In a barren land of pain and losses in the crypto space, people may wonder if most assets will ever recover. Bitwise Asset Management's head thinks they will not, but is hopeful for a few, as well as a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Matt Hougan sees a correlation to the 90s
Bitwise Asset Management's worldwide head of research Matt Hougan recently said, “95 percent of these [all crypto assets] will die a painful and deserved death,” as quoted in Bloomberg's recent article.
CoinMarketCap lists 2080 different cryptocurrencies. In Bloomberg's article, Hougan related the situation to that of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
An article from Business Insider noted, "[c]ompanies worth billions when they IPO'd went to zero. Good companies were dragged down with them: Cisco lost 86% of its market cap. Amazon stock fell from $107 to just $7." The current cryptocurrency situation may be similar.
Out of the ashes
Companies such as Amazon and eBay survived the bubble, however, eventually turning into global giants. A similar outcome may occur in the case of cryptocurrencies, according to Hougan's comments.
Hougan sees many comparisons to the dot-com bubble. "I think it [crypto] is the next dot-com," Hougan said in a Bloomberg Radio podcast episode included in Bloomberg's recent article. "The dot-com bubble created Pets.com, but it also created Amazon," he added.
According to Hougan, the majority of crypto assets may fail, but the handful that survives likely will see significant success.
I think there are 2,000 cryptocurrencies out there, 95% of them are useless and will die a painful death. The sooner that happens, the better. There's also alot of bad activity, bubble related activity that's getting cleared up [...] But from those ashes, I think will emerge important things, just like from the dot-com ashes emerged Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc."
Bitwise crypto ETF
Bitwise Asset Management currently is developing an ETF based on its index of 10 different crypto assets, and filed the project with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to Bloomberg's article and podcast.Hougan detailed, "we have filed two applications for cryptocurrency ETFs. One is an index basket that holds the top ten crypto assets, and one is bitcoin only." Regarding the purchase of bitcoin through an ETF, "if the SEC approves this ETF, you will be able to buy it [bitcoin] through an ETF, the same way you buy gold through GLD or silver through SLV," Hougan added.
On the matter of a bitcoin ETF, the SEC has held a tough line, rejecting many bitcoin ETF proposals over the past several months. Perhaps most notably has been the many VanEck-SolidX bitcoin ETF delays.
According to Bloomberg's podcast interview, Hougan is hopeful for the SEC's approval. He stated Bitwise currently is pursuing the bitcoin ETF more actively than its other mentioned index ETF right now. "We're hopeful and optimistic that we can work with the SEC. They've raised legitimate issues, but we hope we can work through it and we'll see," Hougan said.
Originally posted on Crypto Insider : https://cryptoinsider.com/altcoin-question-bitcoin-etfs-rise/