Coin Bureau Podcast|10. Juli
Crypto Is Becoming the Infrastructure for Everything | Iskandar Vanblarcum
Beyond the Price Rally: Crypto as the Foundation of Finance
Iskandar Vanblarcum, Managing Director of Crypto.com, brings over 20 years of experience from traditional finance and views crypto not as a speculative sideshow, but as the fundamental infrastructure for all markets.
From TradFi to DeFi: The Evolution of Markets
- Innovation vs. Efficiency: TradFi expertise helps avoid pitfalls like counterparty risk, making the industry more robust. However, true innovation often comes from young, unbiased developers in the crypto space who are not stuck in old thinking patterns.
- No Competition, but Synergy: Instead of competing, TradFi giants (e.g., BlackRock) and crypto platforms collaborate to create efficiency and new products, such as tokenized money market funds.
The Big Picture: Crypto as an Asset Class vs. Infrastructure
- Bear Markets are Building Times: Vanblarcum emphasizes that the focus should not be on short-term prices, but on building solid infrastructure. Stablecoins, payments, and investment products create real value and attract institutions.
- By 2028: He believes crypto will evolve into a highly robust industry with many participants, where institutional players have built their platforms.
Institutions in Crypto: Broad Adoption, Not Just Cherry-Picking
- Diverse Activities: Institutions are exploring not only Bitcoin ETFs but also tokenized deposits, cross-border payments, and settlement networks. Adoption is broader than public perception suggests.
- Overrated vs. Underrated:
- Underrated: Innovation in DeFi (e.g., Hyperliquid) with new instruments and underlyings. Transferring this innovation into regulated frameworks is the key challenge.
- Overrated: The daily focus on ETF inflows and outflows – this is just the tip of the iceberg. More important is the growing availability of crypto investments on traditional platforms.
The Future of Trading: One Platform for Everything
- The Full Vision: Vanblarcum advocates for a regulated, multi-asset trading environment where one can seamlessly switch between crypto, stocks, commodities, and event contracts. The technology of crypto rails (margining, compliance, deposits/withdrawals) is now being transferred to other asset classes.
- 24/7 as the New Standard: While traditional markets are bound to opening hours, crypto's 24/7 trading will force TradFi to adapt, even if this brings practical hurdles (e.g., staffing on weekends).
Event Contracts and RWA: New Instruments, New Responsibility
- Event Contracts: These CFTC-regulated products are more than just 'bets'. They serve price discovery for macroeconomic events (like CPI) and offer a different utility than traditional futures. Seriousness is determined by regulation and the market itself.
- Tokenized Real World Assets (RWA): Not everything is suitable for tokenization. Highly liquid assets (top 50 stocks) and hard-to-access exotics (e.g., pre-IPO perpetuals) are ideal. Complex, illiquid assets (e.g., private credit) risk transferring risks to inexperienced investors. Pre-IPO perpetuals are a genuine innovation example, giving retail investors access to private companies.
- Tokenized Treasuries: They could become a key collateral layer, but the 'winner' will be the product that works frictionlessly across different platforms and currencies.
Regulation: The Tedious but Necessary Path
- Compliance as a Competitive Advantage: Vanblarcum welcomes strict but clear rules (like MiCA). The extensive onboarding processes are necessary to protect user trust and strengthen the industry long-term. AI and automation can make this process more efficient than at traditional banks.
- DeFi vs. CeFi: DeFi is the experimentation lab for innovation. Centralized exchanges observe this but must consider more aspects (compliance, customer protection, global scalability).
The Overlooked Foundation: The Work Behind the Scenes
- The End Goal in 10 Years: A seamless, personalized finance app where you pay credit cards with stablecoins, use assets as collateral, and send cross-border payments in seconds – as simple as sending a message.
- What Skeptics Get Right: Hacks, scams, and fraud are real and serious problems that the industry must actively combat.
- What Skeptics Miss: The quiet but immense work behind the scenes (security, regulation, interoperability) will deliver the promised efficiency and innovation – not just waiting for the next price surge.
