Coindesk

CoinDesk | Crypto Long & Short

New #assets classes don’t appear by decree — they emerge when size, volatility and diverse participants converge. When that happens, a set of risks and rewards becomes too important, too dynamic and too widely traded to ignore. That is the point at which investors stop treating it as a feature of the market and start recognizing it as an asset class.

#staking is approaching that point.

The scale is undeniable. More than half a trillion dollars of assets are staked across proof-of-stake networks. Ethereum alone accounts for over $100 billion, while Solana, Avalanche and others add to the base. This is no longer experimental capital. It is large enough to support liquidity, professional strategies and eventually the kind of secondary products that only form when an ecosystem is deep.

The volatility is equally clear. Staking returns move in ways that matter. Solana’s rewards have ranged between 8% and 13% over the past year. Ethereum’s exit queues, a structural safeguard for network stability, have been stretched to weeks under current conditions as a major staking provider exited its validators. Slashing and downtime risks layer on idiosyncratic shocks. These frictions may frustrate investors, but they also create the conditions for risk premia, hedging tools and ultimately markets to emerge.

And then there are the participants. What makes staking compelling is not just who is involved, but how their different objectives will push them into the market. #ETP s and #etf s, bound by redemption schedules, need to manage staking exposure within defined liquidity windows. Digital asset treasuries will compete on net asset value, actively trading the staking reward term structure to beat benchmarks. Retail stakers and long-term holders will take the other side of liquidity, willing to sit through entry and exit queues for higher returns. Funds and speculators will take directional views on network activity and future reward levels, trading around protocol upgrades, validator dynamics or usage spikes.

When these forces interact, they create price discovery. Over time, that is what will make markets efficient — and what will turn staking from a protocol function into a fully fledged asset class.

The trajectory is starting to resemble the path fixed income once took. Lending began as bilateral, illiquid agreements. Over time, contracts were standardized into bonds, risks got repackaged into tradable forms and secondary markets flourished. Staking today still feels closer to private lending: you delegate capital to a validator and wait. But the outlines of a market are forming — term-based products, derivatives on staking rewards, slashing insurance and secondary liquidity.

For allocators, this makes staking more than just a source of income. Its returns are driven by network usage, validator performance and protocol governance — dynamics distinct from crypto price beta. That opens the door to genuine diversification, and ultimately to a permanent role in institutional portfolios.
 
Staking began as a technical function. It is becoming a financial market. And with size, volatility and participants already in place, it is now on the verge of something bigger: emerging as a true asset class.

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Coindesk _ Crypto for Advisors
From Garbage to Gold: Why Crypto?
In 2019, I made headlines by calling bitcoin “garbage”. Back then, there was no regulation or oversight. It was chaos. Governments were hostile and unsure how to approach crypto. Now, the landscape has changed entirely.

In the days before regulatory bodies started coming on board, crypto pioneers –cowboys–made tons of money on crypto’s early volatility. Even in this high-risk landscape, the crypto market proved incredibly productive.

Today, the market has grown to use bitcoin (BTC) and others as stores of value, digital payment systems or stablecoins. However, we’re still early — crypto adoption isn’t anywhere near its potential. 

Talking Regulation
In the post-Wild West landscape, everyone’s looking for the next big event to drive price discovery. It’s obvious that institutional investment has this potential. Almost no major financial institutions, sovereign funds, etc., have adopted crypto. Any of these bodies weighting BTC at 1% would send price discovery to the moon.  The roadblock is regulation.

Regulation began with bitcoin ETFs. First available in Canada, then the U.S. and Europe, they’re now Wall Street’s gateway to crypto. Another key regulation was the GENIUS Act in the United States, which guaranteed stablecoins against USD. Collectively, this legislation shows growing institutional faith in crypto.

The U.S. Senate’s digital asset market structure bill and the U.S. House’s clarity act are two upcoming pieces of regulation to watch; both create crypto regulation frameworks. Many investors anticipate a bullish market if this legislation passes and the regulatory trend continues. Current price levels of BTC are perhaps indicative of this anticipatory mindset: we’re waiting for the floodgates to open.

Own the Picks and Shovels
When considering crypto assets, it’s easy to overlook the infrastructure needed to scale institutional adoption.  I’m very vocal about my “picks and shovels” strategy. If you’re in the crypto market, you should own its supporting infrastructure and tap into the returns associated with crypto without caring much about coin price.

Specifically, I see exchanges and data centers booming in the case of broader, institutional adoption. I’m an investor in Bitzero, a data center company that provides clean energy for BTC mining. My investment there is a power play — it’s the cheapest power I’ve seen. They mine BTC at a low breakeven, allowing me to profit regardless of its volatility.

Exchanges are similar. I invested heavily in WonderFi, which became the largest in Canada. I’m also a Robinhood and Coinbase shareholder. Platforms like this are where price discovery occurs, and they earn per transaction.

Building Your Crypto Portfolio
Buying into this space today can range from an infrastructure play to a stablecoin. I own the currencies, exchanges and the energy powering them. Collectively, crypto-related investments are about 20% of my portfolio. I recommend building a diverse crypto portfolio, not through token variety but by investing in companies supporting digital assets.

Where Coins Belong
At one point I had 27 crypto positions. Now, I’m confident that I only need three: BTC, ether (ETH), and stablecoins. BTC and ETH are the gold standard, and together they’re around 90% of my coin holdings. I’m weighting each at 2.5% and wrapping ETH around my BTC, because I like a monthly yield.

Many of my other investments, like stocks and bonds, pay dividends or interest — I can see the income. That’s what my wrapping strategy replicates, while still acknowledging BTC as digital gold: the underlying point is long-term price appreciation. ETH, on the other hand, is where a lot of Wall Street’s stablecoins are trading.

Treasuries and Leverage
We’ve recently seen public companies’ treasuries buy BTC with massive leverage. I stay conservative. Call it boring, but I hardly leverage my coins: at most 30%. To me, it’s not worth the risk of getting burned if BTC drops 50% overnight.

The Crypto Investor’s Mindset
If there’s one thing to understand about crypto investing, it’s that volatility is baked in. Your mindset must be to take advantage of the volatility and productivity by owning both the crypto and its infrastructure: believe in the whole crypto space. This way, you’ll avoid predicting token prices and make money regardless.

- Kevin O’Leary, Entrepreneur and Investor

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Recently, the Hong Kong government announced the event calendar for the first half of next year. Hong Kong's Deputy Financial Secretary, Huang Weilun, stated at a press conference that there will be at least 93 major events in the first half of next year, of which 14 will span this year, expected to attract 840,000 visitors, an increase of over 50% year-on-year, and is expected to bring in HKD 3.3 billion in consumption and HKD 1.8 billion in economic added value, representing an increase of 40% and 30% year-on-year, respectively.
These at least 93 events occurring in the first half of 2025 can be simply categorized into five categories. The largest number is cultural, artistic, and creative projects, with 30; followed by conferences and exhibitions, with 26; sports events with 15; and festivals, celebrations, performances, and carnivals with 12; financial, economic, and innovation-related events with 10.