Kevin O’Leary, a Shark Tank investor, is certain that when there will be regulation on Bitcoin, accompanied by the long-awaited approval of ETFs, capital of up to $1 trillion could flow into BTC.
He said this in an interview with CNBC.
Summary
Regulatory uncertainty
The Shark Tank investor spoke of the need for the industry to be regulated, which will be good for everyone. Because without it, the cryptocurrency sector could turn into a Wild West, with the difference that entrepreneurs are not cowboys.
These are his words:
“We want the regulator to actually make some decisions about crypto, because none of us that are in financial services want to actually be cowboys about this”.
He added:
“I don’t want to get involved in crypto if the regulator says it’s not OK. I can’t afford to be offside, I can’t afford to be non-compliant”.
Kevin O’Leary: why Bitcoin ETFs need to be approved
According to Kevin O’Leary if regulators finally decide to approve ETFs on Bitcoin, there could be huge amounts of capital coming in:
“If the regulator finally allowed financial-services companies to call it an asset, put it into an ETF in the United States like they have in Canada and other countries, I figure there’d be another $1 trillion worth of buying into bitcoin. And we don’t have that yet, but that’s the opportunity”.
This is exactly the point: bitcoin ETFs are legal in Canada, in Brazil, even in Europe, but not in the United States.
Indeed, the SEC has always seemed very reluctant to approve them, because it fears the volatility of BTC.
Recently, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler has opened up the possibility of approving ETFs based not on bitcoin, but on bitcoin futures. This is because futures, unlike bitcoin, are a regulated instrument and promise more protection to investors.
Despite the applications submitted, at the moment not even this type of product has been made available.
When it does, according to O’Leary, bitcoin is bound to win over institutional investors. At the moment, institutional investors fear regulatory decisions more than price volatility.
If $1 trillion really were to flow into Bitcoin, it is easy to imagine that the price would also be positively affected.
Kevin O’Leary on DeFi and stablecoins
In his interview with CNBC, Kevin O’Leary also discussed DeFi. According to him, other blockchains are ready to emerge in this area. Ethereum is too slow. As for stablecoins, he believes they are gaining interest due to galloping inflation in the US.
Both sectors, DeFi and stablecoins, are receiving attention from regulators.
DeFi has come under fire after an investigation into Uniswap, one of the largest decentralized exchanges. As anticipated by the head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, some exchanges are decentralized in name only, but then they are real companies, and the SEC wants to get to the bottom of this. If these fears were well-founded, we would be in the presence of financial businesses operating without license.
The US Treasury Secretary, on the other hand, has his eye on stablecoins. According to Janet Yellen, stablecoins need to be regulated, and quickly, given the disproportionate growth of the sector.
When this happens, some may be unhappy, but the crypto sector will certainly cease to be a Wild West.
