Despite these headwinds, Lopez says regulatory clarity is no longer the primary hurdle for companies considering public listings.
“It’s less relevant than before. Companies went public before there was regulatory clarity,” he said. “For companies like Bullish, Circle or BitGo, it’s more about access to capital than regulation.”
Kraken’s reported plans to pursue a public listing illustrate how crypto firms are adapting, Lopez says. The exchange has sought to diversify beyond crypto trading, a strategy he believes better positions companies for public markets.
“The right thing to do is to become more diversified instead of just being a crypto trading company,” he says.
Institutional adoption
Despite short-term weakness in crypto-finance markets, Lopez says blockchain technology continues to gain traction across traditional finance. Major financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley (MS), Nasdaq (NDAQ), and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are building blockchain-based infrastructure and preparing for tokenized settlement.
The industry is moving toward near-instant settlement, shifting from T+1 to T+0, while initiatives like the OpenUSD network bring together more than 140 financial institutions and payment companies around stablecoin infrastructure, he says.
Lopez expects the long-term winners to be blockchain infrastructure providers rather than companies built solely around individual cryptocurrencies.
“Many crypto companies trying to raise capital in the private markets find it difficult because of their singular focus on one product offering,” he says.
