In a recent interview, Sergey Nazarov, the founder of Chainlink, expressed that the current cryptocurrency market cycle is distinct because of the significant influx of new investors entering the market. This influx may expedite the adoption of real-world asset tokenization, surpassing the industry’s initial expectations.
During the interview with Bloomberg on February 28th, Nazarov highlighted that the new participants in the crypto market extend beyond retail customers who are influenced by mainstream media coverage of crypto price fluctuations. He explained that these new buyers come from various sectors of the global financial system.
Back in October 2023, Cointelegraph reported that the United States government holds over 200,000 BTC, making it one of the largest Bitcoin holders. As of the current publication, this amount is valued at approximately $12.4 billion.
Nazarov further elaborated that the recently approved Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) products are just the starting point for facilitating easier access for funds to enter the market. He stated, “The Bitcoin ETF is just an initial offering that allows the global financial system to have basic investment rails and payment rails toward Bitcoin within structures that they find comfortable for them.”
Meanwhile, Nazarov predicts that real-world asset tokenization will be the next significant trend in the crypto market. He declared, “The next stage is asset tokenization where banks see all these inflows into ETFs and then they make assets to compete with the ETFs or to get some of that capital.”
Since the approval of Bitcoin ETFs on January 10th, there has been a surge in funds flowing into the crypto market. According to a report by Cointelegraph on February 26th, institutional Bitcoin investment products received a total of $598 million in inflows over the previous seven days.
Pav Hundal, the lead Analyst for Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, informed Cointelegraph that the recent rise in memecoin prices was driven by the supportive communities behind these projects. He also emphasized that he will closely monitor an upcoming upgrade to Shiba Inu’s network.
“We expected Shib and Doge to experience rapid growth due to the sheer size and conviction of their communities. But we’re also closely watching the impact of forthcoming upgrades to Shib’s mainnet, which will begin burning tokens during transactions,” he stated.
Magazine: How the digital yuan could change the world… for better or worse