Uncategorized
The Growing Institutional Adoption of Crypto: An Interview with Nick Hammer, CEO, BlockFills

The institutional acceptance of crypto around the world has accelerated significantly recently, developing hand in hand with better-defined regulation. Here, BlockFills CEO Nick Hammer discusses the reasons for crypto’s increasing institutional usage and some of the latest products responding to that demand.
What trends are you seeing now in the digital asset space?
We’ve been seeing increased involvement from institutional players in this space such as hedge funds, family offices and asset managers, which underscores the growing credibility and maturity of the digital asset space. Institutional activity brings significant capital, greater liquidity and stability to this market. It also drives mainstream acceptance and necessary regulatory clarity.
To that end, governments and regulators around the world are developing more defined frameworks and focusing on investor protection. This helps build trust and ensures compliance in various jurisdictions. This has also been helpful for us as we navigate the global regulatory landscape and launch offices in South America and the Middle East. BlockFills also has a London-based affiliate, Basis Capital Markets UK Ltd, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The move towards regulatory certainty has been beneficial for the major players in this space.
DeFi also continues to grow, offering decentralized alternatives to traditional financial products like lending, borrowing and trading. This enables greater financial inclusion, efficiency and transparency. Many central banks are also exploring or developing their own digital currencies in response to the rise of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. This could impact the future of money by creating a more digitized financial ecosystem.
Finally, we are also seeing a rise in the use of stablecoins. Stripe introduced a new payment option allowing customers to pay U.S. businesses in the USDC stablecoin, and this growing trend is reshaping how assets are traded and stored.
Why have we seen more institutional adoption of crypto?
There’s been a lot of movement from regulators to provide institutional traders more confidence when accessing the digital asset space. The U.S. has adopted a strategic Bitcoin Reserve policy at both the federal and some state levels, the SEC and CFTC have created a joint crypto regulation advisory committee and several crypto ETFs have been approved, with more, including Bitwise’s application for an XRP ETF, under consideration.
We have also seen the development of institutional custody solutions for crypto, which builds further confidence in the digital asset space. BlockFills has partnered with leading players that have invested heavily in custody solutions, insurance and regulatory compliance. These are only a few of the steps we take to safeguard assets against hacking and theft, since long-term sustainability is important to us.
Finally, there has been a real trend to tokenize traditional financial products like stocks, bonds and commodities. Institutional and professional investors are attracted to this sort of offering due to its fractional ownership and increased liquidity, which provide unique opportunities apart from traditional investment vehicles.
As the market matures, how are you looking at the landscape of product opportunities or deficits?
Having both a spot and derivatives* offering enables BlockFills to provide unique trading opportunities and provides traders the opportunity to explore various strategies. As an OTC desk, we have customizable products with a robust variety of underlying digital assets, including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, USDT, LTC, BCH and more. We are not only dealing with the major coins.
Legacy products and technologies may have restraints that are holding digital asset evolution back. Crypto demands same-day settlement, 24/7 markets and non-fiat as collateral, so BlockFills is exploring how best to meet the needs of digital asset traders while leveraging traditional building blocks.
BlockFills also offers cash-settled as well as physically delivered products to meet the needs of all sorts of professional and institutional traders.Turnkey solutions from BlockFills can get firms up and running in the digital assets businesses so as not to experience FOMO.
The digital asset landscape is very unique in that it was developed by retail investors and has evolved for institutional markets. We owe credit to the first movers in the digital asset retail space and aim to capture some of their innovative spirit when developing our products.
Your firm recently launched the BlockFills CoinDesk 20 Options Market. Can you tell me more about that?
BlockFills provides institutional-grade liquidity to the CoinDesk 20 Index, which measures the performance of leading digital assets and applies a capped market capitalization weighted methodology to ensure portfolio diversification. Additionally, we offer the BlockFills CoinDesk 20 Options Market product, answering the demand for diverse and tradeable digital assets products beyond BTC and ETH ETFs. We have heard the demand from qualified institutional market participants for a foundational reference index to trade, invest, and measure performance in, and are thrilled to provide them with a solution.
