Cryptocurrencies Are Going Mainstream, On Wall Street And In Washington

Summary Bitcoin and crypto are becoming increasingly integrated into Wall Street and Washington. The global crypto market skyrocketed from a $4 billion to $3.5 trillion market cap over the past decade. Pro-crypto policies are increasingly in favor in Washington, but volatility and consumer protections remain concerns. By James Picerno When bitcoin was launched 16 years ago, few, if any, observers anticipated that the world’s original cryptocurrency would usher in a digital asset revolution that would become deeply woven into the existing financial system. Crypto, after all, was designed to be a revolution against the status quo. But in 2025, digital currencies increasingly look like a part of the establishment rather than the idealistic libertarian crusade initially envisioned. The original motivation for crypto was that it would reinvent, if not subvert, traditional finance, while providing individuals with an off-the-grid alternative to the conventional monetary ecosystem. But as recent events remind, crypto continues to go mainstream and is becoming ever more integrated into Wall Street and Washington. Surprising? Maybe not, when you consider that there’s more money to be made in established world of finance vs. the radical fringe. Yet, the evolution of crypto can be bewildering when you consider that there are still few legal uses for bitcoin (and its growing list of competitors) as a currency beyond speculation. So far, however, that hasn’t slowed the rise of crypto as a widely held asset. A big winner is the underlying plumbing – the blockchain system that enables crypto transactions. This distributed, decentralized computer network for transactions is finding wider adoption across the financial industry, which in turn is helping spawn demand for all things crypto. The overall growth has been nothing less than astonishing. A decade the global market value of crypto currencies was less than $4 billion, according to CoinGecko . The dollar value has since surged to nearly $3.5 trillion – an increase of nearly 87,000%! By comparison, the US stock market (S&P 500 Index ( SPX )) has increased 216% over past ten years. The latest milestone for crypto’s evolution as a mainstream industry: shares of Coinbase ( COIN ), a US-based cryptocurrency exchange, were added to the S&P 500 Index last week. In a sign of the times, Coinbase replaced Discover Financial Services, a conventional bank and credit card firm that’s being acquired by Capital One Financial Corp. ( COF ). Joining the S&P 500 is more than a decision on a whim by the S&P Dow Jones Indices committee, which oversees the stock market index. The S&P requires that a company clear several hurdles, including posting a profit in its latest quarterly update and maintaining a market capitalization of at least $10 billion. On the Nasdaq stock exchange, DeFi Technologies ( DEFT ) recently started trading. The company, which a few years ago was considered a long-shot financial disrupter, has evolved into a major player in crypto finance. Another corner of crypto that’s rapidly finding adoption by the mainstream is the so-called stablecoin market, which is shorthand for digital tokens backed by conventional assets, such as Tether, which has a market capitalization of more than $151 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com. As products that connect cryptocurrencies with traditional currencies, such as the US dollar, stablecoins seek to maintain a steady value and facilitate conventional financial transactions. Mastercard ( MA ) – one of the major credit card firms – recently said it will allow companies and individuals to make and receive payments in stablecoin accounts. Earlier this year, Stripe ( STRIP ) – a payments platform – bought Bridge, a stablecoin platform. The acquisition is widely seen as a sign that the stablecoin market, after years of growth, is on track for wider use in the financial system. By one estimate, the total value of transactions in stablecoins in 2024 was comparable to Visa’s ( V ), another leading firm in the credit card industry. Meanwhile, Washington has become a center of crypto enthusiasm with the arrival of the Trump administration. In addition to the President’s launch of a meme coin this year, along with his sons’ promotion of various crypto ventures, the US federal regulatory environment for digital assets has become much friendlier in 2025. In contrast with the Biden administration’s aggressive (some would say hostile) approach to overseeing the industry, the White House this year has appointed pro-crypto regulators, such as Paul Atkins, who heads the Securities and Exchange Commission and previously was co-chairman of Token Alliance, an advocacy group for the crypto industry. Wall Street hasn’t been shy about cashing in on crypto. There are now nearly 40 ETFs targeting various niches, including bitcoin and ether as well as trading strategies focused on the assets. The largest crypto ETF is iShares Bitcoin Trust ( IBIT ). Launched in January 2024, the fund currently has more than $65 billion in assets. Since inception, IBIT’s price has more than doubled, far ahead of the S&P 500’s roughly 25% increase over that span, based on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF ( SPY ). With so much going right for the crypto industry, what could go wrong? Several familiar risks continue to lurk, including high market volatility for the likes of bitcoin and the rise of crypto-related cybercrime and scams. A more fundamental challenge for the longer run is developing consumer protections on par with traditional financial assets. Although the regulatory outlook has turned friendly in Washington for crypto, legislation remains a work in progress. The latest step toward wider adoption of crypto arrived on Monday, when the US Senate advanced the GENUIS Act bill, the first major crypto regulatory reform for the stablecoins. Critics charge that the legislation will give Big Tech firms, such as Amazon ( AMZN ), Meta ( META ), Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ) and Apple ( AAPL ), a relatively free hand to operate their own stablecoins. But while debate rolls on about what constitutes consumer-friendly regulation, there’s a near-consensus that with or without approval of the GENUIS Act, time favors the business opportunities for crypto. Or so it appears, based on investor sentiment for the business outlook. The Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF ( BITQ ), which holds a portfolio of companies operating in the crypto economy, is outperforming the US stock market by a wide margin over the past year with a 56% rally vs. 24% for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF ((SPY)). A key question is how much of crypto’s fortunes rely on the political success and influence of Republicans? To the extent that there’s bipartisan support in Washington for crypto regulation, the odds will look more favorable for expecting that crypto’s mainstream adoption and integration into the wider economy will flourish beyond the next election cycle. Original Source: The Milwaukee Company