Lucas Wensing, CEO, Amdax

MiCA creates a more level playing field, strengthens trust and makes cooperation more predictable.

What steps are crucial to further strengthen the bridge between traditional financial institutions and crypto service providers?

'Cooperation between traditional financial institutions and crypto service providers is developing rapidly, but still requires better mutual understanding. Digital assets have long been considered a niche market, which has led to fragmented knowledge within many institutions. This hinders a proper understanding of the risks, market structure and implications for existing processes. Crypto service providers, in turn, face the challenge of further aligning their governance and risk management with the requirements that are common in the financial sector.

The arrival of MiCA will give this development a clear boost. The new European regulatory framework creates a more level playing field, strengthens confidence and makes cooperation more predictable. This will enable financial institutions and crypto service providers to operate on the same basis and integrate digital assets into the broader financial ecosystem in a more professional and sustainable manner.'

How do you see the role of regulated parties changing under MiCA, and what does that mean for the confidence of institutional investors?

'MiCA creates a harmonised supervisory framework for crypto services for the first time. This provides immediate insight into which parties comply with strict European standards in the areas of governance and risk management. For licensed parties, this results in a better position within the sector. With the arrival of MiCA, uncertainty for institutional investors is reduced, significantly lowering the threshold for working with regulated crypto service providers.'

Jeroen Blokland, Founder & Manager, Blokland Smart Multi-Asset Fund

The correlation with other asset classes, even equities, is particularly low.

What role can digital assets play within a diversified multi-asset portfolio? And what about the long-term risk-return ratio?

'I foresee an important role, particularly for bitcoin. Unlike private equity and debt, this is a genuinely different asset class. In other words, the correlation with other asset classes, including equities, is particularly low. For example, the correlation with gold is practically zero, which is also a highly diversified asset class that is virtually absent from traditional investment portfolios. Bitcoin is rapidly developing into a digital asset that stores value, comparable to the analogue storage of gold. In a debt-driven system, in which fiscal dominance is reflected in structurally low interest rates and higher inflation, investors must look for categories that do offer protection against the erosive effect of currency depreciation. Bitcoin is an attractive alternative in this regard. As bitcoin gains a place in the average investment portfolio, the risk steadily decreases, something we have already seen since the approval of US spot Bitcoin ETFs.'

Looking ahead to 2026: which development within the crypto market will have the greatest impact on institutional investors, and why?

'I repeat what I said in 2025, but which did not come to pass at the time. Customer demand, combined with a solid infrastructure (investment alternatives, custody, regulation), should lead to a normalisation of Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) within the current investment universe. It remains astonishing that employees of traditional asset managers and the like are investing heavily in gold and bitcoin, while access to these asset classes is severely restricted, with some parties not shying away from spreading questionable information about them.'

Maurice Mureau, CEO, Hodl Group

Tokenisation and AI will be the main growth drivers towards 2026.

Which trends within the crypto market do you currently see as most promising for 2026?

'Within the crypto market, we see tokenisation and the integration of artificial intelligence as the most important growth drivers towards 2026.

Tokenisation makes it possible to convert traditional assets, such as shares, bonds or real estate, into digital tokens on the blockchain. This creates 24/7 tradability, direct transfer of ownership and significantly lower transaction costs. Major financial institutions, including BlackRock, are now building their own infrastructure for this market, which, according to recent estimates, could grow to over £16 trillion in the next five years.

In addition, we are seeing AI and blockchain reinforce each other: AI provides data processing and efficiency, while blockchain adds transparency and decentralisation. This breaks the monopoly of a few large technology companies and provides insight into what algorithms do and why. This creates a fairer, more open and more controllable ecosystem.'

Crypto experiences cyclical movements of exuberance and correction. How do you build a strategy that can withstand this volatility?

'A robust strategy responds to the different phases of the cycle. The core will therefore quickly consist of a large position in bitcoin, while in risk-on periods, a small selection of altcoins can be chosen. However, you always maintain exposure in the market and, of course, you have to find the right moments to switch between these assets.

For investors who want to limit volatility completely, delta-neutral and market-neutral strategies offer a solution. By hedging directional risks with derivatives, these strategies can generate stable returns, often between 10% and 25% per year. However, such strategies require professional execution, making collaboration with an experienced fund manager essential.'

