The world’s largest digital asset manager shared data on which crypto assets institutional investors are most interested in and made statements about the future of DeFi.
Grayscale has shared a comprehensive breakdown of crypto assets under management (AUM), which has come to an astonishing $40 billion.
Bitcoin (BTC) The Trust accounts for the majority of Grayscale’s assets, which amounts to $30.37 billion.
The leading smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH) It is in second place with 11.49 billion AUM.
The firm also provides trusts for a dozen altcoins, and these trusts hold investments in the following amounts.
- Ethereum Classic (ETC): 418.1 million dollars..
- Litecoin (LTC): $229.8 million.
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH): $136.6 million.
- Decentraland (MANA): $60.6 million.
- Zcash (ZEC): $51.1 million.
- Horizon (ZEN): $38.6 million.
- Livepeer (LPT): $25.2 million.
- Stellar Lumens (XLM): $20.6 million.
- Left (LEFT): 9.6 million dollars.
- Basic Attention Token (BAT): $7.2 million.
- Chainlink (LINK): $6.2 million.
- Filecoin (FIL): 3.4 million dollars.
In addition to these, Grayscale holds $508.3 million in the Digital Large Cap Fund and another $10.6 million in the DeFi fund.
The firm recently published a 27-page report on the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and its implications for both the crypto and traditional finance industries. According to the report;
“Crypto creates an internet owned by its users, and DeFi allows these users to own a part of this financial ecosystem. DeFi marks the third wave of growth in the crypto cloud economy and the next fintech [finansal teknoloji] represents the wave of innovation.
The Internet has increased access to information, and DeFi has the potential to do the same for banking. DeFi aims to transform the way people trust the internet and underbanked 33 million households (rarely using banking services), 1.7 billion worldwide underbanked It aims to provide a new banking alternative to adults and 4.6 billion internet users.”
Noting that DeFi accounts for less than 2% of the worldwide $8 trillion financial services industry, Grayscale believes this is still an “early start” for an emerging ecosystem.
The report highlights how cryptocurrencies fill the void created by the high fees and low interest rates consumers face in traditional banking.
When it comes to potential risks; Grayscale cites government regulations, vulnerability to hackers, and general crypto volatility as potential speed bumps. Although the company thinks that DeFi is the future of the financial system, it states that this sector also has some negative aspects.
“The regulatory environment for DeFi is still highly uncertain, and it remains unclear how the United States or other regulators will enact policies that affect the ecosystem.
DeFi protocols have suffered various hacks before or some bugs have been experienced which resulted in loss of user funds or smart contracts not performing as intended due to coding errors.
Negative fluctuations in the value of crypto assets of a DeFi protocol, DApps [merkezi olmayan uygulamalar] could materially damage its usage, fee income, governance utility, and ultimately the token value.”
You can read Grayscale’s full DeFi report here.
Disclaimer: What is written here is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are high-risk investments. Every investment decision is under the individual’s own responsibility. Finally, Koinfinans and the author of this content cannot be held responsible for personal investment decisions.