institutional investment

Bitcoin’s banking crisis surge will ‘attract more institutions’: ARK’s Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood was impressed that Bitcoin “moved in a very different way” compared to the equity market in response to the recent banking crisis.

The value proposition of Bitcoin (BTC) is on full display amid the current banking crisis, which will only “attract more institutions” to the BTC market over time, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes.

Wood shared her thoughts on BTC’s recent price surge in a March 21 Bloomberg interview, stating its price behavior through the crisis “is going to attract more institutions.”

“The fact that Bitcoin moved in a very different way from the equity markets, in particular, was quite instructive,” she added.

Institutional interest in Bitcoin may have already arrived, according to Oliver Linch, the CEO of Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex.

Linch noted in a March 21 interview on The Wolf Of All Streets podcast that many big banks bought into crypto as an investment product well before the recent banking crisis:

“The big talking point of this bear market is institutional interest in crypto. Every big bank now has a substantive crypto desk, not just for trading, but for partnerships as well.”

However, he said that there’s still a divide between traditional financial institutions and crypto firms, which has caused headwinds in institutional adoption over the last few months.

“Historically, those big players have been the biggest drivers of innovation,” he said, adding that the two sides are currently “stuck in a bit of a rut” and that the “big change” won’t happen until they stop fighting for superiority.

“It’s not crypto versus Goldman Sachs or crypto versus institutions. It’s a race to who can do crypto better.”

As for the impact on Bitcoin’s price from the institutional interest, Wood explained in the interview that ARK Invest’s $1-1.5 million BTC price prediction by 2030 was made on the back of an institutional investor BTC allocation analysis, which estimates most firms would allocate between 2.5% to 6.5% to BTC in their investment portfolios.

“These are the sorts of allocations that they would have made to emerging, new categories of assets like real estate in the 70s and small caps in the 80s and 90s,” Wood added.

Related: Bitcoin holds $28K due to spot buying, but institutional investors are still selling

ARK Invest estimates the BTC price towards $1.5 million will be pushed by institutional investors allocating between 2.5-6.5% of their portfolio into BTC. Source: ARK Invest

Linch, on the other hand, believes that “aggressive” institutional adoption will come when opportunities become more easily identifiable:

“Show them a way that it can be done and it can make them money and I guarantee you they won’t stand in the way of that. They’ll be pedal to the metal to exploit that opportunity.”

Positive sentiment has surrounded Bitcoin following the collapses of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature banks. BTC has surged 43.6% since its most recent low on March 11, compared with a 25.3% increase in the broader crypto market over that time, according to CoinGecko data.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Bitcoin’s banking crisis surge will ‘attract more institutions’: ARK’s Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood was impressed that Bitcoin “moved in a very different way” compared to the equity market in response to the recent banking crisis.

The value proposition of Bitcoin (BTC) is on full display amid the current banking crisis, which will only “attract more institutions” to the BTC market over time, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes.

Wood shared her thoughts on BTC’s recent price surge in a March 21 Bloomberg interview, stating its price behavior through the crisis “is going to attract more institutions.”

“The fact that Bitcoin moved in a very different way from the equity markets, in particular, was quite instructive,” she added.

Institutional interest in Bitcoin may have already arrived according to Oliver Linch, the CEO of Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex.

Linch noted in a March 21 interview on The Wolf Of All Streets Podcast that many big banks bought into crypto as an investment product well before the recent banking crisis:

“The big talking point of this bear market is institutional interest in crypto. Every big bank now has a substantive crypto desk, not just for trading, but for partnerships as well.”

However, he noted there’s still a divide between traditional financial institutions and crypto firms which has caused headwinds in institutional adoption over the last few months.

“Historically, those big players have been the biggest drivers of innovation,” he said, before claiming the two sides are currently “stuck in a bit of a rut” and the “big change” won’t happen until they stop fighting for superiority.

“It’s not crypto versus Goldman Sachs or crypto versus institutions. It’s a race to who can do crypto better.”

As for the impact on Bitcoin’s price from the institutional interest, Wood explained in the interview that ARK Invest’s $1-1.5 million BTC price prediction by 2030 was made on the back of an institutional investor BTC allocation analysis, which estimates most firms to allocate between 2.5% to 6.5% to BTC in their investment portfolios.

“These are the sorts of allocations that they would have made to emerging, new categories of assets like real estate in the 70s and small caps in the 80s and 90s,” Wood added.

Related: Bitcoin holds $28K due to spot buying, but institutional investors are still selling

ARK Invest estimates the BTC price towards $1.5 million will be pushed by institutional investors allocating between 2.5-6.5% of their portfolio into BTC. Source: ARK Invest

Linch, on the other hand, believes that “aggressive” institutional adoption will come when opportunities become more easily identifiable:

“Show them a way that it can be done and it can make them money and I guarantee you they won’t stand in the way of that. They’ll be pedal to the metal to exploit that opportunity.”

Positive sentiment has surrounded Bitcoin following the collapses of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The BTC price has surged 43.6% since its most recent low on March 11, compared to a 25.3% increase in the broader crypto market over that time, according to CoinGecko data.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Institutional investors headed for a tipping point on crypto — Apollo Capital

Apollo Capital CIO Henrik Andersson said there will come a point when not investing in crypto will be a “career risk.”

