Crypto to Begin New 'Vertical Era' Built on Bitcoin and Ethereum, Says Blockchain Capital's Spencer Bogart

Spencer Bogart, a general partner at the venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, says he’s excited for 2020 to bring about a new “vertical era” that focuses on building on top of the Bitcoin and Ethereum protocols.

In a new interview with Bloomberg, Bogart says the “blockchain, not Bitcoin” mantra is officially dead.

He believes the industry is now moving past competitors and initial coin offerings supporting companies that looked past Bitcoin to try to build decentralized protocols on their own.

“I think investor and developer momentum has really shifted back towards ‘Hey, let’s build on the things that are working, so let’s go build on top of Bitcoin, let’s go build on top of Ethereum.’ And I think as people build up the stack of those protocols, we’re gonna see more and more useful applications and services that are built on top of them, and that’s what I’m excited about looking forward.”

Bogart also weighed in on the upcoming Bitcoin halving, currently projected to arrive on May 14, and the debate on how much of an impact it might have on the cryptocurrency’s price.

“I guess I’m somewhere in between. Look, it’s absolutely priced in in the truest sense of there are no risk-free returns to be had here. So in that sense, 100% priced in. Will price rise around the time of the havening? That’s a little bit more of a nuanced question.”

Bogart points to a 2019 survey his company conducted of more than 2,000 American adults, noting that 33% of people, as well as 48% of those aged 18-34, said that they strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that more than 50% of people will be using Bitcoin in the next 10 years.

Additionally, 27% of all respondents and 33% of those aged 18-34 said that they were very or somewhat likely to buy BTC in the next five years.

Bogart believes the halving will drive more purchasing from those on the sidelines who are interested in acquiring Bitcoin.

“The halving kind of represents the shelling point, a natural point of convergence for capital that is on the sidelines and is interested in allocation towards Bitcoin. So, there is a significant sum of capital that is in that kind of position today.”