In an interview with CoinNewsLive, Patrick Springer, Former MD at Morgan Stanley discussed the future of cryptocurrencies and adoption of blockchain technology by big enterprises.
Patrick is currently an Advisor of the just-launched Polybird Exchange and a Member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. He has spent 21 years at Morgan Stanley serving as an Associate, Executive and Vice President, aside from his recent role as Managing Director.
What’s more, Patrick has extensive experience presenting and discussing financial markets, equities, macro, and investment issues.
His rich experience in this field makes his take on the future of cryptocurrencies and the adoption of blockchain technology intriguing and noteworthy.
In this interview, he discusses the needed infrastructure for blockchain adoption by Wall Street, expected changes in the regulatory framework and the environment needed for another cryptocurrency bull run.
Morgan Stanley where he spent over 20 years is a perfect example of a company that has given mixed reactions about the viability of blockchain technology. The multinational investment bank and financial services company has at times likened it to the dot-com bust, and at times praised it.
When asked if Morgan Stanley was bullish or bearish on blockchain, he replied:
“I no longer work for Morgan Stanley, so I am not representing their views. But I would say that Wall Street companies will adopt aspects of blockchain if:
1) it is an asset that their core clients want to trade with them, such as Bitcoin futures, and
2) if Blockchain technology will give them significant cost savings and/or market share opportunities.
With regards to the former, the demand for bitcoin futures and ETFs by core institutional investors has still not been determined yet. The damage from the crypto meltdown in 2018 plus the numerous regulatory issues will take time for the market to digest.”
He also discussed how blockchain does not provide any reasonable huge difference compared to existing technology and that the pivot will only happen when blockchain provides products that make investments attractive.
On the latter, large incumbents in trading, settlement, and payments already have such large market shares and current systems are reasonably efficient for existing uses that there is not a lot of incentive to be an aggressive first-mover. Blockchain is inherently disruptive, so the Wall Street majors will move into blockchain only when new types of competitors, security concerns, or new products make the investment attractive.
We went ahead and asked Patrick his thoughts on the cryptocurrency regulatory environment and changes expected in 2019. He expressed the need for more clarity but maintained that there is still a high level of uncertainty.
“I think there is a lot of demand from both the crypto and investment community for the regulators to provide additional guidelines and more clarity on the type of offerings and marketplaces that they will support. But it is hard to say when that will transpire.”
The bull run of 2018 brought several eyes to the crypto industry from investors to reporters, making it probably the most successful era of cryptocurrencies till date.
Due to this, most crypto enthusiasts are anticipating another similar episode. When asked what will drive such growth in 2019. Patrick replied:
A bull market for crypto will come again when all the speculators have exited, i.e. when investors who believe in the greater fool theory of selling the same asset to someone but at a higher price, all leave. It will also come again when there is a great shakeout in the number of cryptocurrencies and utility tokens – there is no value to having an unlimited number of digital currencies sprouting from numerous forks.
“However, it is also important to remember that Bitcoin plays a very important function in countries around the world that are bankrupt or have a deep currency crisis. As bitcoin laps time and makes good on its promise to cap the amount of coins it can print, mainstream investors may take a renewed look at it again.”
It is evident that Patrick Springer is optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies and the adoption of blockchain technology by financial heavyweights on Wall Street.
He continues his contribution to the ecosystem as an Advisor of the PolyBird Exchange, an end-to-end issuance & exchange platform that will facilitate the buying and selling of tokenized assets (STOs) and Blockchain securities.
What are your thoughts on Patrick’s projections? Do you think a bull run is near? Leave a comment in the comments section.
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