Two big wins for Bitcoin ETF | CoinDesk JAPAN

On January 11, 15 years ago, Hal Finney, a cryptologist and the second person to run the Bitcoin protocol after Satoshi Nakamoto, tweeted, “Running Bitcoin.”

Amazing progress in 15 years

Fifteen years ago, in 2009, Bitcoin barely existed.

Running bitcoin

— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009

Hal Finney: Running Bitcoin

However, on January 10, 2024, Bitcoin was recognized by several of the world’s largest asset management companies as a part of global finance.

Bitcoin’s rise from nothing to the support of BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco and many other companies is perhaps the most amazing development for a new technology in history. It will be etched into history as a thing.

Bitcoin has accomplished this feat without the backing of a company or government agency, without the use of VC funding to operate, and without an in-house PR team.

While the Bitcoin community is perhaps not all that quiet, the protocol itself is surprisingly free of commotion. Operating quietly in the background, the assets the network generates enter the portfolios of institutional investors and the holdings of individual investors around the world, regardless of borders or regulations.

An asset with no jurisdiction, no custodian, and no issuer other than a piece of code is now accepted by the world’s largest asset management company at the pinnacle of finance, in the world’s largest financial market. It is being

In just 15 years. That’s amazing progress.

Wall Street regains its power

And January 10th is not just a milestone for Bitcoin. It was also a big step for Wall Street.

Bitcoin doesn’t need Wall Street. Sure, it doesn’t hurt to have money coming in, but Bitcoin could do just fine without institutional investor interest.

Wall Street wants Bitcoin. They don’t make Bitcoin indispensable, but they do need it. There’s no such big mainstream endorsement.

Many other “alternative assets” that have no issuer or jurisdiction are also backed by Wall Street. For example, gold was once a niche investment for “gold investors” who were generally considered to be on the fringes of the financial world.

By the time Wall Street figured out how to package exposure to gold to meet investors’ demands for convenience, gold had been around for thousands of years. However, Bitcoin has only been around for 15 years.

Furthermore, gold is a natural element, produced by the galactic forces that created the planet we live on. There is almost no due diligence to be performed.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, was created by one or more people, but we don’t know who he, she, or they are, so due diligence beyond modifying the code is impossible. Never before has Wall Street embraced a synthetic asset without rigorously scrutinizing its creator.

So January 10th was a big day not only for Bitcoin, but also for Wall Street. Reputable financial institutions with significant influence have invested resources and reputations to introduce “subversive” assets to their mainstream customer base.

We have done so voluntarily, despite pressure from regulators, because we have conducted our own research and understand that Bitcoin offers unique diversified investment opportunities for our customers.

Such recognition took place outside the centers of public power. It happened in a financial industry boardroom. In some ways, Bitcoin has given power back to Wall Street, reaffirming the prerogative of companies to meet customer demand and the right of investors to choose how their money is spent.

Bitcoin helped Wall Street win the battle against limiting opportunity due to illogical regulatory bias. And Wall Street has shown that it is less rigid in its financial thinking than many assumed.

January 10th was a big win for Bitcoin. It was also a big win for Wall Street. Perhaps even more importantly, beyond those two milestones, it was a huge win for investors.

｜Translation and editing: Akiko Yamaguchi, Takayuki Masuda
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original text: Bitcoin ETFs and Wall Street: A Double Milestone