upside exposure to the CD20 with principal protection limiting downside risk to 5%, while offering up to 40% return potential on the upside. This is the first in a series of structured products we’ll be creating with CoinDesk Indices, featuring different payoffs for various risk appetites.

The timing is particularly relevant given the current market sentiment. With the rally in digital assets around Trump and potential global trade headwinds to navigate, we anticipate some sideways action in the near term. This medium-risk exposure product is well-suited to the current macro environment.

What gap in the market does your new product fill, and who is it designed for?

In the digital asset space, we don’t have established benchmarks like there are in traditional markets. For example, if an Australian investor or someone in Hong Kong wants U.S. tech exposure, they typically look for products linked to the NASDAQ or QQQ ETF. In crypto, we haven’t had that level of indexization yet. This product is designed for three groups: family offices and high-net-worth individuals seeking to enter the space; investors wanting broad-based crypto exposure without deep diving into individual assets; and those who understand bitcoin but want diversified exposure with managed risk.

Why did you choose to base it on the CoinDesk 20 Index?

We selected the CoinDesk 20 Index for four key reasons. One, we deeply respect the CoinDesk brand and their index team’s quality. Two, our strong relationship with Bullish provides access to futures contracts for hedging. Three, there’s a clear market need for index products in the crypto space. And lastly, my background in equity derivatives at investment banks shows me how people use these products, and it’s a natural evolution for crypto.

How are structured products evolving?

Two main factors have historically limited structured product adoption: one, high crypto volatility meant simple spot positions could provide significant returns, and two, the prevalence of perpetual futures with high leverage reduced demand for options markets. That balance is shifting, however, as more participants hold structural positions. Venture funds, portfolio managers with value-based allocation policies and large mandate holders need specific hedging solutions that perpetuals can’t provide due to path dependency.

What impact is the advent of crypto ETFs having on structured products?

ETFs serve as a «gateway drug» to structured products rather than cannibalizing them. The introduction of products like the BlackRock ETF has brought new participants into the crypto space. As these investors become comfortable with crypto exposure through ETFs, they naturally progress to exploring more sophisticated products for enhanced returns or risk management.

What institutional demand patterns are you seeing for crypto structured products in Asia versus other regions?

Asia typically shows a strong appetite for auto-call structures, where investors sell downside or puts to receive large coupons based on price targets on the upside. This differs from the more conservative approach in U.S. and European markets. Having worked at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley in equity derivatives trading, I’ve seen these regional differences firsthand.

Australia sits somewhere in between, and at Zerocap, we’ve successfully converted non-structured product players into crypto structured product users. We’re looking to expand this expertise into Asia, subject to regulatory requirements.

Are we at risk of over-engineering crypto’s volatility out of existence?

As crypto develops, different assets naturally have different volatility profiles. While stablecoins maintain stability and bitcoin’s volatility may dampen with institutional adoption, there’s still plenty of opportunity for high-volatility exposure down the market cap curve, from Solana to memecoins. The market is maturing to cater to different investor needs. For portfolio allocation, whether it’s 1%, 2% or 5%, investors need broad beta exposure through established assets like bitcoin and ether, complemented by smaller allocations to emerging opportunities.

What’s been the most unusual structured product request you’ve seen?

We are one of the few desks globally that offer derivatives on alt coins and hence we get asked to price some wild and wacky things. I can officially confirm that we have traded an option on FARTCOIN recently, which is quite something for someone who has spent his career at the big US banks!

With that in mind, where do you see DeFi and traditional structured products intersecting?

While DeFi and structured products present interesting opportunities, we need to acknowledge that crypto is already complex, and structured products add another layer of complexity. However, tokenization makes sense for legal documentation and fungibility, since you can audit source code to understand exactly what you’re getting. This space will grow with real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, but widespread adoption may take time.

When do you think digital assets will become long-term investments?

The transition from trading vehicles to long-term investments will occur as protocols and tokens demonstrate clear value propositions and use cases. Bitcoin has proven itself to be viewed as digital gold, while it is still debatable to callEthereum «ultrasound money”. Other protocols are still fighting to find their niche and demonstrate tangible value in the digital economy. As these assets become more integrated into economic systems, their long-term value propositions will become more measurable.

