2026-01-03 08:24:18

Late-night mining suddenly brought a feeling: the crypto market has long ceased to be that casino where you can get rich overnight.

Looking back on the past few years of ICOs, DeFi, and NFTs, watching the market shift from chaos to order, from speculation to value discovery, honestly, it's a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand, I miss that wild energy; on the other hand, I see a clear reality — traditional finance is here, re-setting the rules of the game.

**The Market is Quietly Fragmenting**

The year 2025 is crucial. The approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs is just the surface; behind it reflects a turning point where traditional finance shifts from watching to participating. Just look at these data points:

The correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 remains stable at 0.75-0.85, which simply means they are becoming more like traditional assets. Since the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs, they have absorbed 710,777 BTC, a volume far exceeding the Bitcoin mined during the same period. Major institutions like Morgan Stanley and Merrill are also starting to offer crypto ETF channels to their clients.

Things that Wall Street once looked down upon are now standard in investment portfolios. How fast is this change? Fast enough to make people a bit uncomfortable.

**The Rules Are Being Rewritten**

The entry of institutions is changing not just the amount of capital but also the entire market operation logic. When traditional financial risk management systems, trading norms, and regulatory frameworks start to be applied to the crypto market, the primitive, grassroots ecosystem is gradually being transformed.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean individual investors need to adapt to a new competitive environment. Institutions have research teams, risk control systems, and informational advantages — these things were less important in the "casino era," but now they are becoming increasingly valuable.

Some may feel disappointed, thinking that something has been lost in the crypto market. But from another perspective, normalization is also reducing systemic risks, bringing this market closer to being a true financial infrastructure.

BTC-0,47%

View Original

This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.

16 Likes

Reward
16
5
Repost
Share

Comment

0/400

NotGonnaMakeIt

· 01-05 16:50

Oh no, Wall Street really won. --- That's right, now playing this is like playing traditional finance. --- Missing the feeling of everyone getting rich quick in 2017... now it's all about competing with institutions for information. --- The correlation of 0.75-0.85 basically means Bitcoin is gradually being tamed. --- The era of grassroots is gone forever. Watching the market now feels like watching stock trends, which is a bit boring. --- Institutions are changing the rules, so individual investors should consider where to turn, now that's the real question.

View OriginalReply0

ProposalDetective

· 01-03 16:06

Wow, Wall Street has really come down, the game rules have changed As soon as institutions arrive, they change the rules, and individual retail investors have to be swept along I miss the wild growth when anyone could turn things around, now it's all about data and algorithms Basically, the casino has turned into a bank, and the excitement is gone

View OriginalReply0

TheShibaWhisperer

· 01-03 08:49

Wall Street has fallen, the era of retail investors' frenzy has truly come to an end

View OriginalReply0

ForkPrince

· 01-03 08:43

Wall Street has really turned our playground into office buildings Machine: That's too short, it should be between 3-20 characters Honestly, I miss the feeling of retail investors constantly taking each other down Machine: Keep generating a different style of comment Wait, does institutional entry always mean good news? Why do I feel like we've been tamed? Machine: Keep generating, completely different style required 0.75 correlation... come on, what's the difference with stocks? Buying BTC is even less meaningful than copying the US stock market Machine: Keep generating Morgan Stanley's arrival actually makes it less interesting, what's going on here? Machine: Keep generating I'm done pretending, I just miss that chaotic, all-in frenzy feeling Machine: Keep generating Once regulated, there won't be any chance for sudden wealth, or am I misunderstanding?

View OriginalReply0

LiquidatorFlash

· 01-03 08:36

0.75-0.85 correlation... Wait, this means the liquidation risk threshold is gradually rising. Once institutional risk control is implemented, how will retail investors' lending positions survive?

View OriginalReply0