The 2024 U.S. election cycle, especially with the emergence of Trump as the “first crypto president,” has undoubtedly served as the best promotion for digital assets. As Trump’s second term is solidified, Bitcoin has consecutively surpassed $70,000, $80,000, and $90,000 in the past two weeks, now just a step away from the significant $100,000 threshold.

Against this backdrop, global recognition of digital assets has increased significantly. Imagine if the vast pool of traditional capital begins to shift toward Web3—what channels are most likely for this “Old Money,” representing mainstream institutions and high-net-worth individuals, to allocate funds to digital assets?

The Institutionalization Wave of Digital Assets Driven by the “Trump Trade”

During the 2024 presidential election, Trump pledged a series of policy measures supporting Web3 and digital assets, including incorporating Bitcoin into national reserves and easing industry regulations. While these promises may carry political leverage, they undeniably provide an important framework for understanding the direction of the digital asset industry over the next four years.

In the coming four years, we can almost foresee a loosening of administrative, legislative, and regulatory constraints under the “Trump Trade,” particularly in terms of market compliance and legitimacy. This period will thus serve as a critical window for observing the institutionalization process of the digital asset market.

It is worth noting that as early as May 22, the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT21 Act) passed the House of Representatives with a decisive 279 to 136 vote. The bill aims to establish a new regulatory framework for digital assets. If it also passes the Senate, it will provide the industry with a clear and enforceable set of rules, significantly reducing regulatory uncertainty, advancing market legalization, and attracting more institutional capital into the digital asset space, thereby driving the wave of digital asset institutionalization.

Image source: FIT21 Act

Against this backdrop, global mainstream financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals are gearing up for action. Pennsylvania state legislators Mike Cabell and Aaron Kaufer have introduced the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Bill to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, proposing to allow the state treasurer to invest in Bitcoin, digital assets, and crypto ETFs.
According to SoSoValue data, the daily trading volume of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs surpassed $5 billion multiple times after November 6, with a new eight-month high of over $8 billion on November 13. Additionally, the total trading volume of three Bitcoin spot ETFs in Hong Kong exceeded HK$420 million in the same week, a week-on-week increase of over 250%. Among these, the Bitcoin ETF launched by OSL in collaboration with China Asset Management (Hong Kong) and Harvest Global Investments accounted for approximately HK$364 million, representing about 86% of the total.

Image source: SoSoValue \
Unlike small-scale traditional trading businesses aimed at retail users, global institutional investors and high-net-worth groups have a much stronger demand for compliance, security, and efficient services. For them, allocating digital assets is not merely a strategic shift in investment but also involves overcoming tactical barriers of compliance and security.

In this context, new strategies for the B2B market are quietly emerging, and some interesting innovative approaches are taking shape. On November 18, Hong Kong-licensed digital asset company OSL announced a partnership with Fosun Wealth Holdings and China Asset Management to launch a virtual asset ETF subscription service. This service allows investors to directly subscribe to ETF products using their held virtual currencies without needing to sell and liquidate their assets first.
This means that, leveraging OSL’s blockchain infrastructure, Fosun can build a digital asset trading system with robust KYC/AML processes and intelligent risk control. This system enables institutional investors or high-net-worth users to convert purchased BTC and ETH directly into corresponding ETFs under a compliant framework, managed by professional custodians like OSL. This setup provides benefits such as secure custody, insurance coverage, and compliance advantages.
In summary, service providers capable of offering highly compliant, secure, and transparent digital asset management, trading, and payment solutions will become central to market competition. This presents enormous opportunities for B2B service providers, as the demand for digital asset allocation from financial institutions and high-net-worth clients will significantly drive the development of related services, especially in areas such as digital asset custody, OTC trading, asset tokenization, and payment finance.
The B2B service market is on the verge of explosive growth, with all players racing to gain a market advantage. But how will these new demands for digital assets reshape the structure of the entire industry?

What Are The Key Demands Facing The Wave Of Digital Asset Institutionalization?

We can break down the core pain points and demands of “Old Money” entering the digital asset market into four main areas for traditional financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals:

compliance comprehensive solutions (Omnibus), tokenization of real-world assets (RWA)/asset tokenization, custody/OTC services, and PayFi solutions.

