Bitcoin and altcoin prices continued to fall in the second week of the new year. The sharp declines came as little surprise to Ben McMillan, who warned of increased volatility in the crypto and traditional markets for much of the past year. McMillan, chief investment officer of the $650 million IDX Digital Assets, shared his thoughts on the cryptocurrency markets in an interview last week. Cryptocoin. com we are conveying the details…
McMillan comment on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Fed and institutional investors
McMillan thinks the structural bullish situation for Bitcoin and Ethereum is still intact. The advancement of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and the activation of its major update in 2021 have helped accelerate its use case beyond just a store of value or anti-inflation tool. Fueled by the boom in DeFi and NFT activity on its network, Ethereum has grown exponentially and will transition to proof-of-stake. Although these factors are driving prices higher, he believes the increase will come with extreme volatility. He even says he wouldn’t be surprised if Bitcoin drops to $100,000 this year, if it drops 50 percent in the same year.
In the US, the Federal Reserve has signaled its readiness to shrink its nearly $9 trillion bond portfolio, as well as potentially raising interest rates faster than expected. “New entrants to Bitcoin are financial advisors, asset managers; they create portfolios with crypto exposure. Therefore, they are much more sensitive to things like how Bitcoin trades with other asset classes, interest rates, macroeconomic risks and inflation expectations.”
4 altcoins attracting attention from institutions: The first one is Bancor
McMillan, IDX Digital Assets primarily; He said he is working with institutional investors and other asset managers who are increasingly beginning to distinguish between crypto protocols rather than focusing solely on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Specifically, he noted that institutional investors are showing an increasing interest in decentralized finance applications (DeFi), which provide automated borrowing, lending, trading, insurance and wealth management services through software.
One of the DeFi protocols that saw increasing institutional interest was the decentralized exchange protocol Bancor (BNT). McMillan says the interest in this altcoin is the way they have proven institutional from day one and built their DAO. McMillan added that version 3 of Bancor is a catalyst that could improve the token’s performance this year, noting that the update is set to improve many features such as unilateral staking without permanent loss.
Chainlink, Near and Loopring also draw attention
Another coin that attracted the attention of institutions was Chainlink (LINK), which provides oracle services for DeFi platforms. “This is another protocol that seems relatively undervalued compared to some of the other protocols in 2021,” McMillan said. “Based on the basics alone, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it perform well this year.”
Smaller protocols are also starting to attract institutional attention. For example, according to McMillan, Near Protocol (NEAR)’s proof-of-stake blockchain is attracting both developers and large investors. As demand continues to rise for lower transaction fees and higher speeds on the Ethereum network, McMillan thinks layer-2) scaling solutions may receive much more attention in 2022. Saying that it is on Loopring’s (LRC) radar in this area, he uses the following statements:
In 2021 we saw layer-1 protocols like Avalanche and Solana have a really big year. Much will depend on how successful the ETH 2.0 upgrade is in addressing Ethereum’s gas fees and scalability issues. I think this will be a key determinant of what the continued demand for these alternative tiers and these second tier solutions will look like in 2022. ”