การโทรชุมชน

<p>After more than a decade of explosive crypto growth, the four-year Bitcoin halving cycle is no longer the driving force behind massive wealth creation. Instead, intermittent liquidity injections from the U.S. stock market, dollar, and Treasuries now shape market cycles, with each phase sparked by distinct catalysts—much like Pendle’s journey from fixed income, LSTs, and BTCFi to newer narratives such as Ethena and Boros.</p> <p>It’s far harder to become “new money” than to manage “old money.”</p> <p>As custodians put it: “We serve the money, wherever it is.”</p> <p>In crypto, real wealth is concentrated in three groups: individual whales (early BTC miners, early ETH investors, DeFi Summer OGs), on-chain institutions (crypto-native VCs, centralized exchanges, public chains, and a few top project teams), and both established and emerging Wall Street giants.</p> <p><img src="https://s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/gimg.gateimg.com/learn/9ed6c1c583d01f3ccbdb76a46511deac93a9d4fc.png" alt=""><br>Image: Peak Custodian Funding<br>Source: <a href="https://github.com/zuoyeweb3" title="&#64;zuoyeweb3" class="at-link">@zuoyeweb3</a></p> <p>Custody providers have since branched out. After $3 billion in funding in 2021 and the FTX-Celsius, 3AC-Luna-UST crises in 2022, the crypto custody sector’s landscape solidified. For example:</p> <ul> <li>• Copper/Ceffu/Cobo: On-chain project custody</li><li>• Coinbase: ETF custody</li><li>• BNY Mellon: Bank-grade custody</li><li>• Fireblock: Exchange custody</li></ul> <p>Coinbase, in particular, has captured virtually the entire ETF custody market: over 80% of BTC and ETH ETF issuers select Coinbase. For treasury management, MSTR also favors Coinbase for BTC custody.</p> <h2 id="h2-5Li65pWj5oi35Lqk5piT5pe25Luj57uT5p2f77yM5Li65py65p6E55CG6LSi5pe25Luj5Yiw5p2l">The Era of Retail Trading Closes, and Institutional Asset Management Begins</h2><p>How people make money in crypto changes with the times. Under the force of capital scale, those with the most money take the lion’s share of profits. After miners, exchanges, and market makers, custodians are next in line—especially as traditional financial capital flows on-chain. This capital will rarely go straight to public chains or exchanges, instead moving through custodial intermediaries.</p> <p>Ethereum’s daily transaction count has surpassed the peak of DeFi Summer, reaching 1.74 million. Yet this wave isn’t driven by memes or trading; it’s the stablecoin yield loops ignited by Aave and Ethena at the core.</p> <p>Similarly, Aave is working with Plasma to bring stablecoins on-chain for traditional finance. Due to the Genius Act, payment stablecoins can’t pay interest to users, so capital deposited on-chain sits idle and becomes “dead weight” for issuers.</p> <p>Meanwhile, as aggregate CEX trading volumes shrink, bets are shifting to custody, staking, and yield products—new business verticals that banks and TradFi now target. Especially amid expectations of rate cuts, there’s growing interest in channeling liquidity from 401(k) plans and treasury management strategies onto blockchains—a fresh wave of fintech innovation.</p> <p>The exchange cycle is approaching its end; on-chain platforms and IPOs are simultaneously pressuring exchanges. Hyperliquid is signaling a flippening of Binance, and exchanges like Kraken and Bullish are vying for Coinbase’s unique status as a public company.</p> <p>Strategically, all eyes are on post-CEX asset yield. For enormous pools of established wealth, a lower APR is acceptable as long as principal is ultra-safe. Tether built a physical gold vault for its own reserves—on-chain vaults are positioning for similar, lucrative business.</p> <p>In the ETF era, Coinbase’s dominance is difficult to dislodge, but each new cycle gives second- and third-tier operators new openings in the market landscape.</p> <p><img src="https://s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/gimg.gateimg.com/learn/49c0f9bfe131845f1d8c6209cce74da4678a5f2a.png" alt=""><br>Image: TradFi &amp; DeFi Convergence<br>Source: <a href="https://github.com/zuoyeeb3" title="&#64;zuoyeeb3" class="at-link">@zuoyeeb3</a></p> <p>Compared to the tidal waves of capital in the U.S. dollar, Treasuries, and equities, crypto still feels like collecting water with a bowl—only when the “bathtub” (infrastructure) is big and safe enough will substantial institutional capital flow smoothly into the space.