Crypto ETFs serve as an off-chain layer for investment transactions, separating speculative trading from on-chain utility. This reduces network congestion and allows the base layer protocol to focus on real-world applications, which is a net positive for its long-term health.

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The SEC's shift to "generic listing standards" for crypto ETFs removes the bespoke, lengthy approval process for each fund. This mirrors a historical rule change in traditional finance that led to a 4X increase in ETF launches, signaling an imminent explosion of diverse crypto products.

While painful for retail investors, significant market downturns serve a crucial function by purging speculative excess and redirecting capital toward higher-quality assets. This consolidation allows for a more sustainable market structure, with wealth built first in Bitcoin before diversifying into riskier assets.

Contrary to a front-loaded boom, traditional ETF launches show that year-two inflows typically surpass year one. This is because large institutions require long due diligence periods before investing and early buyers tend to add to their positions over time, a pattern crypto ETFs are expected to follow.

To understand the crypto landscape, categorize assets by function. Bitcoin's primary role is a neutral, hard money store of value—like digital gold. Ethereum acts as a programmable settlement layer for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and AI agents—making it the system's digital oil.

The last decade of crypto focused on moving assets like Bitcoin on-chain. The next, more significant mega-trend will be the migration of entire companies and their real-world revenue streams onto blockchains, involving both crypto-native firms and traditional giants like BlackRock and Stripe.

Assets like Solana occupy a much larger space in investor consciousness and media coverage than their market caps suggest. This means even small inflows into a potential Solana ETF could have a disproportionately large and positive impact on its price compared to assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

TradFi investors, who often lack specific crypto knowledge, will favor broad index-based ETFs. This will channel passive capital disproportionately into the largest market-cap assets, creating a reflexive loop that concentrates value at the top, much like the 'Magnificent Seven' phenomenon in US equities.

The predictable four-year cycle tied to Bitcoin's halving events is over. The launch of spot ETFs has put Bitcoin "on the global stage," fundamentally changing its characteristics, including volatility and drawdown profile. Investors still clinging to the old cycle model will be caught off guard.

Multicoin's central thesis is that crypto's ultimate purpose is creating "Internet Capital Markets"—the ability to trade any asset, from anywhere, 24/7, via any software. This broad vision of permissionless, programmable finance is seen as the most significant long-term impact of blockchain, destined to supersede more niche consumer applications or "Web3" concepts.

While Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) make crypto accessible, they present a liquidity paradox. The underlying spot crypto markets are actually more liquid and trade 24/7 globally, whereas ETFs are confined to standard market hours—a crucial difference for active traders.