---
title: Traditional financial institutions, long wary of crypto, are helping it go mainstream
description: ProShares and Mastercard, 2 institutions tied to the traditional financial infrastructure, are helping crypto go mainstream.
---

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# [Traditional financial institutions, long wary of crypto, are helping it go mainstream](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/10272021-crypto-traditional-financial-institutions)

 Written by [Rob Litterst](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/rob-litterst) | Oct 27, 2021 9:25:46 AM

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a few interesting updates in the cryptocurrency space:

- **ProShares**, a financial services firm that offers a variety of exchange-traded products (and has **$54B+** under management), [launched](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/24/what-first-bitcoin-futures-etf-means-for-cryptocurrency-industry.html) the 1st exchange-traded fund* (ETF) based on bitcoin futures.
- **Mastercard** [announced](https://www.wsj.com/articles/mastercard-partners-with-bakkt-to-bring-cryptocurrency-services-to-the-masses-11635181655?mod=markets_lead_pos2) a partnership with digital wallet app **Bakkt** that will let banks issue debit and credit cards that earn crypto rewards, per *The Wall Street Journal*.

#### **Both efforts aim to make crypto more accessible**

The ProShares ETF allows investors to get exposure to bitcoin without having to use crypto exchanges. Investors are already flocking to the concept:

- The ETF brought in **$550m** on its 1st day, one of the largest 1st day totals on record for an ETF
- A similar fund, Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF, launched 3 days later

#### **The Mastercard partnership with Bakkt…**

…could accelerate crypto adoption in a couple of ways:

- Cards powered by Bakkt will allow customers to pay merchants with cryptocurrency by converting the crypto into a currency the merchant accepts and executing the transaction over Mastercard’s network.
- The partnership will also allow banks to issue cards that offer crypto rewards rather than traditional points programs.

BlockFi, a popular cryptocurrency exchange and wallet, launched a credit card with bitcoin rewards earlier this year — but Mastercard, with **2.8B** cards in [circulation](https://www.vox.com/recode/22745621/credit-card-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-mastercard-bakkt), could bring crypto rewards to a much wider audience.

#### **Not everyone is jumping on the hype train**

Earlier this month, Michael Burry — a hedge fund manager and subject of “The Big Short” who predicted the housing market collapse — [wrote](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/why-the-big-short-guys-think-bitcoin-is-a-bubble.html) a now-deleted tweet asking how to short cryptocurrency.

Additionally, Nassim Taleb, author of *The Black Swan*, recently argued that bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme.

The crypto bulls claim these critics are blinded by their identification as “bears” and have underperformed the market for the past 13 years… ouch.

**GLOSSARY**

*** Exchange-traded fund (ETF):** A type of investment fund that trades on a stock exchange and gives investors exposure to a particular asset (e.g., indexes, sectors, commodities). For example, one of the most popular ETFs of all time is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which mirrors the S&P 500, and gives investors exposure to the entire index.

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