The World Economic Forum wrote a report Thursday projecting a possible future where all assets will eventually be tokenized on blockchains. That is the same perspective of many crypto executives who predict that most, if not all, of modern finance will eventually become digital.
The report reads: "Many anticipate a future blurring of the lines between traditional publicly listed equities and tokenized private company shares." The report goes further and estimates the potential size of the traditional markets that might be disrupted by blockchain tokenization: $866.9 trillion. The calculation includes $95 trillion for equity markets, $106 trillion for debt markets, $10 trillion for securitized products, $560 trillion for derivatives, $89 trillion for asset management, $4 trillion for securities financing, and $2.9 trillion for securities lending. But the report believes the full process of tokenization of finance would take a while, suggesting that incumbent financial institutions and their overseers are likely to resist change.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live and mentioned crypto many times. The billionaire CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX expressed his support for crypto, especially Dogecoin (DOGE), before Michael Che and Colin Jost repeatedly asked him to explain the meme coin. Musk was introduced as a cryptocurrency expert named "Lloyd Ostertag." In the show's final sketch, Musk joked about creating a new currency based on "whatever I say," before the show briefly tried to explain the fiat money system. Elon's mother Maye also got in, saying she hopes her Mother's day gift is not Dogecoin, to which Elon replied that it is. Musk did warn his followers to "invest with caution," not putting their life savings into crypto. After a 73% weekly rally, Dogecoin fell 30% on a daily basis after SNL began at 11:30 PM Eastern. Barry Silbert, the founder of Digital Currency Group, disclosed Saturday that the firm is betting against Dogecoin's price.
VanEck has filed for a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on Ether (ETH), according to new public records revealed Friday. The ETF firm, which currently has a proposed Bitcoin (BTC) ETF under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, proposed an Ether ETF that would allow retail and institutional traders to gain exposure to the world's second-largest cryptocurrency without directly holding the asset. VanEck said it aims to work with Cboe BZX Exchange (BATS: CBOE) on the ETF offering, the same exchange providing support for VanEck's proposed Bitcoin ETF. If the SEC approves VanEck's Ether ETF, it would become the first Ether ETF in the US, coming after Canadian regulators already approved several Ether ETFs this year. WisdomTree (NASDAQ: WETF), another company wanting to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the US, has also listed an Ether exchange-traded product in Germany and Switzerland.
Crypto prices climbed to $2.43 trillion this week, thanks to Ether's rise to a new record high of nearly $4,000. For the majors, only XRP ended in the red. In the top 100, the biggest losers were OKB, down 16.5%, BakeryToken (BAKE), down 15.2%, and Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR), down 14%. The biggest gainers were SHIBA INU (SHIB), up a whopping 669%, Telcoin (TEL), up 286%, and Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), up 254%. Next week traders will see if Ether can break the $4,000 level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.