Crypto Biz: SEC cleans up Gensler-era mess

While markets waited on White House Crypto Czar David Sacks to pump their bags, the week’s biggest story slipped beneath the radar. Rather than announce plans for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the Republicans simply reiterated plans to convene more committees to evaluate crypto legislation.

The highly anticipated news conference was a nothing-burger, and crypto prices tanked in the aftermath.

Still, just before the news conference, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce issued a statement promising a new journey for crypto regulation. According to Peirce, the White House’s newly formed Crypto Task Force would provide regulatory clarity for digital assets and reverse the mistakes made under ex-SEC chair Gary Gensler. 

Crucially, the task force is recommending “retroactive relief” for cryptocurrency projects that were crushed by the hand of SEC overreach.

This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter explores the latest statement from the SEC’s “Crypto Mom.” It also looks at Bitwise’s 2025 expectations for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), MicroStrategy’s hodl strategy and the continued growth of real-world assets (RWAs). 

SEC is evaluating “retroactive relief” for past crypto offerings

On Feb. 4, Commissioner Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC is carving out a new path for the digital asset sector, which includes evaluating the security status of certain assets and potentially providing “retroactive relief” for some token offerings that drew the ire of the previous SEC administration. 

“It took us a long time to get into this mess, and it is going to take us some time to get out of it,” said Peirce. 

Specifically, President Donald Trump’s newly created Crypto Task Force is “recommending Commission action to provide temporary prospective and retroactive relief for coin or token offerings” under certain conditions, said Perice.

Peirce, often referred to as Crypto Mom by the blockchain industry, said, “The status of crypto assets under the securities laws is fundamental to resolving many other questions. The Task Force is working hard to examine different types of crypto assets.”

Bitcoin ETFs set to have monster 2025: Bitwise

The success of US spot Bitcoin ETFs is expected to continue in 2025, with inflows potentially exceeding $50 billion, according to Bitwise’s chief investment officer Matt Hougan. If January is anything to go by, inflows may exceed that level by October.

“Spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $4.94 billion in January, which annualizes to ~$59 billion,” Hougan said.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF accounted for most of the January inflows at $3.2 billion. It was followed by the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, which netted about $1.3 billion. 

According to Bitwise’s December report, institutional investors will likely “double down” on their BTC allocations this year. This momentum builds off a stellar 2024, where Bitcoin funds were “the most successful ETF launch in history,” according to ARK Invest. 

MicroStrategy pauses Bitcoin buy, will hodl $30B

Business intelligence firm Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, has temporarily paused its BTC purchases after the company broke its pattern of selling shares to fund digital asset acquisitions. 

According to chairman Michael Saylor, Strategy did not sell any common stock between Jan. 7 and Feb. 2, snapping a streak of 12 consecutive weeks of Bitcoin purchases. The prior week, the company acquired more than 10,000 BTC worth about $1 billion. 

Strategy currently holds 471,107 BTC at an average cost of $64,511 per coin. It’s by far the largest corporate holder of BTC globally. 

RWA market hits new all-time high

For all the volatility in the crypto markets, real-world assets are quietly becoming one of the industry’s biggest growth stories. Excluding stablecoins, onchain RWAs have reached a cumulative value of $17.1 billion across more than 82,000 holders, according to RWA.xyz data. This is the highest level on record. 

Tokenized private credit was the largest category of RWAs at $11.9 billion, followed by US Treasury debt ($3.5 billion), commodities ($1.1 billion), institutional funds ($410.5 million) and non-US government debt ($104.1 million).

Edwin Mata, CEO of the RWA tokenization platform Brickken, told Cointelegraph that financial institutions will drive RWA growth in the coming years.

“With growing institutional interest and clear regulatory progress, tokenization is positioned to become a cornerstone of the modern financial system and one of the leading narratives for blockchain, not just in 2025, but for the years to come,” he said.

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