Latest / The Paul Barron Crypto Show / Crypto ETFs Launching... Even With Government SHUT DOWN?! 🤯 Grayscale INTERVIEW

Transcript

Crypto ETFs Launching... Even With Government SHUT DOWN?! 🤯 Grayscale INTERVIEW · The Paul Barron Crypto Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Looking ahead to this week, market volatility could be a
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: big thing.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We'll break it down. We've got a special guest. Let's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: just jump right into it. I do want to thank
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: our sponsor, and that is Tangent. This is where you
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: can get into self custy. This is a physical wallet,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: works with your phone, very easy to set up, super secure,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: one of the best wallets out there. I would recommend
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: trying out self custody if you haven't done it, this
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is the way to go. Just go over to tangum
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can use our link down below to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: help you guys get going and begin your self custody journey.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to bring into the show Zach Pandel,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: who is the head of research over at Greyscale Investment.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Zach, how are you.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: I'm great, Paul terrific to be back on with you
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: again today.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good to see you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I want to go into really the first topic of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the day, and this is really all about the government
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: shutdown we saw. Advisor Hassett says we could see a
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: government shutdown likely to end sometime this week. So that's
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: positive news, or at least it appears to be positive
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: news when you look at the the government shutdown and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: what we've seen in general from the crypto markets, but
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: more importantly getting these ETFs approved.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: How quickly do you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Think we're going to see reaction in the market, whether
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: it's ETF approval or the market correcting itself.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the government shutdown is dragging on at this point,
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: now twenty days long. I believe the prior record is
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: thirty five days from Trump's first term. And I hope
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Kevin Hassett's guidance is right. You know, he's a good sport,
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: but I do fear that this could drag onto a
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: new record, given the polling data, the party positioning. I'm
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: not sure I see the end to it happening this week.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: We will see now. Of course, some of the government
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: stays open critical functions. Unfortunately for the crypto ETF or
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: ETP providers, one of the functions that does slow down
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: is approval of these types of products. As your viewers know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: we've been eager to bring to market lots of essentially
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: ald coin ETF or ETP products, and we still think
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: that that is coming relatively soon, but the government shutdown
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: has definitely slowed down the process. So investors will have
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: to wait just a little bit longer to get access
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: to these types of products, Zach, with what.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: You know of the SEC process to get these approved,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and you look at what's happening with the SEC right
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: now with Atkins and a host of commissioners that have
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: been somewhat pro crypto and Adkins seems to be dropping
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: nuggets left and right on Twitter in variety of interview statements.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like this is a will it be
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: kind of like a pent up demand where they'll accelerate
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: coming out of this shutdown and really get to work
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: on getting these approved.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I think in general that's right.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: You know, we have a cooperative relationship with regulators and
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: we want to respect their process. But the SEC has
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: already clarified how this is going to work, essentially by
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: creating what they call generic listing standards. They're not going
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: to go one by one through every cryptotoken and to
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: say this one Kennedy ETF and this one can be
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: an ETF. Instead, they're going to give us a set
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: of generic criteria, and if the assets meet those criteria,
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: they can become an exchange traded product ETP or ETF
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: as most people call them in the marketplace.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Today. So I do think it'll be a kind of big.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Bang event over the next couple of months, with lots
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: of different products coming to market, and that'll be both
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: single asset products like we have for bitcoin, a theory
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: asset it's a hold, just a single token, as well
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: as a variety of diversified products. We already have a
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: product like that in the market today, a top five
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: tokens product.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: We think we'll see more of that as well.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: So I do think investors can expect a big bang
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: type of event once the government reopens.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I like that sounds good to me, I think in
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the sense of really seeing the sec actually get out
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: there and get to work on this all coin ETF's
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: face a very decisive October right now. And to your
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: mention right there the new listing standards. But a few
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: points that we're in this article specifically by you. You
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: had a handful of statements within this that I thought
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: were interesting. Solana and XRP stand out, and this is
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: because of their existing futures market, and you cautioned against
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: expecting bitcoin level inflows. Why do you think that will
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: be the case with a market primed and what feels
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: like a little bit of a pent up demand for
