00:00We'll start with the easy question. Is the crypto winter over? I think the bottom is in. And is it
00:07to the rise? I don't think so. I think we're still going to see some choppy markets in the near
00:13future until we see crypto finding its own landing ground all over again.
00:18What is Bitcoin's role in the debasement trade? Isabel told us about how the dollar was weaker. Treasuries sank as
00:25well, pushing yields higher. And the fact that Bitcoin continued to make gains around the same time that the Treasury
00:31secretary announced plans to increase purchases of long dated debt. Talk to us about Bitcoin and its specific utility in
00:38that kind of scenario.
00:39So it basically so, you know, softer dollar and like lower yields on bonds. Right. And anyone who was basically
00:47hedging completely against Bitcoin started, you know, racking it up and buying it all over again.
00:53That's why we saw one of the largest short squeezes like last week. Right. Close to four billion.
01:00And part of the reason is because we thought that, you know, the Bitcoin narrative had muted down. The industry
01:07overall has moved towards the infrastructure layer.
01:10You know, we've started seeing activities around stable coins. And as you just mentioned, you know, more towards institutional and
01:16ETFs.
01:17But that particular softer dollar, lower bond yield basically triggered Bitcoin market all over again.
01:25I want to go back to something that Scarlett mentioned with Isabel, and that's the cold card hack and the
01:29vulnerability.
01:30And I'm just wondering from your view as somebody who teaches classes on this, if that really changes the narrative
01:36around the safety and security of self-custody.
01:39Absolutely. Yes. I think the self-storage, the hard wallet self-storage days are quite over.
01:48Really? Yeah. I think it's regardless of the product that you're using. Absolutely.
01:52I mean, we had the folks from Ledger on saying this would this. Here's why it wouldn't happen at Ledger.
01:58You think Ledger would be vulnerable too?
02:00I think everyone is going to come around and say that their product is better.
02:03But I think that markets have become efficient enough, informed enough to basically say, hey, look, you know, I'd rather
02:10be in a product like, you know, Coinbase, which is, you know, onshore US, right?
02:15Or ETFs or basically, you know, exchanges all around or, you know, even the DeFi wallets like MetaMask or Phantoms,
02:24for instance, then putting it cold storage.
02:27I've been in the industry for 10 years. Do I trust a cold wallet at this point? I'm scared for
02:34myself.
02:34So TradFi is like celebrating right now.
02:37This is why you're smiling. I mean, this is like the end of the cypher pump.
02:39I'm not smiling. I'm just saying that this is interesting.
02:41Because you're but well, you talk a lot about the melding of sort of TradFi and DeFi.
02:45And you brought it up earlier just moments ago, Scarlett, this idea that, you know, with institutional involvement, a reason
02:50that, you know, more people are getting into ETFs because institutions are going there.
02:54So it's like not as big of a deal if they're bypassing, you know, what would be traditionally the way
02:58to buy.
02:59Yeah, no, that's a really good point. I mean, speaking of institutional investors presence in Bitcoin, Ray Dalio said to
03:06recently to hold 15 percent gold and a bit of Bitcoin.
03:10He didn't identify what to hedge the debt crisis. So if an institution calls you today and says, OK, we
03:17missed the rally from the bottom to above 80,000.
03:20Should we get in? What would you say to them?
03:23Definitely. Yes. And I would say that to our investors for the longest time, we've always said, hey, always, you
03:31know, allocate close to two to three percent of your AUM into Bitcoin or Ethereum.
03:36And we've been doing this for almost nine years at this point between the two funds.
03:41The mandate has remained the same that, you know, between two to three percent of your AUM should be in
03:47Bitcoin.
03:49OK, I have one more question.
03:52OK, go ahead. Crypto assets fell about 36 percent in the first half.
03:56But you look at crypto equities and they've gained 23 percent.
03:59That feels like a contradiction. How do you reconcile that? Who's right? Who's wrong?
04:02So while crypto, while Bitcoin and Ethereum was taking a breather this year, I would say, the institutional layer picked
04:11up.
04:12Right. And that's where we're headed. We're headed for like larger blockchain companies to, you know, to become public.
04:18We're becoming more of infrastructure. At this point, we're seeing payment rails.
04:23We're seeing a lot of convergence. So that's why crypto equities is going to be a new emerging and probably
04:30more promising market for us in the near future.
04:33We're seeing a little bit later.
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