</p> <p>Legacy powerhouses are splitting paths. Anchorage Digital and Galaxy Digital have emerged as two of the most prominent representatives.</p> <ul> <li>• Treasury solutions (DATCO): Galaxy</li><li>• Stablecoins: Anchorage</li><li>• New ETF staking: Anchorage Digital &amp; Galaxy Digital</li></ul> <p>Beyond spot BTC and ETFs, both “Digitals” are now aiming to chip away at Coinbase’s market share. That’s their common starting point.</p> <p>Two broad trends shape the current spot ETF market. One is generalization: after six months of listing as Coinbase derivatives, prominent altcoins and memecoins (beyond BTC and ETH) may be eligible for ETF conversion. The second trend is the approval of staking ETFs, which permit issuers to offer physical redemption and on-chain staking integration.</p> <p>Anchorage Digital, for example, is the exclusive custodian and staking partner for the REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF—fitting both trends perfectly. If the bull market endures, custody of more ETF products will become a Digital focus area.</p> <p>Anchorage also nailed partnerships for traditional ETFs with 21Shares and BlackRock. Even more notably, it became the custodian for Trump Media Group’s bitcoin treasury—Anchorage’s “north wind” has reached as far as Mar-a-Lago.</p> <h2 id="h2-QW5jaG9yYWdlIOaMgeeJjOmTtuihjOeahOeos+WumuW4geW4g+WxgOS4juWKoOWvhumTgemHkeW6k+S5i+aipg==">Anchorage’s Federal Bank License, Stablecoin Ambitions, and Crypto’s Fort Knox Dream</h2><p>In 2019, Anchorage began collaborating with Visa, and by 2021 had become Visa’s USDC settlement bank.</p> <p>In 2021, Anchorage launched institutional crypto custody, reaching a $3 billion valuation, securing an OCC crypto bank charter, and becoming the U.S. Marshals Service’s digital asset custodian.</p> <p>During the 2022 market crash, Anchorage became Aptos’s preferred custodian; co-founder Diogo Mónica was also an Aptos investor.</p> <p>In Q1 2023, assets on platform rose 80%, but the company laid off 75 people (20% of staff) and called for stablecoin regulation.</p> <p>In 2024, co-founder Diogo Mónica exited core business management, leaving Nathan McCauley fully in charge.</p> <p>In 2025, Anchorage Digital will custody Trump Media’s bitcoin treasury and acquire USDM issuer Mountain Protocol.</p> <p>Anchorage Digital, founded in 2017 by Nathan McCauley and Diogo Mónica, started as a small South Dakota trust but, thanks to a fortunate turn in 2021, became the only crypto bank with an OCC charter in the U.S. to date.</p> <p>Whether in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street, or in Washington, D.C., all exclusive financial services ultimately come down to relationships and influence.</p> <p><img src="https://s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/gimg.gateimg.com/learn/0edcae8d144bdddd0f94aa619c23aa98be29267b.png" alt=""><br>Image: Anchorage Digital’s Relationship Map<br>Source: <a href="https://github.com/zuoyeweb3" title="&#64;zuoyeweb3" class="at-link">@zuoyeweb3</a></p> <p>Anchorage Digital offers a full suite of services to institutions—trading, derivatives, clearing, staking, and custody—making it a one-stop shop for institutional crypto solutions. Beyond classic custody, Anchorage’s bet is on stablecoins, which sets it apart from Galaxy.</p> <p>This begins our story’s first chapter: The First Mover—timing is everything.</p> <p>In 2021, under a Democrat White House known for stricter crypto oversight, and with SBF still hoping his millions spent on Biden’s campaign would pay off, former Coinbase CLO Brian Brooks was appointed Acting Comptroller of the OCC.</p> <p>Brooks took a crypto-friendly approach, urging banks to serve crypto businesses, launching the REACh roundtable, and promoting fair access for the industry.</p> <p>Anchorage seized the moment, evolving from a local trust to a federally chartered Anchorage Digital Bank.</p> <p>On January 13, 2021, Anchorage Digital Bank received the green light to accept dollar deposits and provide crypto custody.</p> <p>The very next day, January 14, Brooks resigned. By sheer luck, Anchorage remains the only OCC-chartered crypto bank to this day.</p> <p>You’ll find the weight of this license on every Anchorage Digital product page, which helped secure $430 million in Series C and D investments, letting it ride through to the 2025 stablecoin boom.</p> <p>Anchorage’s investors include both crypto VCs such as a16z and Wall Street titans like KKR and BlackRock.