CFB Talks Digital Assets

Recorded 18 October 2024.

CF Benchmarks’ recently launched quarterly market outlook series is on tap for an extra special episode of the CFB Talks Digital Assets podcast! The first report in the series, for Q4 2024, landed in the run-up to the hotly anticipated U.S. election. Join our Head of Research, Gabe Selby, CFA, Research Analyst, Mark Pilipczuk, and Head of Content, Ken Odeluga, as they talk through the key macro and political details that really matter, after Trump’s second presidential win.

• Hear our research team’s base case economic outlook for a soft landing - which remains on track - plus implications for digital asset returns and positioning
• Learn why the Fed is increasingly boxed into a corner on policy, as markets signal a deeper easing path will be necessary, with potential impacts on digital assets
• The secular crypto themes most likely to prevail in the medium to long term: the rise and rise of stablecoins, Ethereum winning the scalability wars, money market funds as the vanguard of tokenization growth - also, what are DePINS?

Whether you’re an institutional or individual investor, be sure to grab a coffee and lean into our research team’s long-form insights at this critical macro and geopolitical juncture!

Recorded July 26, 2024.

For the latest episode of CFB Talks Digital Assets we sat down with Nuno Serafim, Managing Partner at Lisbon-based 3 Comma Capital, who recently launched their Global Crypto Fund, deploying our regulated CF Ultra Cap 5 EUR index as its benchmark.

It was a rare opportunity to look over the shoulder of and hear granular insights from a veteran portfolio manager of traditional assets, who's made the transition to crypto investment management.

Listen in to hear the thinking behind the fund's objectives - and perhaps prepare to be surprised by the classic 'cautious' investment style underlying its structure and allocation strategy!

A few of the many hot topics covered:

• The unique digital asset characteristics offering enhanced risk-adjusted returns relative to traditional assets, sealing the decision to go for alpha generation instead of beta replication
• Why a 25% max allocation within the UC5 EUR universe is optimal
• How Global Crypto's UC5 benchmark sets it on a course to follow crypto's 'quality factor'
• How 3 Comma Group's unique vantage point in VC, as an innovation hub and in blockchain intelligence provides the Global Crypto fund with a sustainable edge

Spot Ether ETFs are finally here!

Just like for Bitcoin ETFs though, the path to approval has been full of suspense and drama.

Whether it was SEC chair Gary Gensler’s previous view that Ether was a security; the controversy over staking (note: no spot Ether ETFs include staking) or regulatory actions against non-ETF platforms ... the process often felt like it was one plot twist away from complete shut down.

With four CF Benchmarks clients among the major investment firms whose filings were approved - supported by our regulated ETHUSD_NY index - once again, we had a ringside seat.

To hear what we learned, join CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chung, Head of Content Ken Odeluga, and Head of Research Gabe Selby, CFA, for an extra special episode of the CFB Talks Digital Assets podcast.

* Hear how ETH ETF filings subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) changed to meet SEC expectations; offering more clues on the regulator’s still opaque approval criteria

* Also, how the Commission abruptly dropped opposition to ETH ETFs - weeks after receiving our analyses, data and commentary - then cited our thinking in its approval order!

* But did we really change the regulator’s mind?

* Get Gabe’s data-driven analysis of why modest expectations on ETH ETF inflows might be undercooked

* Why, despite talk of a changing US regulatory landscape, the wait for a Solana ETF could be a protracted one - even if Gary Gensler steps down from SEC!

For our take on all those points, and honestly, way more than we can list here, listen to this episode now...

Recorded 20 June 2024.

With Bitcoin’s realised volatility still regularly touching 50%, the multibillion dollar launch of US spot Bitcoin ETFs this year underlines institutions’ need for more efficient ways of managing crypto risk. This makes the new CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVXS), the only direct measure of CME BTC implied volatility, a timely addition to our roster of regulated benchmarks. But how exactly does BVXS work? Our Head of Product, Thomas Erdösi joined Ken and Gabe on CFB Talks Digital Assets for a step by step guide on the index, and a tour through crypto volatility in general. Just a few of many highlights:

• What CBOE VIX’s history tells us about how institutions are likely to deploy BVXS
• Meet the only CME Bitcoin Volatility Surface you’ll ever encounter in the wild...
• Use cases: from streamlined and granular tail risk hedging, to pure sentiment gauges, ETPs and more
• Why BVXS is another inflection point — for the CME CF Bitcoin Liquidity Complex and institutional participation overall

Recorded 13 June 2024.

2024 is already crystallised as one of the most consequential years ever for digital asset adoption, but unfortunately, the recent quarter saw asset prices mostly consolidating - at best.

