Despite these headwinds Lopez says regulatory clarity is no longer the primary obstacle for companies considering public listings.
“That’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 become more diversified rather than being just a crypto trading business,” he says.
Institutional adoption
Despite near-term weakness in crypto funding 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 such as the OpenUSD network are bringing together more than 140 financial institutions and payments companies around stablecoin infrastructure, he says.
Lopez expects the long-term winners to be blockchain infrastructure providers rather than businesses built solely around individual cryptocurrencies.
“A lot of crypto companies trying to raise capital in the private markets are finding it difficult because of their singular focus on one product offering,” he says.