After seeing the recent discussions about Bitcoin replacing gold, I think the real topic worth discussing is not the comparison between gold and BTC, but what exactly old money and institutions are buying right now.

This cycle is different from previous ones. It’s not a retail-driven bull run, not a speculative bull run—it’s an institutional bull market built by ETFs, public company treasuries, university endowments, and family offices.

What really drives up market cap is old money in the traditional sense.
And in the current context of narrative fatigue and tightening liquidity, where the money is flowing is more important than the price.

Old money cares about cash flow, custody, audits, and regulatory compliance, so the key question this cycle isn’t whether BTC will go up, but after old money flows into crypto, which assets will it stay in?

My judgment is simple: licensed exchanges perfectly fit the preferences of old money.

Clear regulation, auditable, with commercial cash flow, able to custody RWAs, able to onboard ETF flows.

And in the entire Asia-Pacific region, the one truly at the forefront of licensing is HashKey @HashKeyGroup

Asia’s first IPO crypto exchange = the entry point for pricing new capital

To understand why HashKey is the gateway, you first need to understand who’s pushing this round of capital.

Here are some recent data points:
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen cumulative inflows of $29.4B+

Harvard Endowment’s BTC ETF holdings grew 257% QoQ

A global family office survey found: 33% have allocated to crypto, with non-US allocations up 75%

In contrast, at the retail peak in previous cycles, daily net inflows were only $300M~$600M—this round is on a whole different scale.

Retail chases direction, old money sets structure. This round is a structural bull market.

More importantly: old money and retail have completely different capital preferences.

Retail buys right-side trends
Institutions buy long-term stock
Old money buys—cash flow + pricing power + compliant entry points

They’re obviously happy to see BTC rise, but what will really bring permanent returns is owning the exchange that controls the asset gateway.

In terms of business scope, HashKey has already surpassed the US compliance exchange giant Coinbase, with businesses covering:

Exchange
Custody
OTC
Institutional services
HashKey Chain public blockchain
Staking services
RWA issuance and management

With diversified business support and strong backing from JPMorgan and Guotai Junan, HashKey has quietly grown into the undisputed number one compliant exchange in Asia-Pacific.

To put it even more plainly:

BTC is the underlying asset, ETFs are the bridge, RWAs are the asset pool,
but HashKey is the faucet.

Token price fluctuation is volatility, compliant gateways are common sense, but pricing power is perpetual cash flow.

To quote Warren Buffett: “In an inflationary world, a toll bridge would be a great thing to own if it was unregulated.”

And across the Asia-Pacific region, the toll bridge that can continuously generate cash flow is HashKey.

@siya