In the wake of the approval of Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, one industry leader has voiced concerns about the centralized nature of these products. Mona El Isa, the founder of Avantgarde Finance, believes that the introduction of ETFs is undermining the decentralized and disintermediated design of cryptocurrencies like Ether. While ETFs may be familiar to traditional finance, El Isa argues that they miss out on the core benefits of decentralized finance. She predicts that investors will eventually prefer self-custody over holding ETFs, as it allows for greater ownership and control of assets. Other industry executives share her concerns and believe that maintaining decentralization in the crypto industry will be an ongoing challenge. Despite this skepticism, ETF issuers maintain that self-custody and spot crypto ETFs can coexist.
DeFi executive claims Ether ETFs will demolish the fundamental principles of cryptocurrency.