Institutional opponents of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have slowly been warming up to the digital asset. Not only due to its growing popularity, but its surging price too. An erstwhile critic, Dawn Fitzpatrick, CEO of Soros Fund Management, is the latest to share her surprisingly positive opinion on the industry.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the CEO of George Soros’ family office noted that Bitcoin had diversified into far more use cases than just being a hedge against inflation. What’s more, the exec also revealed that the Soros Fund also holds crypto.
She said,
“I’m not sure bitcoin is only viewed as an inflation hedge. Here I think it’s crossed the chasm to mainstream. Cryptocurrencies now have a market cap of over $2 trillion. There’s 200 million users around the world, so I think this has gone mainstream.”
Talking about the fund’s own balance sheet, the exec added,
“From our perspective again, we own some coins, not a lot, and the coins themselves are less interesting than the use cases of DeFi and things like that.”
The fund’s interest in DeFi solutions and technology is evident in other crypto firms such as NYDIG and Lukka. However, this is the first time the firm has officially confirmed its cryptocurrency holdings.
Reports about Soros’ venture into Bitcoin trading had surfaced months ago. However, they were mostly based on anonymous sources claiming the fund was “more than just kicking the tires” on cryptocurrencies.
These comments by Fitzpatrick can be seen as a welcome change from her previous views on Bitcoin. In the past, she has deemed it to be more of a commodity, than a currency. She had also opined that the real reason behind its popularity was the debasement of fiat currencies, rather than inherent values.
While this might not entirely be true, it is one of the top reasons why an increasing number of family offices globally are venturing into the industry. A recent survey by Goldman Sachs found that while 15% of family offices globally and about 25% in the Americas already had exposure to some digital asset, a further 45% had expressed interest in initiating exposure in the future.
The main drivers behind this diversification are a rise in inflation, low interest rates, and other macroeconomic developments. The latter have mostly been induced by unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimuli over the past year.