Henrik Andersson, CIO of crypto asset fund manager Apollo Capital believes institutions may soon “flip” on their conservative stance towards crypto. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the Melbourne-based crypto fund manager said that while institutional interest in crypto has been slow in picking up, particularly in Australia, there are a lot of players that are waiting for the right moment to strike.

Andersson admitted that major institutional investors in Australia, particularly retirement funds (or superannuation funds) have yet to warm up to the digital asset space.

“It’s still early days. So yes, speaking to a lot of family offices in Australia and smaller boutique institutions. The big industry super funds are not there yet.”

“From their point of view its still a lot of education going on. So it will still take some time, I believe,” he added.

Apollo Capital is a fund manager focused on providing family office and institutional investors access to crypto investment opportunities. One of its latest launched funds is the Apollo Capital Frontier Fund, which is focused on nonfungible token (NFT) infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi) and multi-chain infrastructure.

Asked what needs to happen for institutional sentiment to change, Andersson believes this will “flip” when big players start making more substantial moves in the space.

“No one wants to be the first into something like this. Because if you’re the first one and things go wrong, then there’s a career risk. That will flip at some point to the opposite,” explained Andersson.

“At some point, when prices go up, then people don’t want to miss out. And if others are making investments, then it will become a career risk not to be invested.”

In Australia, several large banking institutions such as ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have already been making forays into the digital asset space.

“We’ve seen several of the major banks here in Australia, taking an interest in digital assets. So that’s really, really good to see,” he said.

CBA was notably the first major bank in the country to announce crypto services through its mobile banking app last year, but later put its plans on hold noting it was still waiting on regulatory clarity from the new government.

Others have pushed forward with stablecoin and tokenized asset trading.

Related: Fidelity will ‘shift’ retail customers into crypto soon — Galaxy CEO

Internationally, large banking conglomerates such as Singapore’s DBS Bank are continuing to grow its digital assets business despite the bear market, while major investment banks have also been beefing up its coverage of the crypto space.

“You have all the major investment banks in the world writing research reports on the crypto space. Everyone from Goldman Sachs to Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan and others. So there’s definitely still a lot of interest in the space from those kinds of institutional players,” he explained.

“So while it seems like its going very slowly now, you know, once the sentiment changes, we see the first players making investments that can change very, very quickly.”

Earlier this week, Irfan Ahmad, the Asia Pacific digital lead for the bank’s crypto unit State Street Digital told Sydney Morning Herald that despite the current crypto winter, institutional investors have maintained their interest in blockchain and digital assets.

Institutional investors headed for a tipping point on crypto: Apollo Capital

Apollo Capital CIO Henrik Andersson said there will come a point when not investing in crypto will be a “career risk.”

Henrik Andersson, chief investment officer of crypto asset fund manager Apollo Capital, believes institutions may soon “flip” on their conservative stance toward crypto. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the Melbourne-based crypto fund manager said that while institutional interest in crypto has been slow in picking up, particularly in Australia, there are a lot of players that are waiting for the right moment to strike.

Andersson admitted that major institutional investors in Australia, particularly retirement funds (or superannuation funds) have yet to warm up to the digital asset space:

“It’s still early days. So yes, speaking to a lot of family offices in Australia and smaller boutique institutions. The big industry super funds are not there yet.”

“From their point of view its still a lot of education going on. So it will still take some time, I believe,” he added.

Apollo Capital is a fund manager focused on providing family office and institutional investors access to crypto investment opportunities. One of its latest launched funds is the Apollo Capital Frontier Fund, which is focused on nonfungible token (NFT) infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi) and multichain infrastructure.

Asked what needs to happen for institutional sentiment to change, Andersson believes this will “flip” when big players start making more substantial moves in the space.

“No one wants to be the first into something like this. Because if you’re the first one and things go wrong, then there’s a career risk. That will flip at some point to the opposite,” explained Andersson:

“At some point, when prices go up, then people don’t want to miss out. And if others are making investments, then it will become a career risk not to be invested.”

In Australia, several large banking institutions such as ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have already been making forays into the digital asset space.

“We’ve seen several of the major banks here in Australia, taking an interest in digital assets. So that’s really, really good to see,” he said.

CBA was notably the first major bank in the country to announce crypto services through its mobile banking app last year, but later put its plans on hold noting it was still waiting on regulatory clarity from the new government.

Others have pushed forward with stablecoin and tokenized asset trading.

Related: Fidelity will ‘shift’ retail customers into crypto soon — Galaxy CEO

Internationally, large banking conglomerates such as Singapore’s DBS Bank are continuing to grow their digital assets business despite the bear market, while major investment banks have also been beefing up their coverage of the crypto space.

“You have all the major investment banks in the world writing research reports on the crypto space. Everyone from Goldman Sachs to Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan and others. So there’s definitely still a lot of interest in the space from those kinds of institutional players,” he explained:

“So while it seems like its going very slowly now, you know, once the sentiment changes, we see the first players making investments that can change very, very quickly.”

Earlier this week, Irfan Ahmad, the Asia Pacific digital lead for the bank’s crypto unit State Street Digital, told Sydney Morning Herald that despite the current crypto winter, institutional investors have maintained their interest in blockchain and digital assets.