Fundstrat’s Tom Lee Says Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Have Staying Power in the ‘Earliest Days of Crypto’

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Fundstrat co-founder and analyst Tom Lee is preaching patience in the crypto bear market.

At the BlockShow Asia 2018 conference in Singapore, Lee told Cointelegraph why he recommends his clients allocate a small portion of their portfolios to crypto, and stick with some of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap.

“I think people need to be patient. But I think one of the most important things that we advise our clients is that crypto as an investment should really be 1 to 2% of their allocation, so that number one, they’re not worrying about it every day. But also, that 2% can become 50% in a decade. It can grow dramatically.

I think the other thing is to realize that some of the crypto projects are probably hopeless. But things like Bitcoin and Ethereum or XRP have staying power. And these are the ones where unless you think the protocol is actually completely broken, you’re seeing price distortion caused by panic selling.”

As for where the crypto market is heading, Lee compared the current price action to the ups and downs of the stock market and explained why he believes now may be a good time to buy.

“This is the simple math of long-term investing. That, if you look at the equity markets, the only time you actually earn better than historical average return – so the stock market has returned roughly 7% per year. The only times you earn better than 7% is when you buy in a bear market. So, for instance, if you bought the S&P in October of 2008 at 800, it still went down another 200 points for six months. So in the short term you lost money. But the S&P is now at 2800. A lot of people waited until the S&P went to 1600 which was a new high to buy it. They made a lot less money than a person who bought at 800.

So to me, crypto is exactly at this moment. Bitcoin may have downside in the near term. But does this change the fact that it’s still the earliest days of crypto and it’s about to become an emerging asset class? Well, those are going to create some much higher prices.”