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: these kinds of products.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: I think there will be high investor demand for these
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: types of products, and as you.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Say, to some degree pent up demand.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: You know, we call them old coins, but really there
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: are tons of the innovation that's happening in public blockchain
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: technology in the crypto industry is beyond bitc coin. Now,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: bitcoin is still the big dog, more than two trillion
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: dollar asset, and it's going to you know, dominate the
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: crypto market for some time. But other assets that you mentioned, Solana, XRP,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: you know, these are important parts of the ecosystem as well,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: and I do think that they will also be very
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: popular with investors. So old coins maybe we should move
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: beyond that term. You know, these are other innovative technologies
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: based on public blockchain technology besides a bitcoin, and there's
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: nothing alt about them in some shape or form.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: They're really key parts of the ecosystem.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: I think that they will be very popular from investors
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: once we can bring these assets to market.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Well you look at it, it's kind of like in reality,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: there's a handful that I think fall into that obviously ethereum,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: we've already seen it's performance. Solana definitely I think its
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: day is going to becoming XRP, another big winner out
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: there outside of bitcoin. You start to roll into some
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: of the other assets like suy Avalanche, et cetera, kind
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: of its own mag seven in at least in the
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: crypto world. Now, you also made a statement in here
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: that I thought was interesting. Not only are bringing these
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: single asset ETPs to market, but also the first diversified
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: index based crypto ETP. So my question is this, is
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you think the single assets will do better or these
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you know, these bundles and these basket products.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: What works for you guys?
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, the question really is what works for investors.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: You know, we're trying to service our clients and what
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: you see in other asset classes that the index based
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: investing approach is very popular with investors, and of course
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: it has a long track record of success in other
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: asset classes and frankly, a pretty good track record of
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: success in crypto. We've been running these products since twenty eighteen,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: diversified index based approaches to crypto investing, but we're thrilled
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: to now be able to offer them those products as ETFs.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: You know, the structure that investors enjoy. So just in
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: the last month, we were able to uplist our Grayscale
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: coin Desk Crypto five ETF product, So it's top five
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: tokens by market cap and that covers about ninety percent
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: of crypto market cap just with those five tokens. In
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: my personal view, these products will be even more popular
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: than the single asset products in the longer run, because
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: many investors don't want to be stock pickers, they don't
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: want to be token pickers. They just want access to
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: the asset class and this will be the avenue for
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: them to get that, just like the S and P
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: five hundred or the aggregate bond index in fixed income.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, when you talk to normal
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: people who have not been in this space and they're
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: just getting exposure to crypto for the very first time,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: they're typically going through a lot of these exchange traded products.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: So I kind of agree with you there, except for
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: maybe the top three or I still feel like Solana XRP.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Those communities kind of vibrate into other communities that haven't
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: been in crypto. Those are the ones that I think
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: will stick around and probably do pretty well individually.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: But we'll see. It's you know, it's still very young.
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: I think both types will be a very popular diversified
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: single acid products. We're delighted to offer both and give
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: consumers the choice.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, Zach.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: We have been watching watching some very unusual anomalies happening
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: on our own channel.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: As you guys know, we cover a.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Lot of the DC topics over the last several years.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: We also do deep dives on regulatory fronts. We're seeing
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: some very unusual scenarios playing out on many of our videos.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: And the reason I say this is because it appears
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: that we've got something happening in DC. We've got a
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: lot of C suite guys that are attending this new
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Senate Democrat pro Crypto meeting on Wednesday. This is going
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: to discuss market structural legislation. So my question, when you
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: look at the lineup here pretty stellar, along with the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: demand of what we're seeing just on our own data
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: of videos being watched, is something happening right now in
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: DC where we may see accelerated approval on regulation.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: What's your opinion on that.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: There is definitely something happening in DC, and to some
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: extent that's been happening all year. But I think you're
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: right that this process is going to pick up. Look,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: President Trump came into office with a mandate from voters
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: to bring regulatory clarity to the crypto industry here in
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: the US. And this is not a republican issue or
