Crypto Currents: Consensys files for IPO as Wall Street makes tokenization push

Wall Street’s adoption of digital assets is accelerating, with major banks leading an IPO for a key crypto firm and a credit card giant eyeing a multi-billion dollar acquisition. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision sends jitters through the bitcoin and ether markets. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio, Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

WALL STREET EYES CRYPTO IPOS AND ACQUISITIONS: MetaMask parent company Consensys has selected JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) to lead its upcoming initial public offering, according to a report from CryptoNews, citing Axios. The move further cements the ties between traditional finance and the crypto infrastructure. In related news, Fortune reports that Mastercard (MA) is in talks to acquire crypto settlement platform Zerohash for nearly $2B, further bridging the gap between the traditional payments industry and digital assets.

TOKENIZATION GAINS TRACTION: The institutional push extends to tokenization. JPMorgan is actively betting on the trend, bringing private equity onchain with Kinexys, as noted by The Wall Street Journal. Separately, Cointelegraph also reports that Securitize and BNY Mellon (BK) have launched a new tokenized fund. This comes as analysts from Standard Chartered (SCBFF) project the market for tokenized real-world assets could reach $2T by 2028, according to a new report.

FED DECISION RATTLES MARKETS: Crypto markets reacted with volatility after the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. Cointelegraph reports that bitcoin (BTC-USD) tumbled after the Fed announced a 25 basis point rate cut but signaled an end to quantitative tightening. The move was seen as “priced in,” and subsequent comments from Fed Chair Powell cautioning against rate cut bets extended the losses for both bitcoin and ether (ETH-USD), as reported by Bloomberg and CoinDesk.

ANALYST COVERAGE: Shares of SharpLink Gaming (SBET) were in focus after analysts at Bernstein initiated coverage on the ether treasury firm with an outperform rating and a $24 price target, implying roughly 75% upside. According to The Block, Bernstein highlighted the company’s large holdings of 860,299 ETH and its institutional management, which includes Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin as chairman. The analyst note also reiterated a long-term price target for ether of $15,000 by 2030. The ETF market saw new entrants as Grayscale’s spot solana (SOL-USD) ETF debuted with $1.4M in inflows, though this was overshadowed by over $500M in outflows from existing bitcoin and ether funds, according to The Block.

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $108,007.59, while ether was trading at $3,787.47, according to price data from CoinDesk.