Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary thinks regulation is the key to stabilizing the volatile Bitcoin (BTC) and broader crypto markets.
While speaking at a DC Blockchain Summit event, the Shark Tank star argued sovereign wealth funds and pension plans are waiting for more clarity from regulators before allocating a fraction of their massive capital to Bitcoin.
“If we could get regulation – and I would argue if we could just regulate one coin in the beginning, let it be Bitcoin, and one stablecoin – that would be fantastic. But staying on Bitcoin, here’s what would happen: I’m an indexer, I ask the sovereign wealth [fund], ‘What allocation would you put into Bitcoin?’ And the typical mandate for those guys, we have 11 sectors of the S&P, their rules are long-only, no more than 20% in any one sector, no more than 5% in any one stock. So they may initiate their index at Bitcoin at 50 basis points. When you’re running a trillion-dollar mandate, that is a ton of money.”
A basis point is one percent of one percent.
O’Leary argues regulation would spur an increase in BTC demand and raise prices. He also says the entry of sovereign wealth funds into the space would decrease Bitcoin’s volatility.
“If they bought it at let’s say $30,000, and their mandate is… let’s say 1% weighting. And it goes to a 2% weighting. Within 90 days ,they sell it back down to 1%. Or if it drops, they buy it back up. They are the eternal bid for the asset, and all of the sudden, [there is a] stability of Bitcoin, instead of having 50% swings every 12 months or more – that’s gone forever.”
Bitcoin is trading for $29,367 at time of writing, down nearly 5% in the last 24 hours.
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