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: democratic issu is a bipartisan issue. Crypto blockchain technology is
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: popular with voters, and so it's great that our legislators,
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: our elected officials, are dealing with this now. We had
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: one big down payment in July, as your viewers know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: the Genius Act, which was targeted at stable coins, critically
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: important piece of our industry. But we really need to
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: broaden that out to other aspects of market structure, how
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: exchanges are going to work, how disclosure requirements are going
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: to work. Crypto is growing up, it's getting integrated into
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: the mainstream financial system. It's important that we have that
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: regulatory clarity. I do think that we can expect this
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: process to pick up steam, heading it into the end
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: of the year. It might take until Q one or
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: so until you know, ink hits the paper, but we're
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: optimistic that this process is moving forward on a bipartisan basis,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: which is really critical for its long run sustainability.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I know there has been a lot of Democrats that
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: have kind of I won't say this is really not
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: an issue of crossing party lines, because this has been
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: a very bipartisan approach. I think from really about midway
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: through once that we felt like we were able to
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: defeat Senator Warren's anti crypto army, we started to see
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: people coming to their senses over the you know, really
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: over the last eighteen months, which is kind of set
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: us up for some good things to happen in crypto
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: for sure. Speaking of good things to happen, we've got
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: to get a trade deal with China. We get this
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: in from watching Guru. President Trump says Chinese President Jiji
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Ping says, maybe we're open to a trade deal here. Now,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: many people would say, hey, this is Trump always you know,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: chickening out or is he carrying.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: A big stick?
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: What's the strategy here in terms of how Trump is
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: approaching trade with these countries and do you think we're
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: going to actually get a deal with China?
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: Well, it's a tough question and a challenge for investors
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: to try to navigate these things. As a general matter,
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: I think you can expect the intense negotiations to pick
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: up before these one on one meetings before these summit
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: events and then for them to de escalate, you know,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: close to that event, around that time of event. Look,
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: the US and China the two world's most important economies.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: Complete the coupling between these economies is infeasible for both parties,
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: and so we're going to continue trade relations on some terms,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: but you know, there'll be new barriers in place to
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: protect things like national security interests and to some extent,
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: to support domestic manufacturing. I think President Trump has offered
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: a pretty clear message along those lines, and also I
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: frankly think that that is also a bipartisan view at
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: this point. So we can always you know, pick out
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: the approach to negotiating. But this is where we're heading
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: is you know, a bit more barriers between the US
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: and China, but continued trading over the long run.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: And that's okay.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: That sounds like it'll be in the best binster stuff
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: of both countries. So what does that mean for crypto investors?
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: I would say, don't lose sight of the bigger picture.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: We do have challenges government shutdown, trade tensions, you know,
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: some credit questions and pockets of the of the lending markets,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: but crypto fundamentals look solid. You know, I've never thought
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: that blockchain technology was more important for the world than
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: it is today. So you know, keep an eye on
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: those key trends, and you know, try not to get
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: too distracted by some of this a trade and political noise.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: That's what I'm trying to do. That's the message we're
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: giving to our clients.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Well, I think a lot of people get lost in
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: this idea of short term thinking as opposed to It
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: depends on what your time horizon is. For many of
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: you guys watching, maybe it is three months. But for
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: most people, I think investing in anything, whether it's S
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and P, whether it's real estate, whether it's stocks and bonds,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: you get into scenarios and crypto people are starting to
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: stretch that time horizon out quite a bit.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: So I would agree with you.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I think the good side is still yet to come
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: for a lot of what's happening in crypto. Speaking of that,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the FED is hosting a conference. What do you make
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: of this? This is a conference on payments. You've got
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: chain Link, Paxos, Circle, Coinbase, and a whole slew of
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: panelists that are going to be there. You've seen and
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: talked to a lot of these companies and you've had
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a chance to kind of understand what they're ideas are.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: In general.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: This is the FED who has been very i should
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: say relentlessly in a position of I feel like anti
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: crypto overall, when you wouldn't let banking charters to come in.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Why do you think this is happening now? What do
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: you think is going to happen from it?