For more information visit https://zerocap.com/.

Authors’ views and opinions are their own and not associated with CoinDesk Indices. The interview was conducted by CoinDesk Indices and is not associated with CoinDesk editorial.

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First Solana Futures ETF To Hit Markets This Week

Published

30 минут ago

19 марта, 2025

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Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking futures in Solana (SOL) are coming on the market on Thursday.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Volatility Shares LLC is launching two ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) which will track Solana futures and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), which offers leveraged exposure.

SOLZ will have a management fee of 0.95% while traders will be charged 1.85% for SOLT, according to the filing.

The products will be the first-ever funds tracking futures in Solana, which at a market cap of $66.5 billion is the sixth largest cryptocurrency on the market. The token is up 6% over the past 24 hours, in line with the broader crypto market.

The launch of these funds could be significant in the approval of a spot Solana ETF, which would hold the token directly. The SEC has stated in the past that in order to approve a spot product, they would like to see an established futures market for the asset.

After the launch of the spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs last year, issuers have been looking to bring further crypto-related products to the market.

Several issuers, including Grayscale, Franklin Templeton and VanEck, have filed paperwork to launch a spot Solana ETF, which have yet to be reviewed by the SEC. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analysts believe there to be a 75% chance for those funds to be approved by the end of this year.

However, a decision likely won’t be made before Paul Atkins, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as chair of the SEC, is confirmed by the Senate. There is currently no hearing scheduled for Atkins.

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Fed Holds Rates Steady, Cuts Growth Outlook, Raises Inflation Forecast

Published

2 часа ago

19 марта, 2025

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As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve left its benchmark fed funds rate range steady at 4.25%-4.50% on Wednesday, the second consecutive pause since three straight rate cuts to end 2024.

The Fed’s quarterly economic projections, though, showed a sharp decline in expectations for economic growth, with the GDP increase in 2025 now seen at just 1.7% versus 2.1% at the December forecast. The growth outlooks for 2026 and 2027 were trimmed as well.

«Uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased,» the Fed said in an accompanying statement, which is likely a reference to the tumult surrounding the tariff regime being threatened by President Trump.

Alongside slowing growth, core PCE inflation is now seen at 2.8% this year versus the previous 2.5% projection. The core inflation outlooks for 2026 and 2027 were left at 2.2% and 2.0%, respectively.

The «dot plot» — showing FOMC members’ outlooks for where interest rates might be headed — still sees the fed funds rate ending this year at 3.9%, the same as December’s forecast. The ending fed funds rates for 2026 and 2027 continue to be projected at 3.4% and 3.1%, respectively.

The Fed also said it would begin to slow the pace of securities runoff from its balance sheet — so-called quantitative tightening — beginning on April 1. The decline in Treasury paper then will be trimmed to just $5 billion from $25 billion previously.

Bitcoin (BTC) was volatile in the minutes immediately following the release, but headed lower at press time to $83,500 against just above $84,000 prior to the news.

U.S. stocks continue to hold solid gains and the 10-year Treasury yield has dipped two basis points to 4.28%. Gold, the star of late among asset classes, remains near a record high at $3,048 per ounce.

Risk assets have been beaten down over the past few weeks as mounting concerns over President Trump’s tariff threats and its perceived impact on inflation and economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. The Fed turning hawkish at the December and January meetings also quashed hopes of looser financial conditions for the near-term, posing headwinds for cryptocurrencies and stocks.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (18:30 UTC) with traders monitoring the press conference for further clues of policymakers’ outlook on monetary policy.

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The Protocol: Meet Hoodi, Ethereum’s New Testnet

Published

3 часа ago

19 марта, 2025

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Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Ethereum Reporter.

