Despite the decline, crypto is attracting a new group – institutional investors
Depending on your exposure to crypto, the past few months have been a wild ride. Bitcoin plunged in value while firms like Celsius made international headlines for unethical lending practices.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for those in the decentralized finance space. Actual crypto veteran Ryan DeMattia have noticed a positive shift recently.
In years past, crypto conferences were filled with well-known “crypto bros” and others interested in finding the next “big” digital coin to buy.
“The year, [conferences] is filled with banks and pension funds and university funds. You would never think that these large, very slow-moving investors would be interested in these kinds of high-risk environments, but they’re all starting to recognize opportunities with things like Internet bond models or payment income models. And it’s been really great to see.”
Although there is still uncertainty in the market, the fact that such institutional players are playing in the space means that crypto is coming out of its “wild west” phase.
“One of our mantras is that crypto isn’t just for cowboys anymore,” DeMattia added. “A year ago, people were just trying to get rich on DeFi and throw their money into DAOs and small crypto projects.”
Now the total number of decentralized transactions reaches upwards of 11 billion dollars per week.
DeMattia and his team at Coindex Capital Management navigated the ‘Wild West’ and is now helping more institutional investors navigate the crypto and general decentralized finance space. The investment management company based in Atlanta its proprietary technology platform to manage various funds.
Its approach has already piqued the interest of large institutional investors looking for safer exposure to the crypto and DeFi space.
To date, Coindex has raised $30 million in external investment.
“We see that as a sign of the longevity of the business … we don’t just go for edge cases [in crypto]”, DeMattia added.
Atlanta’s crypto universe
It’s hard to overstate how quickly Miami has emerged as a leader in the crypto and blockchain space. Not a week goes by before a start-up lands a multi-million dollar investment round, or the city government makes another big play to support the ecosystem.
But DeMattia is convinced that Atlanta can stake its claim as a financially stable crypto hub.
“Atlanta is a great place to run a business. And what’s really interesting is that over the last year or so, I’ve actually seen the crypto community really start to emerge here. And it makes sense because you have this amazing talent pipeline … a lot of really talented kids who want to get into this space. You also have a lot of big financially focused firms that can help drive [the sector]. We’re not going to be like Miami, which is the very flashy side of crypto. But process 30,000 transactions per second? That sounds like Atlanta speed,” DeMattia explained to Hypepotamus.
Still, there is reason for caution around the crypto space given the changing regulatory landscape. “Last year, [people in crypto] probably came out a little bit over our skis,” DeMattia added, nodding to the fact that many coin prices were inflated and more people entered the room.
As DeMattia and the Coindex team look to the future, he said there is a need for more “clear, hard guidelines, where regulation is going … and who is going to regulate it.”
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This content is provided for informational purposes only, not as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell assets or securities, or to engage in any specific investment strategy.. Furthermore, this content does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Coindex Capital, LLC.
