Alan Valdes, a senior partner at international advisory firm Silverbear Capital, has recently claimed bitcoin, is “very iffy right now,” while commenting on recent developments that saw the world’s biggest stock exchange operator launch a crypto market.
During an interview with Yahoo! Finance Valdes, a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trader, expressed his concern over a potential surge for the cryptocurrency after being asked whether the Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) move meant Wall Street was getting serious about crypto. He said:
I don’t know. I think it’s a stretch bitcoin is just very iffy right now, at least according to the traders I speak to. They’re really not going to get ‘all-in’ and I think that’s the trouble with bitcoin. How do you protect your bitcoin? These wallets seem very iffy at best.
Valdes went on to add that if someone hacks into a bitcoin wallet “it’s like losing cash, you are out.” Per the NYSE trader’s words, the flagship cryptocurrency has a “long way to go” for the “average person to get involved.”
He conceded, however, that in emerging markets bitcoin may become increasingly popular as it’ll likely be a stronger currency than the fiat currency used in these markets. As for its trading potential on the NYSE, he noted the crypto’s all-time high was close to $20,000 and implied it may be possible to get there again, although he’s “not so sure.”
As CryptoGlobe covered the ICE, owner of the NYSE, recently revealed it’s working on a crypto initiative that’ll see it launch a new company called Bakkt, which will “leverage Microsoft cloud solutions to create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets.”
Bakkt will reportedly involve giant companies, including Microsoft, Starbucks, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The company is set to make bitcoin a mainstream financial asset, as it offers retail consumers and financial institutions access to an e-commerce system to “buy, sell, store, and spend” cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, Bakkt will take advantage of the ICE’s US futures market to list a physically-settled one-day bitcoin futures product that’s set to launch in November. It is, however, pending regulatory approval.
The ICE’s announcement touted the company will be a “scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant, and consumer participation” in the cryptocurrency economy. As covered, it was seen by hedge fund manager Brian Kelly as the “biggest news of the year” for the flagship cryptocurrency as it “paves the way for bitcoin ETFs.”