</p> <p>For context, BitPay and Paxos also applied for charters but were turned down—Paxos was recently fined $26.5 million by New York’s DFS over BUSD compliance.</p> <p>Anchorage holds both the federal OCC crypto bank charter and New York’s BitLicense—regulatory stature second only to BNY Mellon.</p> <p>Even after Brooks’s departure, Anchorage clashed with the OCC but, with remarkable luck, retained its charter—securing a lifelong strategic advantage.</p> <p>Backed by its license, Anchorage can custody virtually anything, from stablecoin reserves and crypto assets to NFTs. But the 2022 crash brought turbulence, starting with the founders’ own internal strife.</p> <p>Ultimately, Diogo Mónica joined Hanu Ventures as partner while remaining Executive Chair at Anchorage Digital, focusing on recruitment and strategy; Nathan McCauley took over core operations and started targeting BlackRock’s stablecoin business.</p> <p>On the ETF front, Anchorage is now the custodian for 21Shares spot BTC and ETH ETFs, as well as the exclusive custodian and staking partner for REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF.</p> <p>Outside ETFs, Anchorage Digital also made big moves in stablecoins, partnering with Visa for stablecoin payments and listing “compliant” assets like PayPal’s PYUSD for institutional clients.</p> <p>Remarkably, Tether’s custodian and investor Cantor Fitzgerald has also teamed up with Anchorage, which now provides custodial services for Cantor Fitzgerald’s bitcoin business.</p> <p>Anchorage Digital has thus become the custodian’s custodian for Tether.</p> <p>Despite its regulatory edge, Anchorage didn’t break out until 2025—its $3 billion valuation and $50 billion AUM proved little match for Coinbase’s ETF dominance. Stablecoins have become Anchorage Digital’s core focus.</p> <p>With its federal crypto license, Anchorage Digital Bank NA (its U.S. arm) can accept both USD and stablecoin deposits and provide custody services.</p> <ul> <li>• Off-chain: Anchorage partners with Ethena to scale USDtb issuance in line with Genius Act stablecoin compliance</li><li>• On-chain: Joining forces with Paxos and Kraken to form the USDG Stablecoin Alliance, co-managing the Global Dollar Network</li></ul> <p>Anchorage is also active in treasury strategies. Former BlackRock exec Joseph Chalom joined ETH treasury firm Sharplink Gaming as co-CEO—he was instrumental in shaping BlackRock’s ETF custody partnership with Anchorage.</p> <p>BlackRock’s BUIDL fund is closely tied to Chalom, with Anchorage as custodian. Here’s the recipe:</p> <p>$BUIDL = BlackRock (issuer) = Securitize (tokenization) + Anchorage Digital (custody) + BNY Mellon (cash services)</p> <p>And going deeper, current SEC Chair Paul Atkins owns at least $250,000 in Anchorage Digital shares and is a Securitize shareholder; Securitize also partners with Ethena on Converage.</p> <p>With Galaxy Digital already public, there’s persistent speculation that Anchorage Digital will IPO. As its stablecoin business grows, it’ll need more capital—perhaps this year we’ll see the world’s first crypto bank IPO.</p> <h2 id="h2-R2FsYXh5IERpZ2l0YWwg5Z2Q5LiK6LSi5bqT5pe25Luj55qE6ZOB546L5bqn">Galaxy Digital Ascends to Crypto’s Treasury Throne</h2><p>Compared to Anchorage Digital, Galaxy commands even more market attention. It was Goldman Sachs’s first partner for crypto OTC trades in 2022 and became a go-to venue for large bitcoin exits. Galaxy actively invests in bitcoin mining, venture, and AI infrastructure, and founder Mike Novogratz’s network rivals any in the industry.</p> <p>On July 25, Galaxy helped an early miner sell roughly 80,000 BTC ($9 billion) over time. When word got out, BTC dropped nearly 4%, falling below $115,000.</p> <p>Such massive block trades invite speculation of market manipulation, but as a true institutional investor, Galaxy’s incentives favor stability and scale, not sabotage.</p> <p>Galaxy’s defining trait is timing—it aligns with every cycle. Founder Mike Novogratz, a finance veteran from outside crypto, has always viewed crypto as a way to make money, not a matter of faith.</p> <p>With retail players leaving and institutions entering, Galaxy’s role in the broadening of crypto treasury management is especially noteworthy.</p> <p>Remember ETH treasury firm Sharplink, led by former BlackRock execs?