Martijn van Veen, Managing Director & Partner, M11 Funds

AIFMD-compliant crypto funds finally make the asset class accessible to institutional investors.

What steps are crucial to further strengthen the bridge between traditional financial institutions and crypto service providers?

'In general terms, it is about making this asset class investable by ensuring a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework. Although MiCA is a good first step in the right direction – particularly because supporting service providers such as crypto custodians and exchanges will now have to comply with clear regulations – this does not automatically mean that traditional financial institutions will actually be able to invest in crypto.

It is at least as important that crypto is explicitly recognised as an asset class and positioned correctly within a regulatory framework. In the United States, major steps have been taken in this area with the Genius Act and, soon, the Clarity Act, which is expected to be passed in December 2025. Among other things, this will make altcoins investable for a broader group of traditional financial institutions and institutional investors. At M11 Funds, we are anticipating this with the M11 Liquid Token Fund, which invests specifically in altcoins.'

How do you see the role of regulated parties changing under MiCA, and what does that mean for institutional investor confidence?

'MiCA is not the only important step for institutional investors; the AIFMD also plays a crucial role in this regard. Many institutional investors are only allowed to invest in regulated funds or structures that are AIFMD-compliant. With this in mind, and in order to bridge the gap between institutional investors and crypto as an asset class, we established M11 Funds at the time. This allows us to offer AIFMD-compliant crypto funds, making the asset class truly investable for this target group. This naturally contributes to confidence and makes the asset class investable.'

Jeroen Tielman, Head Institutional Relations, Theta Capital

The financial sector is embracing blockchain because payments via stablecoins are much faster and cheaper.

2025 appears to be the year in which more and more institutional parties are seriously considering crypto exposure. What factors have led to this increase in institutional interest?

'The basis for this is a growing awareness that blockchain technology will have a profound effect on economic processes as we know them today. All processes involving value management and value transfer (also referred to as the “trust economy”) will ultimately be replaced by processes based on blockchain technology. In terms of volume, this could account for a third of GDP. Furthermore, the introduction of crypto ETFs (Bitcoin and Ethereum) has enabled institutional parties to invest in BTC and ETH within a regulated context as a first step. But the main reason is the 180-degree shift in the SEC's attitude towards crypto with the appointment of Paul Atkins as SEC chairman. Finally, the financial sector's embrace of blockchain technology is also an important factor. For example, payments with stablecoins are much faster and cheaper. BlackRock recently expressed its expectation that the storage and transfer of securities will be entirely supported by blockchain technology.'

What are the most important conditions – in terms of infrastructure, governance and risk management – for large pension funds or insurers to get involved?

'In addition to regulation and supervision, there will need to be sufficient liquidity for institutional parties to build a position in the new ‘on-chain’ economy. Ultimately, the availability of regulated blockchain funds of institutional depth and quality is a prerequisite for institutions to be able to enter the market.'

Lars Heerink, Founder, Blockcentral

Consider NFTs as a digital version of a bearer share.

Do you expect the European MiCA regulation to increase the confidence of institutional investors, or will its complexity keep them at a distance for the time being?

'The MiCA regulation is less technically detailed than MiFID II, but it focuses on a new area that MiFID does not cover. In my view, many institutional investors will be pleased that there is finally a clear framework for crypto companies, which will increase confidence in the market. The fact that MiCA is a regulation and not a directive like MiFID II will certainly give Member States less room for national interpretation, making it more difficult for non-European parties to exploit loopholes in the regulations. It is a much-needed step towards maturity for the crypto market and will only increase confidence in the market.'

Tokenisation of real estate, loans or works of art is often cited as a bridge between traditional and digital markets. How far along is this development really, and which use cases do you see breaking through first?

'The tokenisation of so-called “real world assets” is a hot topic in the crypto world. But at the moment, we are seeing few successful or groundbreaking applications. There are some successful projects in specific and mainly illiquid markets, such as sports memorabilia, art, or even Pokémon cards. But we are still seeing few meaningful developments that are groundbreaking for traditional financial products or real estate. The development we are mainly seeing at the moment is that certain niche markets are gaining more access to liquidity by issuing a digital version of the object in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). This can be traded freely online or actually exchanged for the object itself. This ensures that the investment object always remains in the same place while it can easily change hands. Think of it as a digital version of a bearer share, but for art or a rare card.'