© Reuters.
Investing.com – Institutional investors lost interest in crypto after 2022 and even with this year’s uptrend, their appetite has yet to return, according to Northern Trust’s Head of Digital Assets and Capital Markets.
Justin Chapman told Digital Assets Week in San Francisco that institutions have shifted their focus to the underlying blockchain technology of cryptocurrencies, but his company “has capabilities” in place if customer interest for cryptoassets was to rebound.
“Right after March, the cryptocurrency market crashed…client interest definitely crashed the same way in terms of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies”
“Since 2022, things have calmed down on the institutional side,” he continued. “Before that, we saw traditional fund managers looking to launch crypto funds, ETPs in Europe, which are the equivalent of ETFs in the US – it’s really calmed down. Even hedge funds, which are quite active in the markets, have certainly reduced their exposure in this particular space.”
Separately, leaders from top financial institutions gathered at the San Francisco conference were enthusiastic about blockchain technology, and specifically its potential to help tokenize real assets such as for customers. .
The “evolution of technology” is moving to a “better place” in terms of support from market players, Mr Chapman said.
“As a company, we have the capabilities to administer the cryptocurrency exchange functions, but the market is pretty quiet right now and after most of the issues in the last year, we don’t have again seen rebound on the institutional side”