Rebuilding Order Amid Crypto Chaos: Where Will the Next Wave of Liquidity Come From?

Chainfeeds Guide:

Crypto finance is moving from its early stages toward a mature structure dominated by compliance and institutions.

Source:

Author:

ODIG

Opinion:

ODIG: This month, the American financial giant Charles Schwab Corporation (Schwab), which manages over $11 trillion in assets, announced its entry into the cryptocurrency market and will launch crypto trading services in the first half of 2026. CEO Rick Wurster stated that the company has completed regulatory and technical evaluations. Schwab manages massive assets, is deeply rooted in the traditional financial system, and has a large customer base. The increased involvement of traditional brokers and financial platforms represented by Schwab means that crypto assets are moving toward mainstream platforms and may subsequently target more "traditional investors." The platform stated that it has "completed regulatory and technical evaluations and is ready to launch crypto trading services," signaling the establishment of a standardized channel and a lowering of adoption thresholds. Considering its client base (including conservative investors, high-net-worth clients, and wealth management customers) and its capital scale, this could open up more pathways for traditional assets to be allocated to crypto assets. This is not an isolated event and may indicate collective action by traditional financial giants, for example: Other brokers (such as Fidelity, Vanguard): This is a market with a scale of tens of trillions of dollars (total AUM exceeds $10 trillion). For example, Fidelity also expects to expand crypto services in 2026. Banks and custody services (such as Standard Chartered): Potential institutional custody demand is expected to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We see that Standard Chartered also expects to launch BTC custody in January 2026, attracting bank-level funds. More ETFs and index funds: With more ETFs being approved, there may be tens of billions of dollars of additional space on top of existing ETFs. At the same time, platforms like Schwab may further amplify retail inflows. Pension and corporate funds: Hundreds of billions of dollars (IRA/401k accounts, individual retirement accounts, and employer-provided retirement plans). Assuming the market matures, such conservative funds may also indirectly access the crypto market through platforms like Schwab. In the current period of frequent events, market expectations for subsequent trends are becoming more divided. The current total market capitalization of the crypto market is about $3.02 trillion, but institutional adoption signals continue to emerge, and an improved macro environment is expected to inject further liquidity. In the medium to long term, the layered deployment of such large institutions often produces a multiplier effect later on. The market still needs time to digest this. Earlier this year, with the implementation of three major bills, regulation, institutions, and compliance were all put in place simultaneously. However, it still seems to be a period of chaotic order or a stage of order reconstruction. On the other hand, the "golden incremental period" for centralized exchange (CEX) users seems to have peaked. There are more and more options in the market: ETFs, traditional brokerage channels, institutional subscription purchases, listed companies hoarding coins, bank crypto services, etc. The previous cycle's background of "scarce entry points, lack of regulation, and concentrated traffic" has changed.