25 July 2025
Ian Simpson | 2 min read
As the crypto and digital assets industry continues to “grow up” – a lot of hard work is being done. Some of it is known – some of it “under the radar”. And some of the most foundational work in digitizing capital markets is being supported by some of the largest TradFi trading houses in the world.
In Part 2 of the episode, Chris Zuehlkle, Global Head of Cumberland, the crypto arm of DRW and RULEMATCH Spot On host Ian Simpson discussed some of the latest developments present – and future – in the crypto and digital assets space.
Will OTC and lit markets continue to co-exist side by side?
What will the US GENIUS and Clarity Acts mean for stablecoins and digital assets?
How will tokenization among financial institutions develop?
What early theses in crypto have not come true?
Episode show notes:
(2:16) OTC and CLOB in Cumberland’s view of market structure
(5:03) The effects of regulation on the number of market participants
(7:27) A story about Chris as a “market structure geek”
(11:00) DeFi as the sandbox and how TradFi is “cherry-picking”
(12:55) The “state of play” in tokenization
(14:24) Two important steps for the industry
(15:18) Reducing uncertainty with collateral tokenization
(17:34) Tokenization in repo markets & a $100 million example
(19:39) Who will push tokenization forward?
(20:03) Privacy as a “headwind” and cooperation with Canton Network
(21:27) Why Chris treats US crypto regulation as his “kids”
(23:19) The crucial role of the Clarity Act
(25:26) The chances of the SEC and CFTC working together
(27:42) Interacting with regulators and giving feedback
(28:53) A thought experiment with Reg-NMS and tokenized equities
(31:14) A comparison of US and European crypto regulation
(32:49) How Cumberland tries to stay “efficient” with regulation
(34:33) The amazing things about stablecoins and being integrated into Cumberland
(37:03) How the stablecoin bill (GENIUS Act) unlocks new utility
(37:21) The debate about fully-backed or tokenized fractional deposits
(39:08) Crypto M&A picks up 41:59 A look back into the crystal ball
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