Trader: Crypto Can Reach Trillion Market Cap Based on Speculation Alone

During an interview with Ran Neuner on CNBC’s Crypto Trader, Coinbase alum and crypto investment firm 1Confirmation founder Nick Tomaino stated that the valuation of the crypto market can reach a trillion dollars off of speculation alone.

He said:

“I see investing and speculating as adoption. I think it is possible that crypto gets from $200 billion to several trillion on just that [speculation]. From my perspective, what I’m seeing globally in terms of viewing this new investable asset class I think that’s possible.”

In 2017, crypto mania initiated by individual investors and retail traders led the market to achieve a valuation of over $800 billion and with the entrance of institutional investors, a multi-trillion market cap could materialize.

Important Macro Trend: Shifting From Authorities to Trustless Alternatives

According to Tomaino, an important macro trend that could lead to an influx of investors and capital into cryptocurrencies or consensus currencies is the decline in trust towards governments and large institutions like banks.

Various studies conducted by Facebook Research and major technology conglomerates have shown a clear trend of millennials shifting from legacy systems to innovative and trustless alternatives such as fintech applications.

In the long-term, he explained that a cultural and gradual shift from trusting large institutions to peer-to-peer systems could direct consumers to decentralized financial networks.

“My view is that the most important macro trend of our lifetime is people increasingly distrusting governments and large institutions. I see it more as kind of a gradual movement into crypto, I think it’s kind of a gradual and cultural shift from people trusting large institutions and governments to using the blockchain.”

Currently, the cryptocurrency market is growing exponentially in terms of infrastructure, adoption, and institutionalization.

The structure of blockchain networks are seeing progress in scalability, stability, and security, fueled by active open-source developer communities and ecosystems.

Tomaino stated that the infrastructure and middleware used in the cryptocurrency sector are rapidly improving, allowing the market to stabilize and appeal to accredited traders and institutional investors.

“At the same time, what I’m seeing in terms of real adoption is mostly infrastructure and middleware being built to fuel real applications. That’s things like scalability solutions, stablecoins, decentralized exchanges.”

Gradual Process

Institutions that include hedge funds, pensions, and family funds will likely not trigger a similar trend of fear of missing out (FOMO) individual investors demonstrated in late 2017.

As large capital hits the cryptocurrency market through over-the-counter (OTC) brokerages and custodian solutions offered by the likes of Coinbase, BitGo, Fidelity, and Goldman Sachs, the cryptocurrency market will gradually see a rise in liquidity, volume, and trading activity.

Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz emphasized that if institutions start to become comfortable with the asset class and an unlikely trend of FOMO is triggered, it could grow the valuation of the crypto market by many trillions of dollars.

He explained:

“It won’t go there ($20 trillion) right away. What is going to happen is, one of these intrepid pension funds, somebody who is a market leader, is going to say, you know what? We’ve got custody, Goldman Sachs is involved, Bloomberg has an index I can track my performance against, and they’re going to buy. And all of the sudden, the second guy buys. The same FOMO that you saw in retail [will be demonstrated by institutional investors].”

FEatured image from Shutterstock.