CoinShares Chairman and ex-JP Morgan global energy trading desk leader Daniel Masters predicted an impending 2018 bull run, stating that Bitcoin is set to return to previous highs — as long as two critical changes occur in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In an interview with CNBC, Masters stated that Bitcoin is set to experience another rally on the proviso that the cryptocurrency market matures, emphasizing the importance of professional storage solutions suitable for institutional investors as well as indices and other benchmarks that allow market participants to performance in a meaningful way:
“We need to see this [cryptocurrency] structure continue to build. We need to see the custody solutions come and be provided. We need indices and we need performance measures where we can actually start to understand what we’re talking about and measure our performance.”
ICO Ecosystem Needs Overhaul, Regulation is Inevitable
In order for Bitcoin to reach previous highs, according to Masters, the current initial coin offering paradigm needs to evolve. ICO investors, states Masters, are not provided with enough information, with the post-offering status of tokens issued in fundraising events an important issue:
“We need to do more mature work around the ICOs, so that post ICO we have a token life cycle, and just give investors more clarity, better expectations, more transparency.”
Masters highlights the opaque regulatory status of cryptocurrency, describing the “regulatory sandbox” that cryptocurrencies have been placed in for the last five years.
The previous size of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, states Masters, is “almost experimental in the scope of the main financial system.” With total market cap skyrocketing over the last year, however, traditional financial institutions and regulators are now beginning to regard cryptocurrency more seriously.
While Masters does not believe cryptocurrency presents a serious issue that may activate a fractional reserve monetary system “leakage”, he does believe that the rapid growth of crypto is capturing the attention of central banks and governments:
“Central banks and governments decided it could no longer be ignored. I don’t think there’s any concern from that community at the moment that there’s leakage … but I think they’re beginning to realize that there is potential for that in the future.”
Masters Says Crypto Market May Dramatically Increase in Size
Masters, who currently manages over $800 million in cryptocurrency assets through BitShares, states that while there is no “fight to the death between crypto and the USD/GBP legacy financial system,” the important issue is the portion of the traditional financial ecosystem that is overtaken by cryptocurrencies:
“I think even if it’s only 5% at the end of the day, that market will then still be much bigger than it is today.”
