Etoro’s Greenspan: Wall Street is “Building Bridges” to Bitcoin
Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at Etoro, says that Wall Street is prepared to inject “new liquidity” into bitcoin, and that’s exactly what the market needs. Greenspan in an interview with Bloomberg addressed the market themes surrounding bitcoin and some of the issues facing the market as well as bitcoin as a payment method. He provided some institutional insight, saying “the more liquidity we get into the market, the better it’s going to be,” pointing to Wall Street on the fringes and ready to “get involved.””They’re building the bridges as we speak. Whether they’re going to go full on bull/full on bear we don’t know. But the important thing is that they’re ready to take on and to inject new liquidity into this market that at least should even things out and stabilize the price.”He pointed out that while Wall Street tried, they “missed the party” in cryptocurrencies last year, with the CBOE and CME launching bitcoin futures “right at the peak” in the BTC price. Etoro observed an uptick in the number of its customers looking to open accounts and start trading bitcoin in November. As for the price, Greenspan observed that the “dip” in the bitcoin price is “nothing new,” pointing out that in percentage terms and historically speaking, “we’ve seen these types of pullbacks before.” Indeed, the bitcoin price shed 70% from its value over a several-month stretch in 2013 before rallying to surpass other asset classes, as one example. Greenspan was asked about bitcoin’s future role in the financial system and whether central banks would ever be on board with cryptocurrencies, in response to which he pointed out the decentralized nature of bitcoin, saying it “operates independently of the central banks … and relies on the power of the crowd and the power of its users.”Bitcoin for PaymentsWith the debate about bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and the Lightning Network in full swing, bitcoin as a payment method is taking center stage of late. For instance, when bitcoin was in its infancy, transactions were nearly instant and the fees weren’t unreasonable. Greenspan noted that the rising demand for bitcoin in December 2017 and January triggered a “clog in the network,” which led to pricier transaction costs. Now, with the price pullback and demand having waned, bitcoin will go right through,” he said, adding that the more liquidity that enters the market, the better. Etoro is a global trading and investment platform that began supporting nearly half a dozen cryptocurrencies last year, including bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin and Ripple. Their platform is designed to “simplify” trading and investing in cryptocurrencies. Greenspan recently closed a BCH trade at nearly a 10% loss, but he said on the Etoro site:Courtesy: Etoro.comFeatured image from Shutterstock