In a recent interview with CNBC, WisdomTree CEO Jonathan Steinberg shared his optimistic view on the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, predicting its widespread adoption in the coming years.
Steinberg cited regulatory clarity, the emergence of exchange-traded crypto funds, and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) as the main drivers of this trend.
Regulatory clarity
During the July 29 interview, Steinberg discussed the impact of former President Donald J. Trump’s speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 27. According to Steinberg, Trump’s promise of regulatory clarity for crypto and digital assets marked an important moment for the industry.
“Trump couldn’t have spoken in a more ambitious tone than he would about crypto and Bitcoin as an asset class,” Steinberg said. “It promises regulatory clarity for digital and crypto assets in general. I think this will have a very positive effect not only on crypto, the asset class, which is really only half the story, but also on enabled finance by blockchain”.
Steinberg also discussed bitcoin’s trajectory as the best-performing asset class over the past 15 years. He noted that BTC’s performance and growing regulatory acceptance would further fuel its adoption.
The CEO emphasized that bitcoin, despite having no employees and lacking major institutional purchases, managed to raise more than a trillion dollars. He noted that the crypto market as an asset class has surpassed $2 trillion, and expressed his belief that BTC is going mainstream and will continue to do so in the coming years.
Drawing parallels to technological advances, Steinberg described bitcoin as the natural evolution of money. Just as smartphones have replaced landlines, he predicts that digital assets will become the dominant form of transactions.
Real-world assets and the future of tokenization
Steinberg also noted that the narrative around crypto is expanding beyond core assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to include a wider range of tokenized real-world assets.
“Crypto is an asset class, and then there’s this broader tokenization of all real-world assets. We see it all converging,” Steinberg explained.
He noted that traditional financial institutions are already venturing into the RWA market, citing examples such as BlackRock’s BUIDL and Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX.
BlackRock’s BUIDL, which launched less than four months ago, currently holds more than $500 million worth of tokenized Treasurys, according to Etherscan. Goldman Sachs will also launch three new tokenization products for institutional clients later this year.
According to a McKinsey & Company report, the RWA market is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2030. However, the firm also highlighted a “cold start” problem caused by liquidity and volume of limited transactions.
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