</p> <p>In June 2025, SharpLink bought at least $800 million in ETH OTC from Galaxy. Galaxy is also a backer of SharpLink—“buying from myself” in classic institutional style.</p> <p>Beyond BTC and ETFs, Galaxy also participates in Ethena’s Stablecoinx treasury and the $450 million SUI treasury Mill City Ventures III, Ltd.</p> <p>Galaxy is expanding into new OTC products as well, such as supporting Liquid Collective’s LST LsETH OTC. Liquid Collective’s lsSOL (SOL version) is aimed at institutional investors and backed by Anchorage Digital.</p> <p>Once again, the space is a closed loop—everyone’s in the same club.</p> <p>Both Anchorage Digital and Galaxy Digital are part of the GDN, underscoring the collaborative (rather than purely competitive) dynamic among dominant custodians today.</p> <p>In contrast to Anchorage’s stablecoin push via its banking license, Galaxy’s core expansion is treasury management, especially outside BTC/ETH. New, non-traditional treasuries are on the rise.</p> <p>With the advantage of sheer capital, Galaxy holds $1.8 billion in BTC and has increased its position in Ripple’s XRP by $34.4 million. Coincidentally, Ripple just announced a $200 million acquisition of stablecoin firm Rail, one of Galaxy’s portfolio companies.</p> <p>Again—buying from themselves.</p> <p>Galaxy’s filings suggest the next possible targets for treasury deployment or market making are $HYPE, $SOL, and $XRP. When Ripple’s SEC litigation ended, XRP surged 10%—once again, Galaxy beat retail to the punch.</p> <p><img src="https://s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/gimg.gateimg.com/learn/537e2129a57a2a54d0b97276c3a7a0bd7e8d038c.png" alt=""><br>Image: Galaxy Digital Portfolio Holdings<br>Source: <a href="https://github.com/zuoyeweb3" title="&#64;zuoyeweb3" class="at-link">@zuoyeweb3</a><br>Data: <a href="https://github.com/SECGov" title="&#64;SECGov" class="at-link">@SECGov</a></p> <p>Galaxy has fully exited UNI and TIA—legacy tokens hold no power in the new age. USDG, HYPE, and XRP are the new leaders. OTC desks always sense the tides shifting first.</p> <p>Historically, OTC desks just passively filled whale orders, with little impact on secondary market prices—a stark contrast to in-house market makers. But treasury strategies could upend this dynamic, potentially merging issuance of tokens, stocks, and bonds, and it’s unclear who will control pricing power in the future.</p> <h2 id="h2-57uT6K+t">Conclusion</h2><p>Custodians are the new intersection of capital flows: off-chain assets seek secure on-chain migration, while on-chain assets require compliant off-ramps. Treasury management strategies give custodians real influence over token prices. Crypto liquidity defines the new power structure; the days of CEXs and market makers leading the charge are waning.</p> <p>BNY Mellon manages over $52 trillion in assets under custody, while the total crypto market cap is under $4 trillion. Dollar stablecoins, crypto ETFs, and treasury platforms together amount to only $520 billion. Crypto custodians still have a long way to grow before they wield Wall Street-level influence.</p> <p>But wherever capital flows, profit follows—the question for every founder is, where is that next intersection?</p> <h3 id="h3-5aOw5piO77ya">Disclaimer:</h3><ol> <li>This article is reprinted from [<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/235iFbT1Qv0DWFjL__cS_w">Zuoye Waibo Tree</a>], with copyright belonging to the original author [<em>Zuoye Waibo Tree</em>]. For concerns regarding republication, please contact the <a href="https://www.gate.com/questionnaire/3967">Gate Learn</a> team for prompt resolution per our policies.</li><li>Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.</li><li>Other language versions of this article were translated by the Gate Learn team. Unless specifically attributed to <a href="http://gate.com/">Gate</a>, unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or plagiarism of the translated article is prohibited.</li></ol>

In-depth Explanation of Yala: Building a Modular DeFi Yield Aggregator with $YU Stablecoin as a Medium

What is ORDI in 2025? All You Need to Know About ORDI

Exploring 8 Major DEX Aggregators: Engines Driving Efficiency and Liquidity in the Crypto Market

Solana Need L2s And Appchains?

The Future of Cross-Chain Bridges: Full-Chain Interoperability Becomes Inevitable, Liquidity Bridges Will Decline

Sui: How are users leveraging its speed, security, & scalability?

Top 10 NFT Data Platforms Overview