Crypto investors are in for a ‘very exciting spring,’ says Van Eck CEO

The Van Eck CEO says conditions are leading to a “close to perfect setup” for crypto

article-image

Peter de Kievith/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Politically-motivated rate cuts could coincide with the bitcoin “halvening” — as well as potential spot bitcoin ETF launches — making for a “very exciting spring” for crypto investors, Van Eck says.

“We’re near the end of this Fed cycle of tightening,” he says. “We’re certainly closer to the end than the beginning.”

“If one is cynical about the election, then you want at least six months for lower rates to kick in,” he adds. 

On the Empire podcast (Spotify/Apple), the Van Eck CEO admits he is not a “mind reader” when it comes to the timing of potential spot bitcoin ETF approvals. But he sees “movement at the [US Securities and Exchange Commission] now, where there was absolutely no movement until a month ago.” 

Van Eck points to how the SEC recently approved ether futures ETFs as a potential model for spot bitcoin ETF applications. “The SEC said, ‘Listen, we don’t want to give anyone an issue or an unfair advantage.’”

Van Eck explains that during the approval process for ether futures ETFs, the SEC said to the applicants, “we’re going to try to get you all to market on the same day.”

“And they did. It’s really the first time in ETF history where something like that has happened.”

“I would imagine a similar thing is in their mind for spot bitcoin,” he says.

It’s important because everyone thinks it’s important

Van Eck suggests that approval of spot bitcoin ETFs is “more symbolic than anything else,” adding, “it’s important because everyone thinks it’s important.”

“Globally, everyone has their eye on the SEC on this issue,” he says. But at a practical level, he says, “it’s going to be a great product as well.” 

“If you look at the spot bitcoin products that trade in Canada, Brazil and Europe, they trade at really tight spreads.”

Read more: US spot bitcoin ETF not impossible — just ask the rest of the world

“The established dock exchanges around the world have very hardened infrastructure,” he says, “so you’re finding a product that trades really tight, very reliably, in a regulated manner.” In addition, Van Eck says spot ETF products hold an advantage in that they are “super tax efficient” for Americans when compared to futures-based products.

Like platinum and silver, he says, bitcoin has now been established as an alternative to demand for gold as a store of value. “You’ve got an almost close to perfect setup as a trade.”

“You’ve got the Fed changing its policy or, you know, nearing the end of it. You’ve got the halvening. You’ve got other uncertainties that are there and you’ve got the liquidation that has occurred in the market.”

Read more: AllianceBernstein calls bitcoin a ‘safe haven asset,’ more attractive than gold

“I guess the narrative around the FTX bankruptcy is [that] their portfolio will be liquidated,” Van Eck says, adding, “I just can’t imagine who else there is to sell.”

“If you look at the statistics on on-chain and [centralized finance] sales of bitcoin and other coins,” he says, “it’s all supportive of that simple story.” 

The only thing that doesn’t make sense, Van Eck says, is that the market never seems to “price it in.”

“This is one of the mysteries of the financial markets. You know the halvening always leads to a bull market,” he says. “Why don’t people anticipate this?”

“There’s no accounting for the crowd.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Interchain Labs will focus on sovereign L1s and institutional demand, abandoning plans for smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub

article-image

Also, only three tokens have outperformed bitcoin so far this year: XMR, HYPE and SKY

article-image

The fund group has submitted proposals in recent months for other funds that would hold litecoin, solana, XRP, HBAR, Sui and others

article-image

Momentum’s back — BTC leads, risk assets follow

article-image

Ondo Finance’s acquisition of blockchain development company Strangelove follows its buy of Oasis Pro

article-image

Cryptocurrency and stock traders alike had a lot to unpack Wednesday