1. Compliance comprehensive solutions for financial institutions (Omnibus)

First, traditional financial institutions have started entering the digital asset trading space this year, including virtual asset ETF service providers and traditional retail brokers. An increasing number of investors, financial institutions, listed companies, and family offices are also actively considering allocating digital assets through compliant channels.
However, for these institutions, entering the digital asset field is not easy. The biggest pain point lies in deployment time and cost. Compared to traditional financial products, the decentralized nature and technical complexity of digital assets mean that institutions need more time to complete system integration, risk management, and the establishment of a compliance framework.
Building a compliance system that meets regulatory requirements (especially KYC and AML frameworks) requires substantial investment in technical resources and financial costs. It also involves dealing with the fast-developing market dynamics of crypto assets and ever-changing compliance requirements. The high time and cost consumption involved is often the main barrier preventing institutions from entering the digital asset market.
Therefore, a solution that helps financial institutions quickly integrate compliance frameworks and tools, while providing compliant and secure digital asset trading services to meet diverse investment needs, is undoubtedly a key to opening the door to the digital asset market for these institutions.
Taking OSL, a compliant exchange in Hong Kong, as an example, its comprehensive compliance solutions (Omnibus) include strict asset and transaction reviews, a robust KYC and AML system, a private key layered management security mechanism, and more. This can significantly lower the threshold for institutions entering the digital asset market.
At the same time, this “professionalism + security” collaborative model maximizes the advantages of traditional financial institutions in client service and market promotion, while relying on licensed institutions’ expertise in compliance, technology, and risk control. This complementary approach promotes the deep integration of traditional finance with the digital asset ecosystem, providing solid support for the institutionalization of digital assets.

2. Tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWA) / Asset On-Chain

Although traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and gold have high liquidity in financial markets, their trading is still constrained by issues like long settlement cycles, complex cross-border operations, and insufficient transparency. Non-standardized assets like artworks and real estate have long faced challenges in liquidity and trading efficiency.
Asset tokenization can not only enhance liquidity but also significantly improve transaction transparency and efficiency. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated, “The tokenization of financial assets will be the next step in future development.” It can effectively prevent illegal activities and, more importantly, enable real-time settlement, significantly reducing the settlement costs of stocks and bonds.

According to the latest data from the RWA research platform rwa.xyz, the total market size of RWA currently exceeds $13 billion. BlackRock’s forecast is even more optimistic, predicting that by 2030, the market value of tokenized assets will reach $10 trillion, implying a potential growth space of up to 75 times over the next seven years.
Although enterprises and financial institutions recognize the potential of asset tokenization, the technical barriers are high. Converting traditional assets into on-chain tokenized assets requires comprehensive technical support and compliance guarantees. Additionally, there are significant challenges in terms of liquidity, legal compliance, and technical security.
Against this backdrop, licensed digital asset platforms, as underlying infrastructure, can provide innovative support for traditional financial giants entering RWA tokenization. They will also directly benefit from the hundreds of billions of dollars in untokenized liquidity within the traditional financial system, introducing it onto the chain through a compliant, secure, and transparent mature framework in the form of RWA (Real World Assets), thereby fully unlocking its liquidity.

3. Custody/OTC Services

When high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors consider digital asset investments, their primary concerns are always the security and liquidity of the assets—such as losses due to hacking or operational errors, as well as liquidity issues in large trades, which could lead to delays or significant price slippage, affecting asset allocation efficiency.
According to statistics from Finery Markets, the volume of institutional digital asset OTC (over-the-counter) transactions saw a significant increase in the first half of 2024, surging over 95% compared to the same period last year. The growth accelerated further in the second quarter, with customer transaction volumes rising by 110% year-on-year (compared to 80% in the first quarter).

Although the volume of digital asset OTC trading is still at the billion-dollar level compared to the trillion-dollar trading volumes of centralized exchanges (CEX), the flexibility and confidentiality of OTC trading meet the needs of investment institutions for large-scale digital asset allocation. With the gradual improvement of regulations, more investors are expected to be attracted to participate, further driving the growth of its market size.
In this context, institutions need a service system with high security, high efficiency, and high liquidity to meet their needs in the digital asset field. On one hand, it is necessary to ensure the security of large assets during storage and trading; on the other hand, an efficient OTC network needs to meet the flexibility and privacy needs of large transactions while leveraging blockchain technology and banking networks to enable fast settlement, significantly shortening transaction cycles.
In addition, support for deep liquidity is also essential. By integrating market resources and institutional networks, providing stable prices and diverse trading options, institutions can smoothly enter the digital asset market.

4. PayFi Solutions

With the growing popularity of digital assets, the demand for digital asset payments from businesses and merchants is increasing, especially in regions with limited traditional banking infrastructure and in cross-border payment scenarios. Digital assets offer low-cost financial services, providing convenience and efficiency, and are considered a feasible solution to address these challenges.
However, the complexity and potential risks of digital asset payments have made many traditional businesses hesitant. For companies seeking to support digital asset payments, the biggest issue lies in the complexity and compliance of the payment process. Additionally, the conversion between fiat currencies and digital assets involves exchange rate fluctuations, tax issues, and regulatory restrictions in different countries, all of which increase the difficulty and cost of payments.

