Welcome to Crypto Long & Short, our institutional newsletter. This week, we examine the crucial role of investor relations in driving token performance, and how institutions are changing the way they interact with crypto markets. Expert Insights: Guide, Deliver, Repeat - The Hidden Driver of Token Performance By Jordan Brewer, Investment Analyst at Runa Digital Assets A recent example of poor investor relations is the liquidation of a protocol's treasury by tokenholders, just months after a successful ICO. This highlights the need for institutional-grade investor relations in token markets.
Regular investor calls, where management provides forward guidance, are essential for building trust with investors. Research has shown that companies that consistently meet or beat their guidance enjoy a stock price premium, and this dynamic is starting to emerge in crypto.
For instance, Maple Finance set guidance of $4 billion in AUM and $25 million in ARR for 2025 and later raised it to $5 billion in AUM and $30 million in ARR. The company delivered on its promises, hitting $5 billion in AUM and $28 million in annualized revenue.
This 'guide-and-deliver' cadence was recognized and rewarded by public market investors, with the SYRUP token price rising from $0.10 to $0.60. However, guidance without delivery is just marketing. Investor relations in crypto require more than just a dashboard; they demand guidance and accountability. EtherFi is another example of a company providing specific guidance to investors, projecting a 55% reduction in customer acquisition costs while increasing its advertising budget.
Principled Perspectives: Institutions are Separating Custody from Execution in Crypto By Martin Burgherr, Chief Clients Officer at Sygnum Bank There is a significant shift underway in how institutional capital moves through crypto markets. Major trading firms are separating where they hold assets from where they execute trades, which signals a broader evolution in digital asset market structure.
This change is driven by the need to reduce capital inefficiency and counterparty risk. Historically, institutions have kept capital on exchanges to access liquidity, but this approach has significant costs.
Every dollar posted as margin on an exchange sits idle and earns nothing. The separation of custody and execution allows firms to use collateral held in regulated bank custody while maintaining access to exchange liquidity. This is not a theoretical concept; firms like Wintermute and Nomura's Laser Digital are already operating this way.
The infrastructure is being built by institutions that intend to use it, such as BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized money market fund. When collateral moves into regulated custody, it can take a different form, such as U.S. Treasuries or tokenized money market fund shares, which can serve as trading collateral while earning yield.
This fundamentally changes the economics of running an institutional crypto trading operation. Crypto is beginning to follow a familiar pattern, where traditional finance solved this problem long ago. Equities trade on exchanges, and assets settle through custodians. The separation of these functions is what makes institutional participation possible at scale.
According to EY-Parthenon's 2026 institutional investor survey, 73% of institutional investors plan to increase their digital asset allocations this year, with respondents getting more selective about counterparty risk. Headlines of the Week By Francisco Rodrigues This week's headlines highlight the growth of bridges between traditional finance and the crypto sector, as well as the impact of smart contract exploits on the market. Chart of the Week: Collector Crypt - Revenue Recovery Meets Token Re-Rating Collector Crypt's weekly revenue has recovered to ~$1 million/week since March, with the CEO's revenue-funded buyback program providing a mechanical bid under CARDS throughout the recovery. The recent price spike was turbo-charged by a community update claiming $146.9 million Q1 revenue and $8.6 million profit.
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