CNBC’s Brian Kelly had some good news for cryptocurrency investors who have been eagerly awaiting the entrance of “institutional” money to the cryptocurrency sector. Appearing on the “Power Lunch” segment, Kelly said Bitcoin and altcoins should be in for a boost as major financial institutions are gearing up to enter the space.
“I can tell you from the conversations that we’ve had, for our crypto hedge fund, that the institutional herd is starting to enter this market.”
Kelly says that the recent announcement by Fidelity to launch the Fidelity Digital Asset Services or FDAS is a huge step forward and a hurdle jumping kickstarter for other major financial institutions to follow suit.
“Custody has been a very big hurdle. And having somebody like Fidelity put their stamp on it and say yes, this is a new asset class and we’re going to custody this – and I believe they even said they may have some insurance. So that is a step closer.”
When asked when this building wave will finally hit, Kelly said he thinks the institutional bull run is imminent.
“Soon. I think very soon. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot of those companies have something working in the background by Q1 of 2019. I mean if you’re looking at this, there are a couple things you need to think of. Fidelity is in this space. Also, remember that startups like Robinhood launched a crypto app and got a million users in four days. So if you are at Schwab or you’re at E*Trade, then you may start to look at that and say, “Where are the customers?” And they’re in crypto, so you gotta offer that product.”
Kelly and others have said that the FOMO buying that is practiced by onlooking individuals can also be applied to these finance industry giants. He also mentioned the move Yale has made that will bring hundreds of millions into the market, but also Ivy League credibility. Kelly is expecting the entire financial industry to jump in one after another now that Fidelity has taken the plunge.
