Abra is a cryptocurrency investment app and its CEO has recently made the headlines in Cointelegraph by making a bold prediction that big investors will “make all hell break loose” in the altcoin market this year.
Speaking to Business Insider last week, Bill Barhydt of Abra, which is backed by American Express, explained that he believes the cryptocurrency sector will boom again this year when the really big investors stop sitting on the sidelines and decide to get involved.
He said: “I talk to hedge funds, high net worth individuals, even commodity speculators. They look at the volatility in the crypto markets and they see it as a huge opportunity. Once that happens, all hell will break loose.” And, as he also points out, once these guys open the door, it won’t be closed again.
Barhydt admits that the cryptocurrency market has been going through a massive wobble, reflected in the decline in the overall market value of crypto. It peaked at $800 billion in December 2017 and is currently around $300 billion. Searches on Google for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have declined in tandem with this, and there is a correlation between crypto prices and Google activity.
However, he is confident that prices will recover as the year progresses and institutional investors, such as hedge finds, decide to explore the potential of the crypto market. He gave the example of Japan where the crypto prices went up as financial institutions invested in them. Now, Barhydt believes that the West needs to catch up with Japan.
He concluded the interview by saying: “There really is zero large-scale institutional money from the west in crypto right now. Once a large, sizable chunk of Western institutional money starts to come in — watch out.”
Once the floodgates open in the West, what is happening on Google trends will become irrelevant. Will 2018 be the year we see mass adoption of crytpocurrency by big financial investors? We still have a way to go to find out, but if Barhydt is correct then there is a compelling case to HODL your crypto, regardless of the recent volatility.