It will not be long before it is considered irresponsible to “ignore” bitcoin, says the founder and CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management.
“We really believe that after five years we will look back and find it very wrong to have zero exposure to digital assets,” Mark Yusko told MarketWatch.
Some institutional investors occasionally deal with cryptocurrency, while many others “evaluate” it, which means they do nothing, he added.
Speaking on MarketWatch as “investing in crypto”, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce said the United States was lagging behind in setting up a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Pierce said it did not know if the SEC would approve trading in Bitcoin-invested stock exchanges, in part because it is in transition as Gary Gensler is expected to be approved as its new head.
“Our view is that there will be ETFs,” Yusko said. “We have invested in one of the asset management groups that have applied for listing on the Stock Exchange“, he added.
Morgan Creek, an alternative asset management company based in North Carolina, has invested in Bitwise Asset Management, which announced in January 2019 that it had applied to the SEC for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.
With the purchase of bitcoin having reached more than $1 trillion, just over 50% of the total cryptocurrency market, “You can no longer ignore it. I really think we are at a turning point,” Yusko said.
Although many investors continue to view bitcoin with scepticism about their placement in it, the founder of Creek Capital said he sees growing interest among institutional investors. The performance of cryptocurrencies is so strong that even a small percentage in their portfolios can make a big difference, he added.
However, large asset managers are in no hurry to invest in bitcoin. Invesco, chief market analyst for international markets, and SPDR, chief investment officer, told MarketWatch that they consider bitcoin a speculative asset. “I’m on the side of those who believe it is a very profitable investment,” she said, adding that bitcoin volatility makes it an investment with much greater risk than stocks.
