Beyond Bitcoin ETF

In just 21 months, the new Bitcoin ETFs have attracted a staggering $157 billion, running on new "rails" operated by firms like Citadel Securities.

But while the market is mesmerized by the value of this modern-day "cargo," they're missing the real story—a lesson straight from the 19th century.

Just as the railroad barons knew then, the true empire isn't built on the cargo; it's built on the railroad. My latest report reveals how this historical parallel is playing out today and what it means for the future of your practice. The story begins there.

In the latter half of the 19th century, as America pushed westward, a new kind of empire was forged. It wasn't built on gold discoveries, though it profited from them. It wasn't built on the sweat of prospectors or the dreams of homesteaders, though both depended on it. It was an empire of steel and strategy, built by men like Cornelius Vanderbilt and James J. Hill, who understood a fundamental truth that escaped most of their contemporaries: while fortunes are made on the cargo, empires are built on the railroad.

The prospectors celebrated when they struck gold. The merchants celebrated when they sold provisions. But the railroad barons—they celebrated every single transaction that moved across their tracks. They didn't need to find gold; they simply needed to own the only efficient way to transport it. Today,, we are witnessing a digital replay of this historical drama, and the parallels are striking enough that any serious financial professional should pay attention.

The story of the year, as told by the market's daily commentary, is about the cargo. Every morning, another train arrives, and the world marvels at the value of its contents. The total value of the "cargo" now sitting in the new fleet of spot Bitcoin ETFs has reached a staggering $157.18 billion as of October 13, 2025 [1]. The headlines celebrate this milestone, and they celebrate the owner of the biggest train, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which alone carries over $100 billion in assets [2]. This represents one of the fastest wealth accumulations in financial product history—a fund that didn't exist twenty-one months ago now commands more assets than products that have been in the market for decades.

But this focus on asset accumulation is a strategic misdirection. To truly understand what is happening—and more importantly, to position your clients and your practice for what comes next—we must look past the glittering contents of the boxcars and instead examine the tracks being laid beneath them. This is the story of that new railroad, told in three acts that mirror the great infrastructure transformations of American history.

Act I: Unifying the Territory

Before a great railroad can be built, the territory must be unified. In the 1860s, this meant consolidating dozens of small, incompatible rail lines into standardized systems that could move freight across state lines without the costly and time-consuming process of unloading and reloading cargo at every border. The first act of the Bitcoin ETF saga was a similarly brilliant campaign to unify a fragmented market that had developed organically but inefficiently over the previous decade.

You've Reached the End of the Preview.