Alexander Hoptner, BitMEX CEO, shared his views on institutional investors, who he believes still have a desire for crypto and Ethereum in a recent interview.
Cointelegraph was told by a crypto executive at the Token2049 conference held in Singapore on September 28th that there has been no slowdown in institutional investment into crypto during this bear market.
He said that financial industry players and institutions often use bear market to innovate. Bull markets are more demanding, but bear market have more flexibility.
Hoptner said that adoption in the financial industry is long-term. This is why institutions will buy and hold crypto assets, while the reverse can be said for retail.
When asked if institutions or retailers would end the bear market, he replied that retail was still pulling out while institutions were still pushing.
“I believe that institutions are now ready to provide services, and retail will return and push it up again.”
BitMEX’s boss is convinced that institutions will begin to invest in Ethereum after it has moved to proof-ofstake and satisfied the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).
He said that Ethereum was the best protocol to build stuff on, before commenting that “this is an ideal public event to create financial products for ESG compliance,” in reference the Merge.
He stated that ESG conformity at the moment is essential. He also said that institutions can offer products that are truly for a broad audience while still meeting all of their compliance requirements.
Related: Three-quarters (75%) of institutions will use crypto over the next three years: Ripple
Hoptner mentioned the $3,000 figure for Ether ( Ethereum) prices by year end. Hoptner believes this is possible, particularly since the network is environmentally friendly and large banks use it. ETH trades up 3.8% in the last 24 hours to $1,336, which means it still has a lot of work ahead.
Cointelegraph last week reported that liquid staking products like Lido’s Staked Ethereum (stETH), are more profitable than regular ETH. They will become more popular than hodling Ethereum, which could make them obsolete.
