‘It’s an Annexation’: Meltem Demirors Warns of Wall Street’s Crypto Takeover

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Meltem Demirors, founder of Crucible, graciously pointed out that while traditional institutions have finally deigned to look towards crypto, their intentions are far from the lofty ideals of decentralization and financial liberty. No, they are more interested in converting blockchain into yet another profit-generating machine for their repackaged, fee-heavy products.

Demirors: Onchain Assets Are the Next Goal for Institutions

While bitcoin and the crypto world were created with such sweet, idealistic notions of a decentralized economy, it appears that traditional finance institutions are far more interested in converting these assets into tools for their ever-growing, fee-generating empires.

This delightful observation comes from Meltem Demirors, who, having formerly held the title of CSO at Coinshares and now holding the reins of Crucible, believes that institutions are not “adopting” crypto in its truest sense. No, they are rather skillfully annexing it, as though it were the latest acquisition to their colonial empire.

Since 2024, according to Demirors, traditional finance has regarded crypto as nothing more than a convenient, liquid resource, ready to be siphoned into off-chain structures that conveniently provide management fees to their middlemen.

She further elaborates on the launch of Blackrock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF, which, in a most impressive turn of events, became the most successful exchange-traded fund of all time. This victory, naturally, showed institutions that they could simply “wrap” bitcoin and other digital assets in a traditional fund structure, list them, and voilà-a delightful, chunky fee stream was born.

Demirors astutely observes that as artificial intelligence continues to gobble up capital like a black hole, crypto will inevitably emerge as a source of assets under management (AUM), just waiting to be leveraged. Such a lovely prospect for those looking to squeeze every ounce of profit from their investments.

With over $300 billion in stablecoins, and nearly $100 billion in decentralized finance protocols, there is no shortage of products ripe for tokenization and repackaging by these eager institutions, who will, of course, adopt them as a “fee-paying AUM base” without bothering with those pesky traditional channels.

In closing, Demirors issued a warning, cautioning that the on-chain economy risks becoming little more than “just another liquidity sleeve for TradFi’s AUM machine.” Oh, what a lovely fate, indeed.

She concluded:

“The only way out is to build and scale our own native institutions… who can compete for treasury AUM and design products that serve crypto’s long-term interests. If we don’t prioritize collaboration with crypto native institutions now, ‘institutional adoption’ won’t be a victory, it will be an annexation.”

FAQ

  • What is Meltem Demirors’ view on traditional finance’s approach to crypto?
    Demirors believes traditional finance is not adopting crypto principles; instead, they are annexing it for their own financial benefit. How charming!

  • How has the launch of Blackrock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF affected the crypto market?
    This ETF’s success demonstrated to institutions that they could wrap digital assets in a traditional fund structure, creating a lucrative source of management fees. Nothing quite like a well-packaged investment to bring in those fees!

  • What potential does Demirors see in the crypto sector moving forward?
    She notes that there are substantial assets, like $300 billion in stablecoins, ready to be tokenized and repackaged for institutional profit, transforming crypto into a fee-paying asset base. A delightful turn of events for those with a keen eye for profit!

  • What warning does Demirors offer regarding the future of the on-chain economy?
    She cautions that without strong partnerships with crypto-native institutions, the on-chain economy risks becoming a mere liquidity source for traditional finance’s asset management operations. How absolutely unfortunate, right?

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2026-02-25 13:57