Wall Street’s increasing attention on late-stage cryptocurrency firms has the potential to disrupt the traditional boom-and-bust cycle of digital assets, according to recent research.
Matrixport, a crypto financial services firm, reported on Friday that over $200 billion in crypto firms are preparing initial public offerings (IPOs), which could generate between $30 billion and $45 billion in new funds.
Matrixport noted that investor attention is shifting from early-stage investments to more scalable, IPO-ready companies that are geared for public markets.
Ongoing sell-offs by Bitcoin (BTC) miners and early adopters have “almost neutralized ETF and treasury inflows, decreasing volatility and diminishing Bitcoin’s attractiveness to risk-seeking investors,” Matrixport stated in a Friday X post. “However, Wall Street has significant motivation to sustain the bull market, with as much as $226 billion in crypto IPOs in the pipeline that could result in $30 – $45 billion in fresh capital.”
This report arrives as several high-profile crypto companies are gearing up for IPOs, including the crypto exchange Kraken, which reportedly secured $500 million in funding at a $15 billion valuation, according to unnamed sources cited by Fortune on Sept. 25.
The announcement followed closely after crypto custodian BitGo filed to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under a US IPO submitted on Sept. 19. The Palo Alto-based firm reported approximately $90.3 billion in assets under custody and a user base of 4,600 entities and 1.1 million users.
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ETFs indicate “paper-backed altseason” for selected altcoins
Matrixport’s findings corroborate earlier insights from market observers, suggesting that the 2025 crypto market cycle may not see an altcoin season like in previous years, but could experience performance spikes in specific altcoins backed by institutions or strong exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings.
Nonetheless, some analysts argue that on-chain indicators hint at the emergence of an altcoin season.
“While many investors remain fixated on Bitcoin, ETH has been quietly excelling in the background” as Bitcoin’s dominance drops towards “year lows,” noted Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and co-founder of crypto educational resource The Coin Bureau.
“Historically, these have been signals of a reversal into altcoins,” although he emphasized that the trend has been selective thus far.
“While this market cycle has been markedly different from 2021, we are starting to observe signs of altcoin outperformance, albeit very selectively.”
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Other analysts highlight the backlog of ETF filings pending approval as the next possible catalyst for an upcoming altcoin season.
“Entering paper-backed altseason,” remarked Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, in a Monday X post.
This comes as the crypto sector awaits the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ruling on pending crypto ETF applications concerning at least five tokens, submitted in October.
Canary Capital’s Litecoin (LTC) ETF had a deadline of Oct. 2, but the SEC has remained silent on the ETF application. It’s uncertain whether the lack of response is due to the ongoing US government shutdown or new generic listing standards, which would make the 19b-4 deadline meaningless.
Several Solana (SOL) ETF applications from Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, and Bitwise are up for a decision by Oct. 10.
Later in the month, XRP (XRP) ETF applications from Grayscale, WisdomTree, Bitwise, and CoinShares are expected to receive feedback between Oct. 19 and 24.
Finally, Grayscale’s Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF and Cardano (ADA) ETF are both anticipated to receive final decisions by the end of October.
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