World's First Solana Spot ETFs Go Live, New $1.25 Billion Crypto Buyout & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Institutional Crypto: 4 Solana Spot ETFs to launch in Canada on April 16. 

• Reshaping Finance: Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition and its implications.

• Historic Milestone: First-ever U.S. crypto bill was signed into law. 

Everyone’s watching the charts, but the real story is in what’s getting built—today.

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Reshaping Finance

Recently, a growing number of crypto firms have begun acquiring regulated legacy institutions. 

The transactions, while individually significant, together signal a broader convergence: the maturation of crypto firms into fully fledged financial services providers, and the increasing obsolescence of rigid divisions between conventional and decentralised finance.

This trend has materialised through a string of headline acquisitions.

In October 2024, Crypto.com acquired Watchdog Capital, a U.S.-registered broker-dealer under the auspices of FINRA and the SIPC. The acquisition marked Crypto.com’s deliberate push beyond its core crypto trading business, granting it the regulatory framework to offer equities and equity options to U.S. traders.

Only months later, Kraken followed suit with a far more sizable transaction. In March 2025, the centralised exchange agreed to acquire NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. NinjaTrader holds a CFTC-registered FCM licence—a regulatory moat that has traditionally kept crypto-native firms at arm’s length from regulated U.S. futures markets. With the acquisition, Kraken gains direct access to U.S. derivatives infrastructure, a clear pivot toward integration with mainstream finance.

Most recently, Ripple acquired Hidden Road, a global multi-asset prime broker, for $1.25 billion. Ripple’s acquisition is particularly noteworthy not just for its size, but for what it symbolises: a crypto firm now owning and operating an institution with deep roots in the traditional financial ecosystem. Hidden Road clears $3 trillion annually with more than 300 institutional customers across FX, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income.

These acquisitions are not mere opportunism. They reflect a calculated strategic response to several shifts in the financial landscape. 

First among them is regulatory evolution. As policymakers and regulators globally begin to clarify the boundaries of crypto oversight—albeit inconsistently—crypto firms that wish to operate in major markets must increasingly align with established financial standards. Owning a regulated entity shortens the compliance learning curve and provides immediate access to licences, customer bases, and institutional trust.

Market expansion is another factor. Crypto’s initial appeal was born of novelty and insurgency. But crypto firms now recognise the limits of staying in the niche. To grow, they must serve not just crypto enthusiasts, but the broader investment public. Acquiring incumbents allows for the bundling of services—letting customers trade crypto, equities, options, and more from a single dashboard. In a market where user retention often hinges on platform comprehensiveness, this consolidation is more than convenient—it is existential.

There is also the matter of technological advantage. Crypto firms tend to be leaner, more digital-native, and less encumbered by legacy infrastructure. Merging that know-how and efficiency with incumbents’ licences and capital access offers the prospect of an enhanced user experience and operational leverage—margins, once tight, get room to grow.

Looking ahead, there is little reason to expect this momentum to slow. As the crypto industry sheds its outsider status, the acquisition of incumbents may become not the exception, but the norm. Integration will deepen. The division between “traditional” and “digital” finance may fade into irrelevance. New financial products, combining the programmability of blockchain with the risk structures of traditional instruments, will likely proliferate.

Having said that, the crypto expansion will not be confined to the United States. As regulatory clarity emerges in other jurisdictions—Europe, Singapore, the UAE—crypto firms will seek footholds through acquisition. Each deal will not just be about growth, but about reshaping finance’s foundational architecture.

The revolution, it turns out, may not be televised. It may, however, be signed and notarised—one buyout at a time.

Numbers Of The Week

News Bites

Historic Milestone: In a landmark move, President Trump has signed the first-ever crypto bill into law. In essence, the bill blocks the IRS from collecting tax reporting data from self-custodial platforms—marking a significant win for crypto.

Regulation Shift: The Senate has confirmed Paul Atkins as the new SEC Chair. A pro-crypto lawyer and former commissioner (2002–2008), Atkins’ appointment signals a potentially more favourable regulatory landscape for digital assets.

Institutional Crypto: The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has approved Solana Spot ETFs from Purpose, Evolve, CI, and 3iQ. The ETFs will participate in staking and are expected to launch on April 16.

Tokenization Mainstream: Tokenization is moving from buzzword to reality. CNBC spotlighted BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s latest remarks on tokenization, emphasising its transformative potential for investment and ownership.

Ubiquitous Compute: Meet Gradient, a decentralised compute infrastructure powered by Solana that utilises idle compute resources from local servers, edge devices, and personal computers to perform real-time processing tasks.

DeFi Expansion: BounceBit is bringing institutional-grade DeFi strategies to Solana. These include funding rate arbitrage and basis trading, further expanding the sophistication of DeFi on Solana.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

You can reach me anytime over on 𝕏.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}