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Another week down, and December is flying by. 

With the start of the new year just around the corner, we’re looking at one prediction that could very well play out. Then, we keep an eye on Hashnote after its tokenized fund managed to flip two mainstays in that space.

We’re also after your thoughts on killer apps. 

Have a wonderful weekend and we’ll see you bright and early Monday.

🔮 Predict this

The crypto predictions are pouring in for next year, and — if I’m being honest with you — it’s hard to contain the excitement. Or maybe it’s just Friday.

Anyway, this morning I’m specifically looking at Bitwise’s predictions, which were released earlier this week. The whole report is worth a read, but for now I’m focused on their forecast that says 2025 will be the year of the crypto IPO.

It’s definitely hard to argue with that particular call. On paper, all of the pieces are falling into place.

Here are the three things I think support a big year for crypto IPOs:

• A regulator actually engaging with firms and moving their paperwork forward. 

• Institutional interest and support. 

• Investor appetite. 

Three simple bullet points, right? Well, not really. For crypto, actually securing green lights to go public demands the perfect storm post-FTX. If you don’t believe me, let’s take a look at Circle. 

The stablecoin issuer filed a confidential draft of its registration statement with the SEC back in January of this year and yet we’ve seen no movement on its IPO.

After years of covering IPOs in my past life, companies who’ve filed their drafts generally publicly file their S-1 in six to eight months, or at least have some sort of movement on that front. Obviously, however, this isn’t always the case.

We don’t know what’s happened behind closed doors but I’m still eagerly awaiting Circle’s next filing. And I fully agree with Bitwise that Circle looks like a crypto firm with the most potential to hit the public stage. 

Outside of Circle, Bitwise rounded out its list with Figure, Kraken, Anchorage and Chainalysis. 

Adding to that, we already have two companies seeking uplisting on US exchanges (Sol Strategies is looking to uplist on Nasdaq while Exodus is uplisting to NYSE American) and one company going public through a de-SPAC and, bam, it looks like this prediction should’ve been a Polymarket market. 

If more of crypto starts going public, it could be a positive for the return of retail. A larger roster of public crypto companies not only lets folks engage with the space without fully diving in — a bonus for a more general audience — but it also builds back much-needed trust. 

Not to mention, investors would finally be able to look at certain metrics that hadn’t previously been disclosed through documents filed with the SEC. 

And don’t even get me started on the capital they could unlock. 

— Katherine Ross

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Got a [highly successful] app for that? 

Basically, a winning app is one of the key components for success in crypto, Rushi Manche of Movement Labs said on the Empire podcast this morning.

Pump.fun was his go-to example, which makes sense after the volumes and overall success we’ve seen there. 

And when you bake in other examples, like Polymarket during the election, it does seem like one of the biggest ways to gain outside exposure is through the success of these types of apps. 

Polymarket, for example, saw largely positive mainstream media attention — something that crypto had only dreamed of post-FTX. 

On the other hand, he’s not a fan of this one metric.

Manche told Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Santos that he believes total-value locked is “usually a predatory metric and that if I put a points program up tomorrow, I’ll probably get a billion TVL.”

“ I'm not in this for TVL — for [the] token go-up game. It's more about like, ‘Okay, how do you get the next Polymarket and drive that adoption?’” he added. 

And now you know.

Blink and you would’ve missed it.

Hashnote’s tokenized fund, USYC, has flipped both BlackRock and Franklin Templeton’s for market cap, per 21Shares’ Dune dashboard.

• USYC’s assets under management has more than doubled in the past month, from $357 million to more than $800 million as of earlier this morning.

• BlackRock’s BUIDL has recently shed 20% of its capital, going from $551 million in October to under $441 million.

• Franklin Templeton’s BENJI is sitting on $396 million, down almost 10% from over $437 million two months ago.

All three funds operate in much the same way. They take subscriptions in cash and stablecoins in return for dollar-pegged tokens, which act as a secondary record of account to regular shares.

The funds then use that capital to buy government securities, generally short-dated Treasurys, reverse repo agreements and other cash equivalents. 

Subscribers receive a yield in return, even directly onchain via stablecoins. Hashnote’s USYC currently pays 3.873% annualized net of fees, for instance.

So, what’s driving Hashnote’s sudden surge to the head of the pack?

Turns out, the Usual suspect. Usual Money’s USD0 stablecoin — which it pitches as a yield-bearing competitor to USDT and USDC — is responsible for practically all of USYC’s capital flows to date.

USD0 is now found in almost 7,600 Ethereum addresses, with its growth no doubt boosted by a points program for what Usual calls “Pills” ahead of a governance token launch.

Usual’s website reads: “Together, we are bigger than BlackRock,” and that’s certainly now true… at least in terms of Ethereum footprint.

— Katherine & David

The financial landscape is transforming, and digital assets are at the center of it all.

This March, DAS NYC brings together allocators, institutional leaders and fund managers to explore the cutting-edge trends shaping the future of finance. From macroeconomic shifts to the rise of onchain economies, this is where the most impactful conversations happen.

March 18-20, 2025 | NYC

Be there to connect, collaborate, and lead the charge into the next era of financial evolution.

Last week, we asked: “What should be the first order of business for David Sacks, Trump’s pick for crypto czar?”

70% of you replied with “Strategic BTC Reserve,” 20% said, “Make ICOs great again,” and the rest suggested a CBDC on XRPL. The people have spoken.

This week, we’re wondering: