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As the crypto market continues establishes new year-to-date lows, some claim that the arrival of institutional investors is the only catalyst that will be able to push prices in a positive direction. And although the climate around institutional interest suffered a slight setback on Wednesday, optimists believe that Wall Street isn’t over Bitcoin just yet.
Goldman Sachs Pushes Back Crypto Trading Desk Plans, Analyst Unfazed
On Wednesday morning, the hopes of many were quashed, as news broke that Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs had put its plans to establish a crypto trading desk on the back burner. Although this news was undoubtedly bearish, many glossed over the fact that Goldman Sachs still intends to offer BTC futures and custody in the near future, leading pessimists to claim that Wall Street had formally ended its ties with crypto.
On the other hand, there are some that remain unfazed, including Mitch Steves, an analyst at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), who recently appeared on CNBC Fast Money to explain why Goldman’s move isn’t “a really big concern.”
Goldman Sachs is reportedly putting a stop to its #bitcoin trading desk, but @RBC's Mitch Steves says Wall Street isn't over #crypto just yet. pic.twitter.com/c0paalEsL6
— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) September 5, 2018
Steves, who (infamously?) called for the blockchain & cryptocurrency industry to reach a $10 trillion valuation in the past, first referenced his insight into the institutional market, explaining:
“So I don’t think [Goldman’s move] is a really big concern. First of all, the institutional investors that I speak with — that have been involved in the past five years or so — are still involved in this space and are tracking it very closely.”
Doing his best to reason why Goldman Sachs would delay its trading desk, the RBC analyst explained that it is likely that the Wall Street giant is having issues attracting bigwig clients that would be interested in allocating capital to this often-volatile market. Steves then brought up Goldman’s involvement with Circle, alluding to the fact that the product is directed at retail traders and not at institutions, stating:
“Specifically, Goldman Sachs is invested in Circle, which is essentially a competitor to Coinbase. So they are already able to get trading flows from the retail side, but the institutional side is very difficult. And what I think they are realizing now is probably that the next step to get institutional money would be for a Bitcoin ETF to be approved.”
In other words, while Goldman may have its hand in the retail investor cookie jar, so to speak, but the firm has yet to substantively back institutional-focused products and services like an ETF or crypto asset custody.
“Everything Is Still Tracking [Bullish] Ahead Of Plan”
As aforementioned, the CNBC guest has predicted that the blockchain & crypto ecosystem will surpass a valuation of $10 trillion in the next 15 years. Alluding to Wednesday’s market collapse, CNBC host Mellisa Lee questioned the analyst if he still expects his prediction to come to fruition.
Unsurprisingly enough, Steves responded with bullish sentiment, revealing that long-term indicators show that this market is still on track to beat his prediction. Elaborating, Mitch Steves noted:
“Again, I’ll make the same call I made earlier. You can’t really look at this from a year-to-year basis… because it’s like a venture capital investment where you are looking at 10 to 15 years… If we look at it from a technical perspective, everything is still tracking ahead of plan.”
So as the old saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race,” as it has become clear that many analysts expect crypto assets to not only survive but thrive in the roughest of waves.
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