In this issue:

Hello, Hoodi: Ethereum Welcomes a New Testnet

Microsoft Raises Alarm of Malware Targeting Coinbase, MetaMask Wallets

Halliday Raises $20M for AI Protocol to Eliminate Writing Smart Contracts for DeFi

Sam Altman’s World Network and Razer Want to Defeat Gaming’s Bot Problem

This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Network news

HELLO, HOODI: ETHEREUM WELCOMES A NEW TESTNET: Ethereum developers launched a new test network, Hoodi, this week that will be used to carry out the blockchain’s upcoming “Pectra” upgrade. Pectra will go live on Hoodi on March 26, and if all goes well, the long-awaited upgrade will proceed to Ethereum’s mainnet roughly 30 days later, according to the network’s core developers. Hoodi was created following faulty Pectra tests on Ethereum’s other testnets, Holesky and Sepolia, which failed to finalize properly due to problems with how they were configured. Test networks like Holesky, Sepolia, and Hoodi aim to mimic the main Ethereum network — allowing developers the opportunity to test out code changes or major upgrades like Pectra in a low-stakes environment before deploying them to the mainnet. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

MICROSOFT RAISES ALARM OF MALWARE TARGETING COINBASE, METAMASK WALLETS: Tech giant Microsoft shared a new report warning of malware that targets 20 of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets used with the Google Chrome extension. Microsoft’s Incident Response researchers raised alarms of a new remote access trojan (RAT), dubbed StilachiRAT, which could deploy “sophisticated techniques to evade detection, persist in the target environment, and exfiltrate sensitive data,” the team shared in a blog post. The malware was discovered in November 2024, and it could steal users’ wallet information, and any credentials, including usernames and passwords, stored in their Google Chrome browser. StilachiRAT targets 20 crypto wallets including some of the most widely-used ones like MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, OKX Wallet, and BNB Chain Wallet. While the malware has not been distributed widely, Microsoft did share that it has not been able to identify what entity is behind the threat and laid out some mitigation guidelines for current targets including installing antivirus software. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

HALLIDAY RAISES $20M FOR AI PROTOCOL TO ELIMINATE WRITING SMART CONTRACTS FOR DEFI: Artificial intelligence (AI)-focused blockchain protocol Halliday said it raised $20 million to help fund development of its Agentic Workflow Protocol (AWP), which aims to speed development of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and avoid the need for programmers to write smart contracts. The Series A funding round was led by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto arm. «Our mission is to pioneer the software era of blockchain, enabling developers to build applications in hours, not years,» Halliday said in an emailed announcement. «With Halliday, you can never write a smart contract again.»— Jamie Crawley + AI Boost Read more.

SAM ALTMAN’S WORLD NETWORK AND RAZER WANT TO DEFEAT GAMING’S BOT PROBLEM: Sam Altman’s blockchain project, World Network, is teaming up with gaming hardware firm Razer on a suite of features designed to weed out bots from video games. “Razer ID verified by World ID” is a single sign-on mechanism that will verify real human gamers from bots. It’s built atop Razer ID, Razer’s existing login service, and will help guarantee there’s «a real person behind every Razer ID account,” according to a statement shared by Razer and World. The collaboration between the two firms comes as artificial intelligence (AI) tools are seeping into every corner of online life — including inside of video games, which have been plagued by non-human AI «bots» since long before the rise of Altman’s ChatGPT. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

In Other News

EOS Network, known for its scalable blockchain infrastructure, is rebranding to Vaulta as it pivots toward Web3 banking. The transition comes with a token swap that is provisionally scheduled for the end of May. It also comes with the launch of the Vaulta Banking Advisory Council, a group of financial and blockchain industry experts focused on bridging the gap between traditional banking and decentralized systems. Members include executives from Systemic Trust, Tetra, and ATB Financial, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. — Francisco Rodrigues reports.

Solana-based decentralized exchange Raydium is set to start its own token issuance platform in the coming weeks to drive more revenue to the already-popular trading service. Raydium’s LaunchLab will initially resemble the hit token issuance platform Pump.Fun, Blockworks first reported. Though developers say it will have several added features that make it more appealing for token launches. — Shaurya Malwa reports.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to drop its appeal against Ripple, ending a four-year legal battle, according to the company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The XRP token, which is closely associated with Ripple, jumped 10% on Wednesday during U.S. morning hours after Garlinghouse posted about the news on X. — Krisztian Sandor and Helene Braun report.