The crypto markets are down. But institutional investors are lining up to enter them. The latest entrants? Nasdaq Ventures (Nasdaq’s investment arm), Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Valor Equity Partners.
These heavy hitters have invested in ErisX, a new crypto exchange that will include spot and futures markets for bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. Nasdaq and Fidelity invested in the most recent round of funding. TD Ameritrade, CBOE and Valor invested in an earlier round. ErisX is slated to launch next year. ErisX isn’t Fidelity’s only crypto play. Earlier this year, the investment giant spun off a separate company to invest and trade in cryptocurrencies for institutional investors.
The endowments for Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth and the University of North Carolina have reportedly invested in crypto (The Information). So has Yale (CNBC).
Bakkt, a crypto exchange operated by the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is slated to launch next month.
So why is the big and smart money lining up to invest in crypto during a down market? They believe crypto is here to stay and that it’s a rare opportunity to get into a market before it matures. That’s where the biggest gains are. The same thing happened when the .com bubble burst. Retail investors fled the market. Institutional investors recognized the internet was here for good and started buying and investing. Now stocks like Amazon and Google (Alphabet) are among the most valuable in the world.
Look at crypto as a long play. Fidelity, Nasdaq, the NYSE, Harvard, Yale and Stanford (among others) are in it with you!