How Capital Really Moves Into Crypto In 2026

What Happened

Serious investors are prioritizing tokenized real-world assets, stablecoins, institutional trading systems, and AI-linked compute networks.

Platforms like Arcanum aim to support capital entry through investor control, real-time reporting, documented strategies, and exchange-based fund access.

What Serious Investors Want in 2026

Ciara Sun: A few years ago, many investors entered crypto mainly for exposure and upside. Today, they are looking for real demand and a better understanding of how liquidity works.

BeInCrypto: What kind of crypto opportunities are serious investors looking for in 2026?

Ciara Sun: Serious investors in 2026 are looking at sectors where crypto solves real problems rather than creating new narratives. From my experience in exchanges and venture investing, the strongest interest is around tokenization, stablecoins, institutional trading systems, and the intersection of AI, compute, and energy.

I am based in Hong Kong, so I am familiar with the Asian market. Family offices here are quite conservative when it comes to digital assets. One of the largest Asian multi-family offices says less than 5% of the capital its clients invest is allocated to crypto, and most of that goes into BTC, ETH, and ETFs.

Funds are a different story. The most active are hedge funds focused on crypto asset management. Investors usually select those that are licensed and well known in the market.

Institutions are definitely interested in digital asset investments, but they remain cautious. Tokenized RWAs will lead over the next couple of years because they are regulated, have substance, and are protected by law.

What Gives Investors Confidence

BeInCrypto: What gives investors enough confidence to deploy capital into crypto today?

Ciara Sun: Investors need proof that the team can execute with discipline. Confidence usually comes from real traction, clean token and cap table design, and a path to liquidity or revenue.

The right question for investors is whether the team can survive, manage risk, and continue growing when the cycle turns.

Market Context

In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto during Hong Kong Web3 Festival, Michael Ivanov, CEO of Arcanum, Ciara Sun, founder and managing partner of C² Ventures, and Ivan Ivanov, founder of UVECON.VC and RWA SUMMIT, discussed how capital enters crypto in 2026.

BeInCrypto: What does the capital journey into crypto look like from your side of the market?

BeInCrypto: Ivan, what types of capital are showing the most interest now?

What Happens When Capital Enters a Platform Like Arcanum

For clients who want to delegate full control of funds to Arcanum, we accept two main structures. The first is a license agreement with proper profit-sharing terms. The second is a joint company for operating the required amount of capital. With this type of client, flexibility is essential.

Why It Matters

Allocators still face major friction around custody, banking access, compliance, legal structure, due diligence, and internal reputation risk.

Details

The conversation covered family offices, allocator demand, operational friction, tokenized real-world assets, and the trust gap still slowing institutional participation.Let’s open up the topics.

Michael Ivanov: It is a thorny road full of rocks and holes.

Ivan Ivanov: It depends on which kind of crypto you mean. We should separate BTC, ETH, altcoins, and tokenized real-world assets. It also depends on the region.

BeInCrypto: When a family office allocates into a platform like Arcanum, what actually happens operationally?

Michael Ivanov: Every user, retail or institutional, can run our product with ease. With Pulse, the user adds API keys to our Telegram Mini App, and the process is done. We do not ask offices to sign unnecessary documents to use our products.