“New Strategies Will Hit the Market on Bitcoin ETFs' Back”: Hidden Road’s Michael Higgins

<p dir="ltr">The approval of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States has slashed the barrier to traditional investors taking a position in the crypto market. The securitized form of Bitcoin opens up the crypto markets to a broad range of retail as well as institutional inventors. Bitcoin even attracted the limelight at the recent Davos 2024 summit as many traditional finance leaders could not avoid the digital asset anymore.</p><p dir="ltr">“This is truly a watershed moment,” said Michael Higgins, the Global Head of Business Development at Hidden Road. “It's important to remember that the US market is a very equity-centric place. Derivatives are sideshow and very difficult to access.”</p><p dir="ltr">“Now, you will see much greater liquidity coming into the space. Greater product development, such as options and ADR, will come into the space. Ultimately, this is a really big positive as new entrances will come in, and so will these big flows. It will require the digital industry to have more accountability and open up more accessibility.”</p><p dir="ltr">The mainstream acceptance of crypto is not limited to the Wall Street. For several years, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remained a hot topic of discussion at the Davos summits, which attracts the attendance of global business and political leaders. This year, the topics of discussion on crypto remained around the ETFs and also stablecoins.</p><p dir="ltr">Higgins also participated in a panel discussion at Davos 2024 that discussed on the impact of Bitcoin ETFs on global spot crypto markets.</p><p dir="ltr">“You're going to start seeing a slew of new strategies coming to the market on the back of this ETF," Higgins told Finance Magnates. "It's critically important that institutions have access to the two worlds of crypto and TradFi. The open question is, are they now the same? Because the CME market for Bitcoin has the largest open interest.” </p><blockquote><p lang="en" dir="ltr">