Crypto Nears Its ‘netscape Moment’ As Industry Approaches...

Crypto is at a mainstream tipping point due to the emergence of regulated investment products, according to Matt Huang of Paradigm.

The cryptocurrency industry is approaching its “Netscape moment,” as steady progress in blockchain infrastructure and the rise of regulated investment products drive a new wave of institutional adoption, according to Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang.

The crypto sector is “facing its ‘Netscape’ or ‘iPhone’ moment,” Huang wrote Sunday in a post on X. “It’s working bigger than ever before, far beyond our wildest dreams. Both the institutional parts and the cypherpunk parts.”

Netscape launched the first easy-to-use web browser for mainstream users in 1994 before going public with a successful initial public offering (IPO) in August 1995, marking the first building block that triggered the internet’s mass adoption.

However, Microsoft saw the large-scale interest and capitalized on it on it by freely bundling Internet Explorer as a pre-installed component of the Windows operating system, outcompeting Netscape to become the most widely used internet browser.

In the crypto world, Bitcoin’s (BTC) peer-to-peer model and decentralized finance (DeFi) have enabled a new vision of an open, programmable financial system that cuts out intermediaries.

At the same time, centralized platforms and traditional investment vehicles are attracting a growing share of new capital because they are easier to use and fit within familiar regulatory frameworks.

About 200 crypto-based exchange-traded products (ETPs) could launch on the market in the next year, with 155 awaiting approval as of Oct. 22, according to Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas.

Crypto ETPs provide easier access to altcoins for traditional investors on brokerage platforms that don’t have an account on a centralized cryptocurrency exchange.

Related: Prediction markets emerge as speculative ‘arbitrage arena’ for crypto traders

Source: CoinTelegraph