Anthony Scaramucci and Dan Tapiero discussed the macro case for digital assets at the Digital Asset Summit 2024 in London. Topics ranged from the potential outcome of the US elections to the outlook for bitcoin and the likelihood of SEC approval for a spot Ethereum ETF.
“We’ve never had so many different interesting technologies hitting all at once,” said Dan Tapiero, Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at 1Roundtable Partners (1RT) and 10T Holdings, at the Blockworks Digital Asset Summit (DAS) 2024 in London.
“This is partially to do with Cathie Wood’s thesis, which I do believe. We have artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, blockchain, healthtech and all of these things hitting at the same time.”
Speaking to OPTO after the talk, Tapiero elaborated on his view of Wood, saying, “She's one of the only ones expounding this big-picture tech vision. There’s a colliding of many different innovations that we haven’t seen before, even in the ‘90s.”
The Decade of Innovation
“I’m very bullish on technology, I’m bullish on the Nasdaq”, Tapiero told the audience, adding, “I think this is the decade of innovation.”
“Markets don’t need to be concerned in a structural way about politics. I’m a free markets guy before all else… I just see blue sky.”
“I think this is the decade of innovation.” Dan Tapiero
More willing to offer an opinion on politics was fellow panellist Anthony Scaramucci, Founder and Managing Partner at SkyBridge Capital, who reiterated his well-documented opposition to Donald Trump.
Describing the US Constitution, Scaramucci said that the founders “figured out, in their wisdom: separate the powers in the document, to make the country a decentralised government.”
“Everyone in this room knows things that are decentralised have certain anti-fragile properties to them,” he added.
He went on to express the view that Trump’s re-election would threaten the separation of powers based on his interactions with Trump during the 11 days he served as the former president’s Director of Communications.
Tapiero pointed out that the scale of Trump’s victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses make a “landslide” seem likely.
Both acknowledged the possibility of a change of personnel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the election. However, Scaramucci expressed the surprising view that the SEC’s current Chair, Gary Gensler, had unwittingly helped the success of the spot bitcoin ETFs by delaying their approval.
“The delay of the spot ETF allowed the space for exposure to things like FTX and the implosion of Three Arrows and Voyager,” he said. This, he believes, means that the $60,000-plus price at which bitcoin has been trading is “sturdier” than it might have been, had it reached this level (driven by the ETF launch) prior to those events unfolding.
| 5 blockchain ETFs available on the OPTO App | 5 days performance |
|---|---|
| iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF | +2.50% |
| Global X Blockchain ETF | -0.29% |
| Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF | -2.82% |
| Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF | -3.73% |
| Global X Blockchain & Bitcoin Strategy ETF | -8.59% |
Data correct as of Wednesday, 20 March.
The Outlook for Bitcoin
Both speakers were cautiously bullish about the prospects for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the coming cycle.
“This is the digitisation of all value. I don’t know what’s bigger than that,” said Tapiero.
Scaramucci recounted an anecdote from this time last year when he and Tapiero were at a conference in Zurich. In his presentation, Tapiero showed a slide that compared the adoption of bitcoin to the adoption of Web1. Bitcoin, at the time, was at approximately 4% adoption — equivalent to Web1 in 1998.
“Think about what happened to Web1 from 1998 to 2024,” said Scaramucci.
Both speakers believe the bitcoin price could reach $200,000 or higher in the 18 months following the upcoming halving event, based on its historical tendency to quadruple in that post-halving timeframe.
“I think $200,000?” said Scaramucci.
“Yeah, I think that’s reasonable,” replied Tapiero. “If you think about it, that’s only 3–4x. That’s not that big a deal for bitcoin.”
“This is the digitisation of all value. I don’t know what’s bigger than that.”
The ETF Effect
Tapiero is of the opinion that the primary driver for bitcoin enthusiasm is the launch of the spot bitcoin ETFs in January.
“You’ve onboarded literally tens of trillions of dollars of value in global equity accounts. They can just push a button and own bitcoin,” he said. “There’s a little bridge, and the entire US wealth management world is trying to cross it.”
Scaramucci detailed the pivotal role that SkyBridge played in making BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF [IBIT] a reality.
“Robert Mitchnick [Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock] came to me and said, ‘If I don’t get outside money into this BlackRock bitcoin trust, they’re going to kill the project.’
“We wired Rob $10m. SkyBridge was the first outside money into the BlackRock bitcoin trust.”
On the prospects of spot Ethereum ETF approval, both speakers lean towards the scenario that Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise, outlined on the previous day: namely, that the SEC will reject proposals in May but will approve one or more by the end of the year.
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