Prominent digital asset manager and multi-strategy crypto hedge fund, Hyperion Decimus, initiated the first transaction of the product in January of this year.
What’s next for BlockFills? Where should people go for additional information?
We are working strategically with partners to provide an enhanced level of service for digital asset trading. We recently collaborated with CQG, a leading global provider of high-performance technology solutions for market makers, traders, brokers, commercial hedgers and exchanges, to bring industry-leading, reliable pricing and deep liquidity to their vast client base. And our market participants benefit from the ability to use CQG’s institutional-grade technology and trading tools.
We are also expanding our relationships with key industry players such as custody provider Fordefi, London-based banking group BCB, CQG, CoinDesk Indices and others to enhance the digital assets experience.
BlockFills will also be launching global offices in Dubai, Brazil and the U.K. Those seeking more information can visit BlockFills.com.
Disclosure:
*Derivative Products available to Qualified Counterparties Only. For US Persons, client is an Eligible Contract Participant (“ECP”) as defined in Section 1a(18) of the Commodity Exchange Act and related guidance. Non-US Persons must qualify as an Eligible Professional Client.
The information in this article is not to be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation or an offer to buy contracts for difference (CFD), cryptocurrencies, futures, foreign exchange, or options on the aforementioned. All information contained herein is believed to be accurate, Reliz Ltd makes no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of any data, statistics, studies, or opinions expressed and it should not be relied upon as such. The risks of trading can be substantial. Each investor must consider whether this is a suitable investment. Those acting on this information are responsible for their own actions.
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.
CoinDesk Indices, Inc., including CC Data Limited, its affiliate which performs certain outsourced administration and calculation services on its behalf (collectively, “CoinDesk Indices”), does not sponsor, endorse, sell, promote, or manage any investment offered by any third party that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. CoinDesk Indices is neither an investment adviser nor a commodity trading advisor and makes no representation regarding the advisability of making an investment linked to any CoinDesk Indices index. CoinDesk Indices does not act as a fiduciary. A decision to invest in any asset linked to a CoinDesk Indices index should not be made in reliance on any of the statements set forth in this document or elsewhere by CoinDesk Indices. All content displayed here or otherwise used in connection with any CoinDesk Indices index (the “Content”) is owned by CoinDesk Indices and/or its third-party data providers and licensors, unless stated otherwise by CoinDesk Indices. CoinDesk Indices does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, adequacy, validity, or availability of any of the Content. CoinDesk Indices is not responsible for any errors or omissions, regardless of the cause, in the results obtained from the use of any of the Content. CoinDesk Indices does not assume any obligation to update the Content following publication in any form or format. © 2025 CoinDesk Indices, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Arthur Hayes Says Bitcoin Will Hit $1M by 2028 as U.S.-China Craft Hollow Trade Deal

Arthur Hayes has a message for crypto investors and bitcoin (BTC) HODLers obsessing over Federal Reserve policy as the U.S. and China inch toward a trade deal: You’re watching the wrong institution.
“The real show is at the Treasury Department. Ignore the Fed. It doesn’t matter,” Hayes told CoinDesk in a recent interview. “Powell didn’t matter in 2022 under a Democratic regime, and he doesn’t matter now under a Republican one.”
For Hayes, the Federal Reserve has become a sideshow. The real monetary lever-pulling, he argues, is happening under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is quietly reshaping global liquidity with buybacks and auction strategies designed to manage a ballooning U.S. debt load.
That flood of liquidity, paired with America’s inability to rein in spending, is why Hayes says Bitcoin is heading to $1 million by 2028.
“All we care about is whether there are more dollars in the system today than yesterday,» Hayes said. «That’s all that matters.”
But monetary policy isn’t the only catalyst in his view. Hayes sees geopolitics fueling the fire too, particularly the performative trade diplomacy between the U.S. and China. As both sides posture, Hayes says they’ll likely sign a deal that looks bold on paper but changes nothing of substance.
“It’s going to be a deal on the surface,” he said. “Trump needs to prove he’s been tough on China. Xi needs to prove that he stood up to the white man.”