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: Well, it's overdue, That's why it's it's happening now. You know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: the Federal Reserve is one of the key banking regulators
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: and the key payments regulator. And this is financial technology
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: that's coming of age that has regulatory support from things
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: like the Genius Act. It's critically important that the Federal
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Reserve plays a role in understanding that technology and ensuring
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: that there are consumer protections and protections to the traditional
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: financial system. So they're they're doing their job, and I
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: think this is this is part of a part of that.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: So I think this will be a very productive conversation
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: between industry. I do think of the Federal Reserve staffer
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: and officials are pretty well informed at this point. You know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: it's taken a few years, but I think that they
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: have come around to the idea that stable coins are
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: just payments innovation, and that they should be supportive of
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: efficiencies in the financial system and payments just like everything else,
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: because that happens on a blockchain. No, there's no reason
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: to be concerned about about that.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: So this is overdue.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: It's a great sign exactly the thing that we would
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: expect from our key regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Zach, you've been in the business for a while, you've
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: had a chance to see this. Really this innovation take
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: hold around stable coins. Do you think that the estimate
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: around stable cooin adoption over the next couple of years.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I mean some people are throwing out like three trillion
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: to four trillion dollar numbers potential.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Do you think that's real.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Do you think we could see that kind of real
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: uptick in stable coin usage.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: Well, it's not real until it happens, but it is
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: a realistic expectation, I would put it that way. You know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: this is an innovation that's bringing consumer benefits, lower cost transactions,
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: higher transparency transactions, faster transactions, things like this, And so
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: if innovation brings consumer benefits, consumers will adopt it and
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: it's financial technology, so it is important that it is
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: regulated and it's protecting the financial system as a whole.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: So all those pieces are coming into place.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: We have a great piece of technology that's bringing benefits,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: we have a regulatory framework and understanding by agencies like
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: the Federal Reserve. I absolutely think these types of big
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: numbers are realistic numbers for where stable coin adoption can
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: go over time, and I think larger than that.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: Frankly, in the fullness of time.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: We're just getting started on this really key payments innovation
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: that will be ubiquitous in the future. And you know,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: we're here at Greyscale teaching people how to invest in
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: that premise. You know, invest in the infrastructure, whether it's
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: ethereum or chain link or other aspects of the ecosystem.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: How do you invest in that core thesis of stable
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: coin adoption?
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Well, you look at that.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: You guys are also launching the first US spot crypto
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: ETF with staking, So you're going to let investors in
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: blockchain earn blockchain rewards in regulated products. Do you think
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: we're going to see ETF staking soon across a variety
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: of different projects out there?
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: How close are we.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: We are thrilled to have been able to be the
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: first to offer staking in our exchange traded products. You know,
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: investors want income on their assets, and there's lots of
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: different ways to do that. Of course, coupons on bonds,
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: divided on stocks, even things like selling options can be
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: a way to generate income. Staking rewards are a unique
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: source of income in the financial system, and you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: diversification is key across your investment, so to be able
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: to build in a diversified source of income is something
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: very special, you know, something that is truly unique, and
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: so we're thrilled to be able to offer this now
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: in our Ethereum exchange traded products. Already, we've begun this
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: in our Solana Private Trust, a product that we hope
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: to be uplisting as an ETF relatively soon, and I
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: think many others will follow in that process. You know,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: grey Scale has been working on these issues for years,
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: so you know, we were maybe ready to go a
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: little bit faster than others on this topic, and so
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: are already able to offer these in some of our products,
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: but we expect that to be rolled out very broadly
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: across our product suite over time. So just the beginning
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: with Ethereum and Solana. But I think investors can anticipate
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: if a product, if the blockchain offers staking, that your
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: investment products should be offering staking rewards to some shape
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: or form with appropriate kind of risk management around that.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: So a unique source of income. We're thrilled to be
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: able to have those in market today.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Zach, do you think we could get this even if
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the government shut down does not get you know, finalized.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Do you think this is something that can happen anyway,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: because this could go on for another month or two
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: as you were kind of indicating that's right.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we are, you know, doing everything that we can
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: during the government shutdown. That includes the introduction of staking,
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: so something that we were able to accomplish despite the
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: uncertainty in Washington.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: And you know, watch this space.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: I think the you know, the product launches may not
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: entirely come to a halt despite the government shutdown, so
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: we are working extremely hard and always cooperatively with regulators.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: It has definitely slowed things down slightly, but watch this space.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: I think there there could be more crypto ETP products
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: launched even while the government remains shut down.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: And that's interesting to the hard work of lots of
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: my colleagues.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: So I can't make a promise here today, but I
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: think that that is possible even if we don't turn
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: the lights on in DC right away.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Hey, listen, I like the optimism for sure.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: In comparison, if you look at the DAT versus ETF
