For those who believe an ETF is the solution to the cryptocurrency market may be disappointed as a major member of the industry Dan Morehead believes no ETF will be coming anytime soon.
Morehead mentioned this while speaking during a panel discussion on investing at Bloomberg’s Institutional Crypto conference in New York City yesterday 15 October 2018. Although most people would point to regulatory challenges as the major problem of the cryptocurrency industry, he believes the main problem is “institutional inertia.”
“I’d say the biggest gaping factor is simply institutional inertia, right? Like most of the people in this room don’t have to do anything with Bitcoin today… The blockchain space is super viral. Like, once you own a tiny bit of it, then you start buying a lot of it, and you get all your friends to buy it, and you get your colleagues and peers in your industry to buy it…”
Speaking on the the approval of an ETF, the CEO said approving an ETF is not as easy as most people think and Bitcoin has not been around long enough to get approval for an ETF.
In his words Morehead said:
“Very few people know that the last asset class that was certified for an ETF was copper. It took three years, even though copper has been around for 8,000 years…So, I think an ETF is years away.”
He also spoke about Fidelity and Bakkt saying they will be important in driving patronage to the cryptocurrency industry. In line with Bakkt’s vision, Morehead said these two will provide a “very good institutional custody/clearing solution” that will encourage those who have been on the fence to venture into the industry.
On skepticism concerning investment in cryptocurrency, the CEO said every major success involves a risk and cryptocurrency is not left out. However the risk of investing in cryptocurrency at this time has been mimised with high technical personnel involved and one initial step will encourage many investors to join the industry.
He expressed confidence that the industry will experience a great influx of investors because “blockchain is viral” and Bakkt will encourage the patronage by providing conducive environment for institutions.
Morehead had mentioned in August following SEC’s rejection of ETF applications that it is too early for Bitcoin to request for an ETF adding that investors “overreacted.” his company Pantera Capital is a major blockchain investment firm and institutional cryptocurrency owner.
