Watch: The Crypto Slump Is Drawing New Money (youtube.com)
The cryptocurrency market has got off to a miserable start in 2022. Two months after reaching a record high market capitalization of almost US$3 trillion, the sum total of funds in the market nosedived by almost one-quarter last weekend. Yet it remains the case that every crisis brings with it opportunities, and some investors are seizing them.

James Quinn, a managing partner at Hong Kong-based crypto investment platform Q9 Capital, told Forkast that despite the market volatility, his company has seen a surge in account openings.

“Generally, [our clients] tend to be either holding or buying, actually, so that's kind of a big change. I would have seen the space a couple of years ago, where people were more ‘tourists,’ Quinn said. “I think some people are actually seeing this as an opportunity, perhaps to buy it at some cheaper levels than they were looking at a few months ago.”

Watch Quinn’s full interview with Forkast Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau to learn more about the correlation of digital and traditional assets, the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, how the crypto industry’s outlook on regulation has changed, and why new investors are lining up to get into crypto amid the slump in prices.

00:00 Introduction
01:33 Is the crypto slide an opportunity?
07:37 Crypto institutionalization on the rise
11:09 NFTs and the potential of financial innovation
18:55 Asia leads in tech adoption
21:20 Need for clear regulatory framework
24:11 Crypto flows in 2022

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HIGHLIGHTS

New investors entering the space:
“We don't get a lot of nervous calls, despite the market volatility, which you might kind of be surprised at. Generally, they tend to be either holding or buying, actually. That's kind of a big change. I would have seen the space a couple of years ago, where people were more ‘tourists.’ Now, I think — especially for the folks who maybe haven't invested all of the capital they were sort of thinking about — they're actually kind of looking to get in, so our account openings have actually increased dramatically.”

Growing correlation of cryptocurrencies:
“What we're seeing a little bit in crypto and digital assets is just institutionalization. As more people come from traditional finance, and more investors come in and are new to the space, they're going to be holding both digital assets [and] all types of traditional assets. So, especially when it's market-off and you're getting a margin call somewhere, or you're just feeling you need to de-risk somewhere, everything is going to get hit a little bit. So, I think, over time, we should actually only see an increase in correlation. Now, that doesn't change the fundamentals. The holders are the holders, and so when the market's going down, you're going to see a little bit of correlation, which, frankly, you've seen within crypto and across all assets.”

Crypto industry calling for regulation:
“I think that basically the space is pro-regulation at this point. There's very little ‘regulatory arbitrage’ left. I think as a business model, the largest crypto firms are doing whatever they can to get regulated, and, if anything, they're going to the regulators and saying, ‘Hey, just tell us what to do. If you give me a clear framework, we're going to operate in it.’”

Is ban the bane to crypto?:
“I guess technically you could consider that a form of regulation, but it's a decentralized world — it's pretty hard for one location to say, ‘We're going to ban this.’ Maybe that works in that location, but that doesn't seem to hurt the asset class — you saw the movement of miners in China last year over to the U.S. and to different locations … The technology is just too great to ignore. And if I'm a regulator, I'm thinking about a way to have my cake and eat it, too — protect everybody, but get as much of that innovation into my location as possible.”

Bayesian thinking of investors:
“Very few people are still saying, ‘Oh, this is just complete garbage and it's never going anywhere. I'm not going to do anything.’ Most people are like, ‘I kind of recognize this technology is interesting. I want to do something.’ Or at the very least, ‘What if I'm wrong? So I need some type of investment?’ That's sort of a Bayesian approach — there's a probability I'm wrong, I should have something on just in case.”


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