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: route that many people are trying to figure out right now,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: this could be the key thing for ETFs to kind
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of compete with.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: The DAT digital asset treasuries.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: For some of you guys out there, you probably have
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: been tracking micro Strategy or maybe you're tracking bitmind the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: two top when it comes to bitcoin and ethereum, do
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: you think that is a requirement, the staking component that
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: would actually make these two asset classes somewhat equal in
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: terms of investment thesis.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: I do think that staking rewards are critical to be
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: offering the best investor experience in the exchange traded products
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: or ETFs. You know, this is a source of our
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: reward that it's available. If investors were to stake with
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: Solona on chain, for example, we want to make sure
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: that they are capturing that reward if they're going through
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: the ETP product structure. There's lots of reasons why the
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: ETPs are beneficial to investors, you know, even simple things
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: like managing your accounts and your taxes and all that
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: type of type of thing, and so that's why they're
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: so popular.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: But it is important that we offer.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: These rewards, and we're delighted to be first to the
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: line on that process. You know, Grayscale has been an
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: innovator in this space for a long time. We're delighted
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: to be able to innovate on the first diversified products,
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: the first staking ETFs, and I'm sure others will follow
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: in our wake. But yes, it is a critically important
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: piece of offering the most efficient ETP structure for our investors,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: and we're delighted to be able to do that.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at the Grayscale AUMs and kind of just
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: the line list of trust that you've got out there
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that are set up for these products, and.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: You can kind of see it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're seeing a fairly centralized group of at
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the top. If you compare the Slana ETF and the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: XRP ETF, both of which could be going live any
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: minute when these do launch, which do you think is
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: going to launch with the most success.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Well, that's difficult to say.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: You know, I sometimes joke that these questions are like
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: asking me to decide my favorite child or something like that.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: I think I really am, you know, of a fan
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: in different ways of many of the top assets. And
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: you know, we are happy to engage investors on our
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: kind of research level to the extent that they want
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: to kind of go deeper. Starting with a diversified approach
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: is a very natural way to begin most investors crypto journeys.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: So top our crypto five ETF product, for example, is
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: a great way to begin. And if investors want a
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: little bit more XRP, or they want a little bit
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: more Solana, they can certainly add that all a kart
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: on top of the diversified approach, and we're happy to
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: walk people through that process. But I do think that
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: each of these blockchains offers something unique. You know, they're
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: each trying have different designs, different goals. They're offering something unique.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: It's difficult to decide among the favorites. I think owning
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: most of the large cap asset is a very reasonable
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: way for investors to begin their crypto journey.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I want to go over to a clip. This is
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: James Sayer coming over from Bloomberg. He made a statement
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: here about Solana that kind of caught me a little
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: bit off guard. I mean, you kind of know it,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I think when you have been around the Solana ecosystem
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: for a while, But for him to say it was
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: quite interesting.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Let me play this for you.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: And also, I think there's a lot of pieces of
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: things that blockchain can be helpful to that doesn't require
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: like extreme decentralization the way that coin. But there's also
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: people that would like things to be more efficient and
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: cleaner and move faster. And a lot of people in
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: tratfy like the idea of like getting some of this
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: decentralized benefit everybody on the same ledger. But also it'd
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: be pretty damn efficient and not slow and not cumbersome
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: the bridge between different things. So I think all of
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: that is like critical for what's going on here. Yeah,
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: and obviously part of it is the Trump administration and
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: this new SEC is leading heavily into this idea of
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: tokenized assets. We're seeing all the big exchanges NICY, Nasdaq,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: CBO looking at token is stock and different things along
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: those lines, and Solana is in the conversation every time
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: those things come up.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: So Solana's in the conversation.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: This is talking about institutional awareness, which is usually the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: first step in the right direction when you get institutional
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: capital flow coming in. Then you look at the recent
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: news of what happened here to coinbase, and this starts
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: to get a little bit closer to home because I know,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: this is an AWS outage. That's like comparing a you know,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Godzilla to a lizard, you know, when you're talking about
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Zalana versus. But the point being is that it brings
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it into the mindset of an institutional investor says, wait
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: a minute, AWS is going out and Solana is holding
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: up over here. Can this Can this be a future
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: for this? So it's intriguing around this. So this might
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: be the way that Solana gets an edge. If they
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: in fact do get an edge, we'll see absolutely.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: You know, Solana is one of the central projects in
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: the industry, frankly, and it stands out really on the
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: basis of something that every investor can understand.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Was it's just the fundamentals.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: You know, Solana has an on chain leader in terms
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: of users, transactions, fee, revenue, and that's both the underlying
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: blockchain itself or the layer one and all the applications
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: that are built on top of it. So you know,
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: we call Solana crypto's financial bizarre, you know, like a
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: bizarre in the real world. There's a lot going on,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: a lot of people, a lot of commerce happening, and
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: all that is a foundation for the token valuation over time.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: So I do think it has a very strong fundamental foundation.