As CF Benchmarks’ Head of Research, Gabe Selby, CFA, notes in his latest Quarterly Attribution Report (QAR), “price action was primarily driven by opposing forces”.

Gabe sat down with CFB’s Head of Content, Ken Odeluga in the CFB Talks Digital Assets podcast, for their regular walk through the quarter’s major crypto drivers, this time for the March - June rebalance period.

Highlights:

• US Stock Market-Esque narrow participation for CF Broad Cap Index - Just 9 out of 45 constituents drive its 8% gain
• NEAR’s 74% surge anoints it as crypto’s AI touchstone - but what’s likely to happen next?
• Crypto’s superior diversification benefits relative to stocks, with CF Broad Cap’s consistently weaker negative correlation to rate expectations vs. Nasdaq 100
• If you’re a TradFi institutional manager, it’s time to add the Ether-Bitcoin Ratio to your dashboard - get Gabe’s 101!
• And yes; we need to talk about meme coins...

Recorded May 22, 2024. One of our earliest and longest-standing clients, Monochrome, today forged another major step for institutional digital asset adoption in Australia, by listing Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (ticker: IBTC), the first and only Aussie fund that invests directly in Bitcoin.

We were lucky enough to grab half an hour with their busy Head of ETF Operations Grayson McLeod, just ahead of the listing, for the latest episode of CFB Talks Digital Assets.

Listen in to hear what it takes to launch a proper Bitcoin ETF in Australia, and about the biggest untapped institutional opportunity for crypto there.

Just a few of the many highlights↓

▪︎ Why IBTC really is the first and - still - Australia’s only pure play Bitcoin ETF -- it’s the only one operating under Australia’s Crypto Authorised License framework

▪︎ How full adherence puts IBTC in pole position for potential mega allocations from Australia’s mandatory superannuation pensions system

▪︎ Why Monochrome switched to Cboe Australia from ASX. And why it’s ultimately been beneficial, particularly in view of the firm’s long-term plans

▪︎ The importance of IBTC’s move to our CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate - Asia Pacific (BRRAP) for its benchmark, as liquidity becomes more evenly distributed across major time zones

Recorded April 30, 2024. With so much mainstream attention on the launch of digital asset funds on US exchanges, it’s easy to overlook the fact regulated spot crypto exchange traded products (ETPs) have been around for far longer in Europe than in the States! This highly active and liquid market is typified by firms like ETC Group, one of the region’s largest crypto focused fund managers, in AuM terms. ETC recently listed its Core Bitcoin ETP (Ticker: BTC1) which offers a unique ‘Tri-NAV’ facility, based on CF Benchmarks’ three regulated Bitcoin Reference Rate variants. We were fortunate enough to sit down with ETC’s Head of Product, Chanchal Samadder, for what we believe is the most informed take on Europe’s crypto investment product market you’ll hear for some time. Get stuck into the latest episode of CFB Talks Digital Assets to hear:

• Details on that exclusive Tri-NAV: how it works, and why it provides primary market participants with the ultimate flexibility to transact Bitcoin, in a regulated wrapper, across the global trading day;
• What drove ETC Group’s decision to launch BTC1, even as it continues to manage its first Bitcoin ETP, which remains Europe’s most-traded spot Bitcoin fund;
• Chanchal’s insights on Europe’s institutional crypto investment landscape; the evolution of demand for large-caps, and why the region is likely to lead in the future, as demand for diversified digital asset index products grows.

Recorded March 27, 2024. The CFB TDA crew hosts David Lawant, Head of Research at FalconX, a leading institutional digital asset prime brokerage that provides secure, efficient, and compliant access to digital asset markets.

Join us as we lift the veil on one of the more exciting yet less covered areas of the market and get an insider's view on the OTC trading segment: who are the institutions making markets for the new spot ETFs? What are the latest key developments? With his extensive experience in digital asset research and market analysis, David provides unique insights into this rapidly evolving sector.

Recorded 15 March 2024. Digital asset markets just saw one their best quarters since the end of ‘Crypto Winter’ - and you guessed it, the unprecedented influx of demand, liquidity and inflows into the new investment product class of Bitcoin ETFs played a major part. But that’s not the whole story of course! CF Benchmarks’ Head of Research Gabe Selby CFA, talks through the December-March quarter’s rip roaring performance with Ken Odeluga, Head of Content, through the lens of our portfolio indices.

Recorded March 1, 2024. Political intrigue at the SEC, the fastest-growing ETFs in history, and what chance of a spot Ether ETF by this summer? Exclusive insights from James Seyffart, one half of the Bloomberg Intelligence ETF team that successfully predicted the launch of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, and who now place the odds of a spot Ether ETF approval at 60%.