In short, businesses and merchants need a backend system that seamlessly integrates fiat and digital asset payments. This system should not only reduce conversion costs but also ensure compliance and security during the payment process. Additionally, to meet the demands of cross-border operations, the payment solution should support multi-currency payments and settlements.
Platforms like OSL, which are compliant with regulations, have inherent advantages in expanding these services. They can offer a complete PayFi solution with technical and compliance support to help businesses tackle the complex challenges of the payment sector:
Firstly, these platforms support seamless, real-time conversion between fiat and digital assets, enabling multi-currency payments and settlements worldwide, which simplifies cross-border payment processes. Secondly, platforms like OSL maintain good relationships with banks, ensuring compliance and stability throughout the payment process, avoiding risks such as frozen accounts, and providing a reliable operational environment for businesses.
Through these key services, traditional institutions can enter the digital asset market efficiently and securely while lowering entry barriers. This service system not only addresses the core pain points of asset security, liquidity, trading efficiency, and investment optimization but also offers comprehensive support for institutions’ strategic positioning within the digital asset ecosystem.

The Variables in the Digital Asset Industry for Capturing Institutional Services

According to the latest statistics from Bank of America, the total market value of the global stock and bond markets is approximately $250 trillion, while other asset classes, including real estate, art, and gold, are even harder to estimate. For instance, the global gold market is estimated to be worth $13 trillion, and the global commercial real estate market is valued at nearly $280 trillion.
In comparison, data from CoinGecko shows that the total market value of the global digital asset market is about $3.3 trillion, which is only about 1.3% of the total stock and bond markets. Additionally, emerging sectors such as asset tokenization (RWA) have a total market value of just $13 billion, which is almost negligible in the overall financial market.

Image source: Wall Street Insights

Therefore, for the Web3 and digital asset world, 2024 is destined to be a milestone year in history. The crypto asset strategies of enterprises and institutions are gradually moving from the exploration phase to deep integration, with the market for B2B services expanding significantly, becoming the next growth engine for the industry’s development. This not only means that more enterprises and institutions are taking digital asset allocation seriously, but it also signals the further integration of digital assets with the traditional financial system.
In particular, traditional institutions and financial giants, with their large user base and massive capital scale, have the potential to inject unprecedented “incremental funds” and “incremental users” into Web3 once these resources are successfully bridged. This will accelerate the rise of “New Money” within the digital asset ecosystem and speed up the mainstream application of blockchain technology.
Against this backdrop, those who can connect the traditional capital and vast user base of Web2 giants will likely become the key infrastructure linking Web2 (traditional finance) and Web3 (digital asset finance), leveraging traditional capital to break through in a comprehensive way.
In this process, the role of B2B service providers is crucial. Market participants with compliance, security, efficiency, and diverse service capabilities are more likely to gain significant development benefits in this wave of institutionalization.
Taking OSL, the first digital asset platform to receive regulatory licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the AMLO, listed and audited by one of Hong Kong’s Big Four accounting firms, and certified with SOC 2 Type 2, as an example, when institutions consider adopting a service, it is typically because it meets the following core conditions:
● Compliance and Security: The service provider must strictly comply with regulatory requirements, have a complete KYC and AML system, and ensure the legality and transparency of fund flows. Compliance is the top priority, especially when funds are entering the digital asset market from other industries
● Diversified and Customized Service Capabilities: Institutional clients not only need trading services but also require comprehensive capabilities in asset tokenization, custody, and OTC trading, to support full-chain asset allocation and management.
● Efficient Technical Integration: The provider must have a modular system architecture that can quickly deploy digital asset trading and management functions for traditional institutions, reducing the technical access threshold and improving service response efficiency.
● Industry Experience and Cooperation Network: The provider must have rich industry experience and broad ecosystem partnerships to quickly respond to market demand and offer customized solutions to institutional clients, accelerating their digital asset layout.

This means that with the rise of B2B services in the digital asset market, the importance of licensed exchanges becomes increasingly prominent. They are at the forefront of the new era, controlling the “lifelines” of various businesses—whether it’s institutions incorporating virtual asset ETFs into their portfolios or trading and custody of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other virtual assets, licensed exchanges provide crucial support.

Summary

If “Web3 in 2024 is like Web2 in 2002,” then perhaps now is the right time to act.
As enterprises and institutions deepen their digital asset strategies, B2B service providers are standing at the core stage of the digital asset market. Those who can meet the diverse needs from compliance to trading, from tokenization to pay-finance solutions will become the key players in defining the next-generation financial ecosystem.
In particular, licensed exchanges like OSL, with their comprehensive and multi-layered service capabilities, are likely to see their importance further enhanced in the wave of institutionalization in digital assets. They play a crucial role as the “bridge” and “infrastructure” that efficiently bring existing assets from traditional financial markets into the on-chain ecosystem, unlocking their potential value.
As the dust settles in 2024, the Web3 and crypto industry may indeed enter a completely new cycle.

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