Bitcoin, Ethereum Will Be Bank Commodities Within 5 Years, Crypto Finance CEO Says

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) will become commodities available at any bank within five years, says Crypto Finance CEO Stijn Van Straten. The Commodity Thesis Van Straten differentiates between major tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum versus newer innovations like DeFi protocols. The biggest tokens will become standard commodities in the financial services industry, while DeFi will take another 5-10 years before regulators adopt clear rules. “You’ll be able to buy that with any bank in 5 years,” Van Straten said about Bitcoin and Ethereum. Large traditional institutions lag behind crypto-native platforms because they must wait for regulatory clarity before entering new spaces. The risk is too high for major banks to operate without clear rules of engagement. Crypto-native platforms are already moving into traditional securities, offering Saturday stock trading and instant settlement. This puts pressure on legacy institutions that still require two-day settlement periods for stock trades. The MiCA Regulatory Advantage Crypto Finance was one of the first firms regulated under Europe’s MiCA framework. The regulation opened floodgates, with institutions flooding the company with RFPs once they had regulatory certainty. “It gave us a huge market push because now our target client group had that regulatory certainty,” Van Straten said. The company operated under strict Swiss governance rules from early on, so formalizing existing practices under MiCA was straightforward. Brazil First, Argentina Next Crypto Finance entered Latin America starting with Brazil because of its size and regulatory progress after introducing a framework at the end of last year. The company is also evaluating Argentina and other jurisdictions. Van Straten said the Brazilian market is more advanced than Europe from an adoption perspective, though Europe has more regulatory clarity. Brazilian institutions operated successfully even before clear regulatory frameworks existed. 2026 Outlook: Bumpy Until Q3 Van Straten expects the market to trend sideways to down through the first half of 2026 due to geopolitical tensions and war. The outlook improves in Q3 or Q4 once conflicts resolve, providing relief for risky assets like crypto. “I’m quite bullish for this year, not until Q3. The first half is going to be a bumpy ride,” Van Straten noted. Rising inflation from ongoing conflicts could impact central bank interest rate decisions, directly affecting risk assets. Image: Shutterstock