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: And as exactly as you say, Paul, as an institutional
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: investors are approaching these topics, they do come with sharp pencils.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: They look very closely at all this, at the foundation,
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: at the underlying fundamentals, at the underlying data. And I
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: think Solana screens very well in that sense. And you know,
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: these ETP products, as soon as they're available to the investor,
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: will be popular for that reason, just because it stands
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: out very well on the basis of on chain fundamentals.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So I have to ask you this question,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and this is is how does this market flow into
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: the next few months. Many people are looking at this
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: pump that we're in right now, Bitcoin back above one
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to eleven I think as we're recording this one hundred
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and eleven K. So you look at what has happened
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: over the last couple.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Of weeks huge liquidity events.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Many people now challenging whether or not liquidity is still
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: in crypto. Many people looking at crypto now, is the
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: just a slight pump before an exit or is this
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: setting up for some stellar run around this?
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: What is your.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Opinion on this?
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: I know not financial advice, We're not talking about a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: price prediction here, but just in general, are you still
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: bullish on where crypto is right now into these next
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: few quarters?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Well, let me put it this way.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: I am very bullish on crypto's fundamentals and think the
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: trends are pointing in the right direction. Now Crypto is
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: increasingly a grown up asset class, you know, It's not
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: something that's independent of everything else that's happening in finance,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: and so whether we have a real strong run into
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: the end of the year is partly a call on
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: these macro things government shutdown, tariff conflict, credit issues, and
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: private credit markets, and so my judgment would be those
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: do cut in a positive direction. I am optimistic on
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: those things, and I think we will climb the wall
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: of worry into the end of the year. But I'm
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: very comfortable with where the crypto asset class is, and
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: I'm making a judgment on some of those macro factors.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: I think they will cut in a positive direction. Put
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: those two things together optimistic into the end of the year.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: But I just like to encourage people to remember that
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: it's not just about all the great things that are
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: happening in our asset class that we've talked about, regulatory change,
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: etf approvals, etc. It's also these macro factors that will
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: determine how we end up come D thirty one.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: No doubt.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Listen, if you guys have been watching our channel very long,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: you know our inflection point a few years ago started
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: really focusing in on the macro angle because we felt
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: like it was going to be the critical component to
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: really kind of step this crypto market into the twelfth sector.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: And I think that's where we are now. How this
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: plays out in the continuation of it is going to
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: get interesting, because I mean, it's not that I'm saying
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: that the meme seasons are done or all coin seasons out,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: but I think you're going to see these massive winners,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you know, in these big sectors, and it's going to
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: be interesting do they carry along the rest of the market.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: That's the real question everybody's asking. So thanks Zach for
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: coming in today.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: We appreciate it.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: My pleasure, Paul as always, thank you.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: You bet all right, you guys, you know what to do.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Join the Diamond Circle. It's our own private group that
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you can be a part of it. It's absolutely free.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: We always leave a link down below and all you
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: have to do is click that jump in simple and
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: then of course check me out there on x at
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Paul Baron. You can also catch me on TikTok too
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Official Paul Baron. So we'll see you soon right here
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: on The Paul Baron Show.