Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market are still in what investor Dan Tapiero calls the middle phase of a bull market, as he predicts a fresh wave of crypto companies will seek stock listings in the United States.
In a post on X on December 23, Tapiero, founder and CEO of crypto investment firms 50T Funds and Zenrock, said the digital asset sector has become more mature, diversified, and profitable since 2021, even though bitcoin has not gained ground against gold in that period. He described the gap between stronger fundamentals and flat relative performance as unsustainable.
As private crypto businesses expand, Tapiero expects more of them to move onto traditional U.S. stock exchanges, opening what he called a new channel of liquidity from mainstream investors. Approval from major venues, such as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, he said, plays a key role in validating the sector and reassuring markets about corporate governance and record keeping.
He pointed to plans for an initial public offering by crypto exchange Kraken and said several other portfolio companies are preparing to follow. Tapiero also expects more mergers and acquisitions as the industry consolidates.
The investor argued that an ongoing “Americanization of crypto” is under way, with the United States set to remain the dominant financial center for the industry. He does not expect a reversal of the broader trend of U.S. equity outperformance, noting that American stock market capitalization now exceeds that of Europe and Asia combined by a wide margin. Many European equity benchmarks, he said, remain at or below levels seen before the global financial crisis, while the Nasdaq index has risen many times since 2008.
Tapiero expects that more global crypto and blockchain businesses will seek access to U.S. capital through offerings, special purpose acquisition vehicles, and other routes, reinforcing the country’s lead. He argued that rivals in other regions would struggle to match the depth of U.S. markets.
He also cited the rapid expansion of stablecoin transactions, which he estimated at $25 trillion in volume this year, mostly in tokens linked to the U.S. dollar. He said that growth, which has surged from minimal activity five years ago, along with what he sees as a more welcoming regulatory backdrop for innovation, is likely to strengthen the position of U.S. markets in digital assets.
According to Tapiero, there are currently only a small number of sizeable listed companies focused on crypto or blockchain technology in the United States. He expects between fifty and sixty such firms to reach public markets over the next five years, a trend he believes will underline the country’s dominance in the sector.
Bitcoin trades near $87,000 as spot ETFs see $800M in weekly outflows
Bitcoin was trading around $87,300 on Dec. 24, down almost 1% over 24 hours after another tight session that kept prices between roughly $86,500 and $88,900 and close to recent levels. The token is now well below its record at $126,000 reached in early October and has been struggling with the $90,000 level since that sharp drop from the all-time high, with repeated pushes toward $90,000 meeting selling interest as year-end trading volumes thin out.
Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw outflows of $188.6M on Dec. 23, according to the latest data, with one-week outflows of around $1.29B and inflows of about $457.3M, leaving roughly $828M in net outflows for the period.
Across the crypto market, the tone has softened, with total value hovering near $2.95T and about $85B traded over the past day, while Bitcoin still accounts for roughly 59% of the sector, and sentiment remains in the fear zone, suggesting investors are keeping their exposure concentrated in Bitcoin rather than rotating into smaller tokens.
Do Tapiero’s Expectations Line up With The Data
Tapiero’s comments and the latest figures point to a market that is pausing rather than breaking, with Bitcoin trading in choppy ranges, spot funds showing more money flowing out than in over the week, and sentiment sitting in the fear zone even as Bitcoin still accounts for close to 59% of total crypto value.
Given that outlook, the current market does not yet fully back his claim that the industry’s fundamentals are far stronger than prices imply, but it does match a middle phase of a bull market in which investors cut risk and pull money from listed products while they wait to see whether new capital, fresh listings, and the United States will be able to drive the next leg of the cycle.
Cash can return to spot funds as quickly as it leaves, but the hardest part will be rebuilding the trust needed to draw that liquidity back in.
Read More: Amplify ETFs, Sling Money & BC Card Push Stablecoins Deeper Into U.S., UK, And Korea
