RE: City AM Article Today Wednesday 18 November 202018 Nov 2020 18:11
This is a huge step forward that will have long-lasting effects for the entire digital asset industry.
Critical to Bitcoin’s success will also be its growing acceptance by everyday investors and savers. In the UK alone, according to the FCA’s latest report, the number of crypto asset buyers has almost doubled since 2019 (an estimated 2.6 million UK consumers have bought crypto as of today), indicating strong growth over the last 12 months. Yet, as interest rates hover close to zero and the Bank of England intimates that they may remain there for some time, potentially even going negative in the near future, the growth of crypto asset holders may pick up at a significant pace. Since earlier this year, holding cash as a yielding asset is no longer an option for most savers, which is already pushing many to look for alternative options to grow their wealth. Bitcoin’s long-term investment attributes together with its potential for generating a return (through crypto lending), as well as recent price gains, have begun to attract the attention of retail investors.
Furthermore, receiving support from billion-dollar blue chip companies such as Paypal, which recently announced that customers will be able to buy and sell crypto using their PayPal accounts, will also be critical in helping solidify Bitcoin’s position in the market and ultimately contributing to the asset class’s growth and maturity.
Corporate buy-in, retail buy-in, what about institutional and regulatory buy-in? To be sure, US, European and UK regulators have been slow to accept and support crypto but important progress has been made. Last month SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said the US financial watchdog was actively considering crypto ETFs, which would pave the way for more retail and institutional investors to dip their toes into the world of digital assets. EU regulators are considering new rules that would require banks to hold more capital against their crypto investments. And let’s not forget the UK’s FCA giving the green light for the first UK IPO of a digital fintech offering crypto (Mode!). Growing acceptance of Bitcoin will grow the overall size of the asset. That in turn could attract the attention of central banks who need to diversify and hedge their reserves. Bitcoin’s $200 billion market cap makes that hard right now, compared to the sheer size of the bullion market at $9 trillion. But that could change.
COVID-19 and government plans to mitigate the effects of the pandemic have laid a clearer path for Bitcoin to play a pivotal role in the digital economy of the future and have already dramatically accelerated its presence among investment portfolios. The prospect of continued growth is getting stronger every day and the idea of central banks coming to view Bitcoin as a complement to their gold holdings does not seem that distant anymore. If we look back, Bitcoin was merely a far-fetched idea for many, and look at where we are now. Many things can happen from here on