- Wells Fargo says it is not too late to invest in crypto given the rising interest in the space.
- The multinational financial services company likens crypto adoption to the internet in 1995.
- Crypto companies continue to push to make crypto mainstream.
Wells Fargo, via their Global Investment Strategy Team, said that cryptocurrencies are in a phase of rapid adoption. In the February report, the company attempted to answer the question of whether it is too late to invest.
Cryptocurrencies Are Viable Investments Today
Wells Fargo has expressed the belief that the nascent crypto market has potential as an investment channel. In a report dubbed “Understanding Cryptocurrency,” the investment firm said, “We believe that cryptocurrencies are viable investments today, even though they remain in the early stages of their investment evolution.”
The company said that the arguments that it is too late to invest in the nascent market were understood, considering the mouth-watering returns some crypto assets yielded in 2021, as several tokens had 1000% returns and more. However, the company has revealed that it does not think it is too late to invest in the asset class. If anything, they believe it is still early. As such, they believe that the focus should be on educating investors about the crypto market.
“We see cryptocurrencies in the ‘early, but not too early’ investment stage, which is why we have emphasized investor education. The thrust of our view comes from global cryptocurrency adoption rates, which have quickly accelerated from a low base,” read the report.
Wells Fargo compared the rate of adoption of crypto assets to the internet in 1995. Like the internet in 1995, they believe that cryptocurrencies are in a “hyper-adoption phase.” It would be noted that after that, the rate of adoption of the internet did not slow down, and Wells Fargo expects the same for crypto.
The Wells Fargo report notes that like the dot com bubble, where there was a proliferation of internet companies speculated on by excited investors, and many of these companies failed, there are over 17,000 cryptocurrencies and some are bound to fail. The company has urged investors to be patient and avoid investing directly through exchanges, but recommended: “professionally managed private placements for now.”
Crypto Adoption And Efforts To Become Mainstream
Over the last couple of years, cryptocurrency adoption has been on the rise. Last year saw Bitcoin become an accepted legal tender in El Salvador with other countries rumored to be at the cusp of the same adoption.
With inflation at record highs, asset managers are looking to diversify their portfolios and top investment banks are already setting up cryptocurrency arms. Goldman Sachs noted in a report that Bitcoin was poised to compete with gold as a store of value as part of the firm’s 2022 prediction. According to the firm, the metaverse, another arm of cryptocurrencies is an $8 trillion opportunity and provides insights for investors to seize the moment.
Exchanges like Crypto.com have made commitments to play their role in making the asset class mainstream. In the past year, Crypto.com, FTX, and other exchanges have pursued and closed multimillion-dollar sponsorship and naming rights deals to get crypto to new audiences.