Where Does the Money for the Next Crypto Bull Market Come From? Wintermute Bets on RWA as the Fifth Liquidity Channel

As ETFs and DATs gradually become normalized, Wintermute believes RWAs are poised to become the next channel for incremental capital, bringing traditional asset funds on-chain and channeling them further into the crypto market.

Author: Jasper De Maere

Compiled by: TechFlow

TechFlow Summary: Standing on the doorstep of a potentially new bull market, Wintermute believes what's truly missing isn't capital, but new channels to absorb money into crypto assets. Stablecoins, ETFs, and DATs have each carried past cycles, and are now routine conduits; on-chain tokenization (RWA) attracted roughly $16 billion over the past 12 months. Though still small in scale, if regulatory and collateral frameworks align, it could channel funds traditionally used to "buy Apple stocks or Treasury bonds" into the same wallets for stablecoin settlement, making it easier for capital to flow into BTC and altcoins.

As we face a potentially incoming new bull market, the question is: this time, which channel will bring in pent-up liquidity? We believe RWA is the top candidate.

Bull markets are shaped by liquidity, and liquidity requires an entry point. The crypto market never automatically joins global liquidity cycles just because "money exists"; it only truly participates when a sufficiently compelling new channel emerges to pull capital into this asset class.