Recently, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Charlie Munger spoke negatively of cryptocurrencies, but Gary Cohen spoke somewhat positively and there are other signs that institutional money is becoming more keen on cryptocurrencies.
Buffet called Bitcoin a “non-productive asset” and that the “asset itself is creating nothing” when compared to “productive” assets like gold or farms. Buffet also compared cryptocurrencies to the Dutch Tulip Mania. Gates said that Bitcoin’s price relies on the “greater fool theory” of finding another “fool” to sell to at a higher price. Munger hit below the belt by calling Bitcoin “stupid and immoral” and the equivalent of “rat poison”.
However, another financial titan and former Goldman Sachs President, Gary Cohen, said that he’s “not a big believer in bitcoin”, but is “a believer in blockchain technology”. He added that he thinks there will eventually be a “global cryptocurrency”, but that it won’t be “based on mining costs or cost of electricity or things like that”. In addition, the famous Gemini exchange founder, Tyler Winklevoss, recently called out Bill Gates to “put [his] money where [his] mouth is” and referenced numerous trading outlets where one can short Bitcoin after Bill said he “would short [Bitcoin] if there was an easy way to do it”.
Institutional Money is beginning to venture into cryptocurrencies
Despite the big names in finance and tech speaking against crypto, there are signs that institutional investors are venturing into cryptocurrencies. Dash Force News spoke with Chris Rockwell, founder of RSI Advisors (an investment advisory firm in New Hampshire), about this new trend. Mr. Rockwell said that institutional money has been waiting for two things to happen:
“A way to hedge against crypto holdings and qualified custodians to take custody of their crypto holdings. Bitcoin futures contracts by both the CBOE and CME allow investors to hedge and qualified custodians like Kingdom Trust and Coinbase Custody should allow the doors to open for some institutional investors.”
Not all institutional money is the same and thus there are different players at different levels of entry into the cryptocurrency market. Rockwell mentioned that “[c]rypto only hedge funds are the early adopters and already in this space”, but as hedging and custodian market penetration increases, “standard hedge fund[s] will consider dipping their toe in the water”. He said that investment advisory firms and endowments are the next likely cryptocurrency investors, while pension funds and mutual funds “will probably be the last to enter because of unclear regulatory framework”, but Chris does “expect them to invest in crypto currency eventually”. Chris mentioned that banks and insurance companies are a “wild card”.
Chris also added that “[f]irms will get involved in the crypto space because of client demand, because crypto currency is uncorrelated to any other asset class (very unique in investing) and the potential to boost portfolio returns with little downside risk”. Despite the potential upside and the consumer demand, some establishment firms will nevertheless fall into the classic mistake of becoming lethargic in their innovation. Chris summarized this action very eloquently.
“The largest institutions/names in finance want to stay the largest and like the way things are now. They have little incentive to change how they invest. Radical changes scare them. The smaller and hungry firms/names trying to catch up have a lot of motivation to try new things if it gives them an edge. I also think many just don’t understand crypto currency and instead of saying they don’t know or understand they simply denounce and malign it to sound knowledgeable on the subject”
Dash makes institutional investing easier
As the price of Dash has increased drastically from the beginning of 2017 so has the overall price of masternodes. Consumers and investors wanted to invest in masternodes to receive the payout rewards, but did not have the capital to buy a full masternode. The Dash community has demonstrated its commitment to satisfying consumer desires. So naturally, Neptune Dash soon emerged to accommodate these desires. Neptune Dash went public in Canada this past January and raised over $23 million CAD to buy Dash and masternodes that will generate a respective return to those that own its publicly-traded shares. In April of this past year, Neptune Dash became available to EU and US investors as well.
Dash has demonstrated that it has a robust community to recognize and satisfy consumer desires in a multitude of ways. The mixing pot of ideas that is the Dash community encourages and fosters success for entrepreneurs that find quality methods to accommodate desires of consumers. This process benefits the overall Dash community by involving more users and investors, including institutional investors, by lowing the adoption curve and switching costs, which makes it easier for individuals and firms to use Dash. The Dash community brings Dash to individuals rather than waiting for individuals to discover Dash.
