With the increase in institutional participation, the asset management demand in the digital asset market is shifting from a singular directional trading approach to more refined directions such as risk management, cash flow planning, and improving holding returns. In this context, derivatives and structured products are increasingly highlighted as mature risk-return management tools.
PANews has organized a conversation with Chaltan Wang, the head of structured product business for derivatives at HashKey Capital. She has outlined the functional positioning of structured products, the current demands of the digital asset market, and the current development stage of the industry by combining the mature experience from traditional finance.
PANews: What role have structured products played in traditional financial markets over the years?
Chaltan Wang: In traditional financial markets, derivatives and structured products are already quite mature asset management tools. Their value lies not only in trading market directions, but more importantly, in helping investors convert different investment goals into executable risk-return schemes.
For example, institutional investors might wish to build or reduce positions at specific prices, enhance the holding returns of existing assets, reduce certain market risks, or design investment timelines based on their own cash flow schedules. Through basic derivative tools such as options and futures, as well as further combinations to form structured products, these demands can be managed more precisely.
Therefore, from the perspective of traditional financial development experience, the maturity of the derivatives market usually represents an important step for the asset management industry to transition from simple directional investing to refined management.
PANews: Why is there now an increasing need for such derivatives and structured solutions in the digital asset market?
Chaltan Wang: In the early days, the digital asset market was more focused on “what to buy” and “how much it will rise,” but as institutional participation increased, clients began to pay more attention to “how to hold” and “how to manage.”
For instance, institutions holding BTC might wish to improve the efficiency of their assets during the holding period; clients with stablecoins might want to gradually build BTC positions at favorable prices; mining companies, Web3 enterprises, and other institutions with substantial digital asset holdings might face more complex demands such as inventory management, cash flow arrangements, and risk management.
This indicates that digital asset management is gradually moving from pure directional investment to yield management, risk management, position management, and liquidity management. Derivatives and structured products can provide more refined tools for these needs.
PANews: What stage has the digital asset derivatives market reached now? What gaps remain compared to traditional finance? Why choose to expand into business related to digital asset derivatives and structured products now?
Chaltan Wang: The standardized derivatives market for digital assets has made significant progress, with liquidity, market depth, and institutional participation in futures, perpetual contracts, and standard options continuously increasing.
However, compared to traditional finance, the digital asset market is still in a relatively early stage when it comes to customized solutions. The real challenges many institutional clients face cannot simply be solved by buying an option or establishing a futures position; they need designs that consider the client's asset-liability structure, capital usage, investment horizon, and risk tolerance.
Therefore, we believe that one of the important directions for development in the next stage is to move from “providing trading tools” to “providing asset management solutions.”
As the digital asset market gradually matures, the demands of professional investors are no longer limited to simple spot buying and holding. More and more institutions are starting to focus on how to enhance yields, manage risks, build positions in stages, achieve periodic profit-taking, and manage liquidity. Derivatives and structured products can translate these demands into clearer risk-return arrangements; therefore, we believe this area will become an important component of further institutionalization in digital asset management.
PANews: Exchanges can already trade futures and options themselves; why do institutional clients still need to obtain related services through professional asset management institutions?
Chaltan Wang: Exchanges do a very good job of addressing the “trading tools” issue, such as providing standardized futures, options, and liquidity. However, institutional clients often need to solve not “where to trade,” but “how to design and manage.”
A complete institutional solution typically involves multiple aspects, including client needs analysis, product structure design, pricing, trade execution, hedging, collateral and liquidity management, counterparty management, valuation, settlement, and ongoing risk monitoring.
For many institutional clients, managing options positions themselves also means needing to handle margin management, market monitoring, exercising, expiration, and internal risk control processes. The value of a professional institution lies in transforming underlying derivative tools into overall solutions that align with the client's actual asset management goals.
Thus, exchanges are more like providers of “infrastructure and standardized tools,” while professional asset management institutions mainly provide “solutions” based on this foundation.
PANews: What demands can digital asset structured products primarily meet for professional investors? What are the common product forms available currently?
Chaltan Wang: The demands of different professional investors vary significantly; for instance, clients holding BTC might wish to enhance holding returns or take profits at different stages; clients with stablecoins might want to improve capital efficiency and gradually build BTC positions at appropriate prices; and some institutions might hope to manage positions in a structured manner to reduce the pressure of timing the market all at once.
In response to these needs, the market has developed different structured solutions built from derivative tools like Dual Currency, FCN, Accumulator, Decumulator, Snowball, and Collar Financing. For example, Dual Currency focuses on target price management and yield enhancement, while FCN can further customize risk-return structures through mechanisms like knockouts, and Accumulator and Decumulator focus more on structured batch building or reducing positions.
The core of structured products is to combine terms, prices, knockouts, and settlement conditions based on the client’s asset situation, market assessment, and allocation goals, transforming standardized derivative tools into asset management plans that are more closely aligned with actual needs.
PANews: What direction do you think digital asset structured products will develop towards in the future?
Chaltan Wang: As digital assets gradually enter a more mature phase of institutional allocation, we believe the market will further shift from singular directional investing to more refined and customized asset management.
In the future, professional investors will pay more attention to how to build or reduce positions at suitable prices, enhance the returns on idle assets, and manage volatility, liquidity, and cash flow needs. Correspondingly, structured products will transition from standardized products to more customized and combinatorial solutions, better matching client-specific goals in terms of returns, risks, durations, and liquidity through combinations of spot, options, forwards, and other tools.
This is quite similar to the development path of traditional financial markets. What will truly matter in the future is not how many products are provided, but whether the asset management needs of clients can be understood and translated into controllable, transparent, and executable solutions.
PANews: In this trend, what role does HashKey Capital hope to play?
Chaltan Wang: We hope to further enhance our digital asset management capabilities targeted at professional investors and institutional clients.
HashKey Capital has long been dedicated to the digital asset field, and we aim to combine trading, derivatives, structured design, and risk management further based on our investment research and asset management capabilities, providing richer asset management tools and solutions for different types of professional investors.
Our focus is not merely on increasing the number of products but on continuously enhancing digital asset yield management, risk management, and asset allocation capabilities around the true needs of clients, pushing digital asset management to become more specialized and institutionalized.
**Note:** The above content is a general discussion regarding the development of digital asset derivatives, structured products, and the asset management industry, and does not constitute any specific product or service offer, solicitation, recommendation, investment advice, or yield promise. The provision of any related products or services is subject to applicable laws and regulations, regulatory requirements, client suitability assessments, internal approvals, and formal trading documents.
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