Meltem Demirors, a longtime crypto bull, said on Tuesday that the rise in bitcoin has built wealth for a different kind of investor.
The comments on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” came a day before a major milestone for the crypto world is planned: Coinbase’s Nasdaq debut.
“Here’s what’s great about it to me: Bitcoin has created a lot of wealth for people who weren’t part of the traditional financial system, weren’t money managers,” said Demirors, the Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, an investment in digital assets. firm.
She said she got into bitcoin when it was around $ 150 per coin. On Tuesday, it hit another record high, trading above USD 63,000 as investors awaited Coinbase’s direct listing.
The public debut of the digital currency exchange Wednesday “will hit hundreds, if not thousands, of multi-millionaires and billionaires who all love crypto and are likely to take some of their listing proceeds and continue to invest in the crypto ecosystem,” Demirors said.
“There’s really nice recursive effect where this industry isn’t just about the assets. It’s really about the companies that we’ve been investing in for nearly a decade now,” she added.
Indeed, Soona Amhaz, a general partner of crypto firm Volt Capital, said Coinbase’s direct listing is far from the only exciting development for digital assets.
“The crypto story will not end when Coinbase goes public,” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “This is a real interest in the ground for crypto companies being built now.”
Some believe that Coinbase can hit a valuation of up to $ 100 billion. While such a market cap would be monumental for the crypto industry, Amhaz said it is more important to further expand the number of people with digital assets around the world.
“We will see more crypto companies building to help the next 100 million users transition to crypto and be exposed to this new financial paradigm,” she said.
Founded in 2009, Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value. The price has risen particularly high in recent months. In October, bitcoin was trading below $ 11,000 per coin.
A major factor driving the rise has been continued institutional adoption. Some companies, such as Tesla, have bought bitcoin with cash on the balance.
Last month, Morgan Stanley was the first major US bank to announce it would provide access to bitcoin funds for its asset management clients. Another Wall Street titan, Goldman Sachs, is also expected to take similar steps for clients of its private wealth management group.