The increasing interest from Wall Street in late-stage cryptocurrency firms may alter the conventional boom-and-bust cycle of digital assets, as suggested by new research.
On Friday, crypto financial services company Matrixport reported that over $200 billion worth of crypto firms are gearing up for initial public offerings (IPOs), potentially raising between $30 billion and $45 billion in new capital.
According to Matrixport, investor interest is shifting from early-stage investments to scalable companies that are ready for IPOs and positioned for the public markets.
Matrixport noted that ongoing selling pressure from Bitcoin (BTC) miners and early adopters has “almost neutralized ETF and treasury inflows, diminishing volatility and lowering Bitcoin’s attraction to risk-seeking investors,” as stated in a Friday X post. “However, Wall Street has every incentive to prolong the bull market, with as much as $226 billion in crypto IPOs on the horizon that could bring in $30 – $45 billion in new capital.”
The report appears as numerous prominent crypto firms are preparing IPOs, such as the crypto exchange Kraken, which reportedly recently raised $500 million at a valuation of $15 billion, as per unidentified sources cited by Fortune on Sept. 25.
This news followed closely after crypto custodian BitGo filed to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under a US IPO application submitted on Sept. 19. The Palo Alto-based firm reported approximately $90.3 billion in assets under custody with a user base of 4,600 entities and 1.1 million users.
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ETFs signal “paper-backed altseason” for select altcoins
Matrixport’s findings echo prior insights from industry experts who predict that the 2025 crypto market cycle will lack an altcoin season like in previous years and will only witness certain altcoins with institutional support or notable ETF filings outperforming the broader market.
Nevertheless, some analysts contend that on-chain dynamics indicate the onset of an altcoin season.
“While many investors remain fixated on Bitcoin, ETH is subtly outperforming in the background,” as Bitcoin dominance declines toward “year lows,” according to Nic Puckrin, a crypto analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau, a crypto educational resource.
“Historically, these have been the signals of a reversal into altcoins,” although he emphasized that the trend thus far has been selective.
“While this market cycle has been very different from 2021 so far, we are beginning to see signs of altcoin outperformance, although very selectively.”
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Other analysts are highlighting the backlog of ETF filings pending approval as the next possible catalyst for the upcoming altcoin season.
“Entering paper-backed altseason,” noted Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, in a Monday X post.
As the crypto sector awaits the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ruling on outstanding crypto ETF filings related to at least five tokens submitted in October.
The deadline for Canary Capital’s Litecoin (LTC) ETF was set for Oct. 2, but the SEC has remained silent on the filing. It’s unclear if the lack of response is due to the ongoing US government shutdown or new generic listing standards that might make the 19b-4 deadline irrelevant.
Several Solana (SOL) ETF filings from Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, and Bitwise are expected to see decisions by Oct. 10.
Later in the month, XRP (XRP) ETF applications from Grayscale, WisdomTree, Bitwise, and CoinShares are awaiting feedback from Oct. 19 to 24.
Finally, Grayscale’s Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF and Cardano (ADA) ETF are expected to receive final decisions before the end of October.
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