Recently, I became interested in Kevin de Patoul, CEO of Keyrock, regarding the current position of Bitcoin in the market. He has a quite interesting view: Bitcoin should be trading much higher given regulatory developments, institutional adoption, and macro uncertainties that should actually be driving demand. But the reality? BTC still moves like a typical risk asset, not as a hedge often claimed.

See for yourself—Bitcoin has fallen about 18% since the beginning of the year after reaching an all-time high of around $125,000 in early October. It is now trading at $73.64K. Meanwhile, from January until now, all fundamental indicators should be bullish: regulations are developing, institutions are entering, adoption is increasing. But prices remain sluggish.

De Patoul explains this phenomenon quite simply: the market still considers crypto as a risk-on asset. Last in, first out during stress. Institutional capital flowing in over the past 18 months has proven to be more tactical than ideological. When pressure comes, they reduce exposure—not because fundamentals have changed, but because their portfolio allocations are disrupted.

What’s interesting is that he doesn’t say the market is entirely wrong. He sees this more as a misunderstanding about the type of asset it should hold. And here emerges a deeper insight: crypto is now going through a structural transition phase, not a breakthrough cycle like before.

Two markets are developing in parallel, and they have very different dynamics. The first is the crypto-native ecosystem: DeFi, altcoins, liquidity cycles, and hype that are already familiar. Here, sentiment has indeed cooled. The wave of gains that once lifted all tokens has receded. The broad speculative rally has become more difficult, replaced by more specific and reasonable opportunities.

The second is the digitization of traditional finance. Tokenized money market funds, stablecoins, on-chain funds, new market infrastructure. And on this side? De Patoul remains just as enthusiastic as before. When he talks to institutions, nothing has changed. The level of enthusiasm, the momentum of development, all remain strong. The goal is to make crypto assets more accessible and overhaul parts of the financial market.

These institutional efforts are far less sensitive to Bitcoin price fluctuations. Stablecoins, tokenized funds, settlement layers—all aim to improve infrastructure, not to speculate on the next crypto rally. Look at Circle’s IPO, or Apollo’s collaboration with Morpho. These are multi-year commitments that are unaffected by short-term volatility.

But there’s an interesting gap here. The last 18 months mark a leap from concept to product. Funds have been tokenized. Stablecoins are growing rapidly. Infrastructure has been implemented. Yet liquidity remains thin in many tokenized money market funds and real-world assets. Those tokens exist, but often serve more as wrappers than transformative instruments.

The question then becomes: where can these tokens be used? Who accepts them? Can they be used as collateral? Can they bring liquidity at scale? Tokenizing funds, paradoxically, can disconnect them from traditional capital pools without immediately unlocking the benefits of digital-native assets. The bridge between traditional institutions and on-chain markets is still under construction.

This is why de Patoul sees 2027 and 2028 as the true inflection points. Traditional capital markets are far larger than crypto. Even a small percentage migrating on-chain could surpass previous peaks. Throughout 2027, a scenario could unfold where RWAs grow to the size of the entire crypto market in the past. This will develop over the next two to three years.

In other words, digital finance could surpass crypto, even if not through a price explosion. If its utility is already fully present today, the market is likely developing rapidly. But that has not yet happened. This is a transition phase.

Keyrock itself was founded eight years ago with the thesis that all assets will eventually become digital and on-chain. The company positions itself as a bridge between traditional and digital finance. Working with banks, asset managers, issuers, and exchanges. They provide liquidity everywhere, giving them a leading position in this evolution.

Last September, Keyrock launched an asset management division, adding a second pillar to the business. Their main focus is on how to shift from merely tokenizing products to making those assets truly useful at scale. That’s what differentiates this phase from the previous hype cycle.

Regulatory clarity remains a key obstacle. De Patoul calls the proposed Clarity Bill a ‘yellow flag’—not because he doubts it will be passed, but because timing is critical. If delayed by two years, the impact would be significant. When regulation is clear, that’s when institutions make large investments.

So for now, crypto price movements may seem less exciting for traders. But from an infrastructure perspective, the quiet development underway is far more important than short-term rallies. The foundation is being built. The real scale has yet to arrive. That’s why 2027 and 2028 are seen by de Patoul as the true inflection points for the digital market. It’s not about today’s prices but about tomorrow’s utility.