sport football: The “Hated” Innovation That Took Over the World

Back in January 1993, a radical financial innovation hit the market.

It was cheaper, faster, and far more efficient than the "safe" products the wire houses were peddling to their clients at the time.

I'm talking about the debut of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) – the very first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund.

Today, we take ETFs for granted. But back then? The Wall Street establishment absolutely hated them.

They didn't just dismiss the idea; they actively campaigned against it.

They told you it was a "niche" product. They told you it wasn't for serious portfolios and that you should stick with what you knew.

Why? Because this new innovation threatened their golden goose.

At the time, Wall Street was making billions in easy fees selling bloated, high-friction mutual funds. Those were the old-school way of bundling a bunch of stocks together and charging you a premium for the privilege.

I remember back in the late '80s, when brokers bragged about getting paid 8% commissions on certain mutual funds.

On the other hand, ETFs offered lower fees (0.09% on SPY, as of this writing), greater transparency, and increased flexibility. Retail investors could buy an ETF and gain exposure to everything from commodities to international equities.

One Wall Street Journal piece even described the rise of ETFs as a "nightmare" for the industry.

I saw it differently.

In 2003, when ETFs were still in their early stages, I knew they were going to be huge.

I made a bet that there would be a massive transition away from high-cost mutual funds into low-cost ETFs.

So I started teaching people how to use them.

I even launched my own service, the ETF Master Trader program, to give everyday investors the confidence to master this new vehicle. Later, I launched Sector Hunter, the world's first fully automated ETF trading technology for individuals.

I did this because I saw the future. I saw that ETFs offered unmatched liquidity, diversification, low cost, and flexibility that the old mutual funds simply couldn't touch.

If You Can't Beat Them, Co-opt Them

For years, mega banks and financial firms fought this shift because mutual funds were their cash cow.

But once they realized they couldn't kill the idea, they did the only thing Wall Street knows how to do: They co-opted it.

They took over the space, packaged it up, and sold it to you.

Today, SPY is the most liquid and heavily traded ETF in the world, moving an average of $80 billion in daily trading volume, while holding over $700 billion in net assets.

And the ETF market as a whole has exploded to over 12,000 funds across the planet. When they first launched, they made up less than 1% of fund trading. Now, ETFs represent nearly 30% of all daily U.S. trading volume.

In 2024, 89% of financial advisors recommended them. The "hated" innovation has become the standard.

Today, we're watching history repeat itself. This time, in the crypto market.

The Next Frontier: Mass Financialization of Crypto

Just as they did with ETFs, Wall Street initially mocked and dismissed crypto. But now that the infrastructure has been laid, they're rushing to roll out crypto products.

Since January 2024, we've seen the launch of 11 bitcoin spot ETFs and nine spot Ethereum ETFs. There are more than a dozen funds for other altcoins, too, including Chainlink, Solana, Ripple, and Litecoin.

This aggressive expansion confirms exactly what I've been saying for years: Wall Street is financializing the entire crypto ecosystem, not just the top two assets (BTC and ETH).

And it doesn't stop with just ETFs…

Last Month, JPMorgan Chase launched bitcoin-linked structured notes. These notes are essentially bitcoin bonds – complex debt instruments that give you exposure to bitcoin's price (specifically linked to BlackRock's IBIT ETF), served with a dose of leverage and a hefty stack of bank fees.
Around the same time, Morgan Stanley began offering dual-direction BTC notes. These are customized contracts that give investors exposure to bitcoin (or a crypto index) without ever holding the crypto itself.
And just 10 days ago, BlackRock officially filed for a staked Ethereum exchange-traded fund, marking a key step in bringing crypto staking exposure to the masses. (Staking is the process of locking up tokens to secure a blockchain network. In return, stakers earn income in the underlying token.)

Meanwhile, major financial services companies like Robinhood and Kraken are rushing to bring real-world assets (RWAs) on-chain in this friendlier regulatory environment.

RWAs are another crypto megatrend I've been writing about for years. It's where items will be "tokenized" and represented on the blockchain. This includes everything from artwork, to trading cards, to home deeds and titles, to music rights, and beyond.

And tokenization is where things are really accelerating. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Citi, and WisdomTree are all piling into this trend.

Why are these giants rushing in? One word: greed.

They see the fee potential from crypto products exploding. TradingView estimates the RWA tokenization market could hit $30 trillion by 2030.

Friends, it's clear as day: Wall Street is building the same bridge to crypto it built for ETFs in the 1990s. And that's incredibly bullish for this asset class and for those who get in early.

The Window Is Closing Faster Than You Think

Now, I know the question on everyone's mind: "Teeka, if the fundamentals are so bullish, why are crypto prices so volatile right now?"

I get it. It feels disconnected. But you have to remember: That's the nature of this asset class.

As I wrote last week, when people don't understand how a new technology will be adopted, they simply can't price it correctly.

And once you realize the market almost always misprices revolutionary technology, you start to see the volatility for what it really is: An opportunity, not a problem.

Here's the critical difference between the rise of ETFs and the mass financialization of crypto: The ETF revolution took nearly 30 years to mature.

Crypto is moving much, much faster. Just look at the numbers…

BlackRock launched its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF in January 2024. In less than two years, it's already the firm's most profitable fund, amassing nearly $100 billion in assets when bitcoin hit its peak in October 2025.

Currently, crypto ETFs hold a combined $150 billion in assets under management (AUM). Meanwhile, SPY alone manages over $825 billion in assets.

Here's the thing, though… It took SPY over three decades to reach that number. At their current pace, crypto ETFs could close that gap by the end of this decade.

I know the future might look murky to you right now. But I want you to imagine the day when crypto financial products hit 30% of all daily trading volume – just like ETFs eventually did.

How much do you think these assets will be worth then?

Remember: Wall Street moves slowly relative to the crypto world. The full impact of this mass adoption will be gradual and then suddenly priced in over the coming years.

You want to put your money to work before that institutional money starts to stampede in. That's how you turn small money into big money.

Friends, when I launched my ETF Master Trader service back in the early 2000s – long before ETFs were the dominant force they are today – I did it because I saw the writing on the wall.

I knew ETFs would be a game-changer that would democratize investing for everyone.

And when I first realized the transformative nature of bitcoin and digital assets, I felt that same undeniable pull. I knew they'd be the next great financial innovation.

Just as I told you back then that ETFs would rewrite the rules of Wall Street… I'm telling you now: The tokenized future is inevitable.

Only this time, the shift is happening at warp speed.

Let the Game Come to You!

Big T

P.S. Friends, the mass financialization of crypto marks the beginning of the single largest capital migration into an asset class we've ever seen.

And it's all part of a phenomenon I call "The Convergence."

The Convergence is the combination of three major forces, I believe, will flip momentum in the crypto market back in our favor.

They are: The launch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on specific crypto sectors… A friendlier regulatory landscape… And mass financialization of crypto products leading to global institutional adoption.

When the market flips, the melt-up will be fast. Volatile. And packed with opportunities.

And while bitcoin will benefit from The Convergence, I don't see it becoming the biggest winner. Instead, I believe the highest gains will come from a tiny subsector of crypto tokens that have automatic payouts.

I call these "crypto payouts."

I won't get into all the details here, but I recently put together a presentation on what these tokens are, why they'll be the next ones to profit from mass adoption of this asset class, and details about our six highest-conviction plays for The Convergence.

You can stream it right here.