During an appearance on CNBC’s Fast Money on Wednesday, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead suggested that Bitcoin investors have been too focused on attempts to gain approval for a Bitcoin ETF. Morehead said that those investors have been overreacting to news that the SEC has postponed a decision on the proposed VanEck and SolidX ETF. He also predicted that it may be a “long time until an ETF is approved.”
According to Morehead:
"I think the main thing to remember is that bitcoin is a very early-stage venture but has a real-time price feed - and that's a unique thing. People get really excited about the price and overreact, I think, to announcements. There’s been a couple of big things coming out in the last week and the ETF rejection is the same story we’ve had for five years. I think the SEC has been very cautious with an ETF.”
Morehead also noted that current perceptions of a listless Bitcoin market are largely based on perspective and reminded viewers that Bitcoin prices are up “82 percent year-on-year, so it’s still doing very, very well.” He then suggested that Bitcoin “needs to be done as hedge funds first” since it is an “early-stage venture-type security or asset.” Morehead called that the “best way to go,” before offering his prediction about the timeframe for an ETF approval:
"I think it’s going to be quite a long time until an ETF is approved. And here’s a perspective: the last asset class to get approved for ETF certification was copper, and copper has been on earth for 10,000 years – and it just got approved in 2012 after a very long multi-year process. I think ETFs and Bitcoin still have quite a ways to go.”
When asked about what does get him excited, Morehead pointed to the recent announcement that the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, is launching a new cryptocurrency exchange called Bakkt. Morehead called that “huge news” and predicted that it would have a major impact on the cryptocurrency markets in the next five to ten years.
“To my mind, that's what people should be focused on."
