BREAKDOWN: George Soros and Steve Cohen Go In on Bitcoin; Here’s Why That Might Not Be a Good Thing
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A fresh wave of institutional investors poses new risks to crypto.
This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.
In this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW discusses a fresh wave of investors and their potential disruptions to markets, including:
- Two new major hedge funds, Point72 and Soros Fund
- Inevitable short-term investors as part of market maturation
- Troublesome possibility of regulation forming around institutional trading habits
In early 2020, institutional investors flowed into the crypto space nonstop, including hedge funds, corporate treasuries and insurance companies. This new type of investor changed the space, with surging and plunging prices following news of investors coming and going. Then the flood stopped as the always-controversial Elon Musk’s Tesla balked at bitcoin’s energy consumption and walked back accepting the top cryptocurrency in exchange for the company’s trendy vehicles.
In the last quarter, institutional investors have been stepping back into crypto. Point72, Steve Cohen’s company, stated it would be “remiss to ignore a now $2 trillion cryptocurrency market” and is looking to hire a “Head of Cryptocurrencies.” Besides Point72, internal management at George Soros’ Soros Fund has given the “greenlight to actively trade bitcoin.”
Are these two hedge funds just the tip of the iceberg for a resurgence in institutional investment? How will this new mass of money impact markets and regulation?
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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for Bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's nearly impossible for me to concoct a scenario where Bitcoin and the entire asset class |
| 0:04.3 | around it doesn't continue to just increase in value. |
| 0:07.5 | There's just too much being built and too much money that hasn't allocated yet for that not |
| 0:11.4 | to be the case. |
| 0:12.8 | That means, directionally, over time, the only position that makes sense is net long. |
| 0:18.2 | That's not financial advice, but I mean, come on. |
| 0:23.4 | Welcome back to the Breakdown with me, NLW. It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power |
| 0:30.1 | shifts remaking our world. The breakdown is sponsored by Nidig and produced and distributed by |
| 0:37.2 | CoinDesk. |
| 0:39.8 | What's going on, guys? It is Thursday, July 1st, and today we are talking about George Soros and |
| 0:45.5 | Steve Cohen getting in on the Bitcoin game and why that might not be a good thing. First up, |
| 0:51.5 | however, a little bit of housekeeping. As you just heard, I have a new |
| 0:56.4 | sponsor. I'm thrilled to welcome Nidig to The Breakdown. Like many of you guys, I first came |
| 1:02.0 | across Nidig last year when news of their big partnerships started hitting the Bitcoin world. |
| 1:07.2 | Particularly notable was their deal with Mass Mutual, a more than 150-year-old insurance company |
| 1:12.3 | that put $100 million of Bitcoin onto that company's books. |
| 1:16.8 | Since then, Nidek has emerged as one of the key players in the institutional Bitcoin space. |
| 1:21.8 | Their most recent set of announced partnerships have been extra interesting, as they're focused |
| 1:25.6 | on making it possible for banks and credit unions |
| 1:28.0 | around the U.S. to offer customers the ability to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin directly from |
| 1:33.0 | within their bank accounts. Over the last year, I've gotten to know the Nidig team as well, |
| 1:37.3 | and I couldn't be more excited to welcome them as the sole and exclusive sponsor of the show. |
... |
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