This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe . A new survey weighing industry leader sentiment shows an optimistic outlook for crypto — with a dose of skepticism too. It includes opinions from some 230 executives gathering at the CfC St. Moritz 2025 conference. Among them are the CEOs of Binance and Ripple, chair of the CFTC, and executives at TradFi giants like BlackRock, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton. The biggest opportunities are going to be in the US, 61% of survey respondents agree — followed by the APAC region, then Middle East and Asia. That comes despite America being back of the pack on the favorable jurisdictions list (as legislation sits today), behind the UAE, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the EU and the UK. Developers moving or staying in the US will be a crucial piece to the country’s chance to leapfrog others, an anonymous respondent noted. The person pointed to a year-old report showing 19.6% of developers in Western Europe and 19.2% in North America (the two top spots). The popularity of crypto ETFs in the US also contributes to the bullishness for growth there. To that point, 57% expect such wrappers around the top 20 coins in the not-so-distant future. A refresher on proposed funds in front of the SEC can be found here . Other interesting tidbits: 76% say the global macroeconomic backdrop is either “highly favorable” or “conducive” for the crypto industry’s growth. The most interesting opportunities are in fintech, payments and trading tech ( tokenization /stablecoins is the runner-up). About a third of respondents expect TradFi institutions to take over the crypto space, while roughly another third believe there will be a 50/50 retail-TradFi split. Back to regulations, there’s a big “but” coming — as optimism doesn’t cover all feelings. Roughly 70% believe supervisory scrutiny remains just as intense, or that those risks could even increase. On the task ahead of the new US administration, ex-CFTC Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo is quoted as saying: “It’s one thing to end bad policy, but it’s an entirely different thing to create good policy.” Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter . Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter . Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more. The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