After all, China has proven with its Covid-era policies it can withstand more economic pain. With tariffs politically risky, Hayes thinks the next move will be taxing foreign investment, a quiet form of capital control meant to reduce America’s dependence on foreign buyers without spooking domestic voters. This is how you get the American people to swallow a realignment of trade.
“The only real policy that actually works is capital controls,” he said.
Potentially, there are multiple tools on the table. Not just taxes on foreign-held Treasuries or equities, but more aggressive ideas like forced bond swaps, trading 10-year notes for 100-year paper, or higher withholding taxes on capital gains from U.S. assets.
It’s all part of a strategy to rebalance the financial account without forcing Americans to “buy less stuff,” a message he says no politician can sell.
“Americans don’t like to do hard things,” he added. “They don’t want to be told that you have to consume less.”
China will continue to pile on into U.S. assets
China, meanwhile, isn’t going anywhere. Hayes says it has no choice but to keep buying U.S. assets even if it pretends otherwise.
“They have to obfuscate kind of how much stuff they’re buying off of America… but mathematically, they just can’t stop.”
For Hayes, this all leads to one place: more money sloshing through the system, and bitcoin soaking up the spillover.
His portfolio reflects that thesis: 60 to 65 percent in bitcoin, 20 percent in ether (ETH), and the rest in what he calls “quality shitcoins.”
Why? Because the market is finally looking for coins that actually work.
“We are in fundamentals season. people are tired of coins that don’t do anything,” Hayes said.
Uncategorized
What’s Next for Bitcoin With Crypto Market Cheering Trump’s Trade Deal Hype?

Bitcoin (BTC) is fast closing on the $100,000 mark as U.S. President Donald Trump teased a major trade deal, with reports suggesting it could be with the U.K.
The upswing in prices is consistent with the cryptocurrency’s broader bullish technical setup and buoyant risk sentiment in traditional markets. As of this writing, the Asian stocks traded higher, with the futures tied to the S&P 500 up by 0.6%.
Still, a couple of factors suggest the $100,000 breakout may not be a smooth ride.
WSJ pours cold water over optimism
Firstly, as per the Wall Street Journal, the big trade deal that Trump teased on Truth Social could be a «framework of an announcement with tariff adjustments.»
In other words, the impending announcement could be a framework of discussions that could lead to a trade deal weeks or months from now. So, the bullish momentum in BTC could slow once the initial optimism fades.
Resistance at $99.9K
As discussed earlier this week, the $99,900 could prove a tough nut to crack due to the potential for increased selling pressure from those who bought coins around these levels early this year and profit taking by long-term holders.
Coinbase premium
Coinbase premium indicator, which measures the spread between BTC’s dollar-denominated price on the Coinbase exchange and tether-denominated price on Binance, is widely seen as a proxy for demand from the U.S.-based investors.
In the past, sustained BTC bull runs have been characterized by an uptick in the Coinbase premium.
However, since late April, the seven-day moving average of the Coinbase premium has diverged bearishly from the price.
Bearish RSI divergence
While BTC set a new multi-week high during the Asian session, the 14-hour relative strength index, an indicator used to gauge momentum and overbought and oversold conditions, didn’t follow suit.
The resulting bearish divergence suggests the momentum may be weakening.
Uncategorized
Bitcoin Nears $100K as Trump Teases ‘Big’ Trade Deal

Bitcoin zoomed close to $100,000 early Thursday as President Donald Trump said a tariff deal with a “big, highly respected country” is to be announced soon.
Trump will hold a “major” trade deal news conference at 10 a.m. ET, where the announcement is supposed to be the “first of many.”
The identity of the country involved remains unclear. Still, some reports say it is believed to be the U.K. Easing tariffs could soften inflationary pressures and improve the backdrop for investing in crypto, tech, and other high-beta assets.
Bitcoin has gained more than 5% in the past 24 hours, extending its weeklong rally as macroeconomic conditions improve.
A combination of falling bond yields, a weakening dollar, and renewed institutional flows into spot bitcoin ETFs has fueled upward momentum.
The announcement also comes amid rising political pressure on U.S. leaders to counter China’s growing influence and revive domestic manufacturing. While full details remain under wraps, any rollback of tariffs could quickly buoy prices of risk assets.
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