Crypto's seeing the 'right tailwinds': 21Shares

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We’re heading into the second quarter of the year, and — as I wrote last week — this last quarter was a doozy.

But some folks are feeling kind of good about this next quarter…so far.

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Unfortunately, with fresh tariffs on the US horizon, this morning is not off to a great start for crypto or equities.

Federico Brokate, head of US business at 21Shares, took away a silver lining to last quarter, which is that 21Shares saw “fantastic flows” for the ETFs. For Brokate, that gives an idea of how much client demand exists.

The continued volatility, especially out of Trump’s White House, may continue to spook some of the more risk-on investors. But Brokate remains pretty positive.

“I think we’re seeing all the right tailwinds. And so, yes, the volatility at a macro level is impacting performance here in this asset class — like every other asset class — but investors are taking this opportunity to come into the market even at a lower cost basis, which I think is the absolute right move,” he said.

None of this, unfortunately, is going to be enough to move us out of the wait-and-see moment we seem stuck in. The big tailwinds are still up in the air: actual regulation, word from the SEC on the slew of crypto ETF filings, and further clarity from the SEC (hopefully from the roundtables they’re hosting).

I know it’s not a surprise to any of you, but it’s where we remain. However, this quarter could get us out of this rut, if folks like Empire co-host and Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz are right and we have stablecoin legislation in the next few months.

Funnily enough, though, Brokate thinks we’re actually going to become more narrative-driven as institutions continue to pile in. That’s not to say fundamentals won’t play a huge part, but he thinks that investing itself is narrative-driven, and the more crypto aligns with macro, the more important headlines and news events will be.

“I think the constant capital [that’s] trickling into the industry is certainly changing the way that prices react to different news. But at the end of the day, all investing, especially when it’s so regulatory and geopolitical — [given that] crypto is a global asset — so all these things are very narrative-driven,” he said.

Guess we’ll always have a narrative to fall back on.

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