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Elon Musk says Tesla will start accepting dogecoin for some merchandise — sending the token soaring as much as 30%

Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Elon Musk has long supported dogecoin, a meme cryptocurrency.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

  • Tesla will start to let people buy some of its merchandise with dogecoin, Elon Musk said Tuesday.
  • Musk tweeted: “Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes.”
  • The meme cryptocurrency skyrocketed after Musk’s tweet, soaring as much as 30% early Tuesday.

Elon Musk has said Tesla will let people purchase some of its merchandise with the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin.

“Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes,” Musk tweeted Tuesday.

Dogecoin’s price was down before Musk’s announcement but then skyrocketed as much as 30%. It was last up 26% at $0.2092, according to crypto data website Coinmarketcap.

The Tesla CEO has been a long-running supporter of dogecoin, a Japanese Shiba Inu dog-themed cryptocurrency that was started as a joke in 2013.

In May, he asked his Twitter followers whether Tesla should start accepting dogecoin, to which the overwhelming response was “yes.”

Earlier the same month, Musk said he thought dogecoin could ironically become the future of cryptocurrencies.

Tesla wouldn’t be the first company to accept the meme token in payment. The Dallas Mavericks — the basketball team owned by crypto fan Mark Cuban — began selling tickets and merchandise in exchange for it earlier this year.

Musk and Tesla have been key drivers of the cryptocurrency boom in 2021. The electric-car maker bought $1.5 billion bitcoin in January, and then in March, announced it would start accepting the cryptocurrency in payment for cars.

However, Musk rowed back on that idea in May, criticizing bitcoin’s “insane” energy use. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin, are secured and “mined” using lots of computing power.

Musk began to talk more about dogecoin as he backed away from bitcoin in May, saying he was working with developers to improve its efficiency.

Read more: These 3 proof-of-stake altcoins can surge in the long-term – although shiba inu fever will soon die down, according to a top exec at a platform that hosts almost $3 billion worth of blockchain nodes

It’s been a busy week for Musk, who just sold another $900 million of Tesla stock, taking his total sales since early November to just under $13 billion.

The world’s wealthiest man, he was chosen Monday by Time Magazine as its Person of the Year. The publication called Musk “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman, [and] cad.”

Dogecoin’s Tuesday jump was out of keeping with the rest of the crypto sector, which was a sea of red. Digital assets are seen by most investors as highly speculative, and have suffered as the Federal Reserve has talked up the chances of tighter monetary policy.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for further comment.

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Elon Musk says Tesla will start accepting dogecoin for some merchandise — sending the meme token soaring as much as 16%

Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Elon Musk has long supported dogecoin, a meme cryptocurrency.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

  • Tesla will start to let people buy some of its merchandise with dogecoin, Elon Musk said Tuesday.
  • Musk tweeted: “Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes.”
  • The meme cryptocurrency skyrocketed after Musk’s tweet, rising as much as 16% early Tuesday.

Elon Musk has said Tesla will let people purchase some of its merchandise with the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin.

“Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes,” Musk tweeted Tuesday.

Dogecoin’s price was down before Musk’s announcement but then skyrocketed. It was last up 16% at $0.19243, according to crypto data website Coingecko.

The Tesla CEO has been a long-running supporter of dogecoin, a Japanese Shiba Inu dog-themed cryptocurrency that was started as a joke in 2013.

In May, he asked his Twitter followers whether Tesla should start accepting dogecoin, to which the overwhelming response was “yes.”

Earlier the same month, Musk said he thought dogecoin could ironically become the future of cryptocurrencies.

Tesla wouldn’t be the first company to accept the meme token in payment. The Dallas Mavericks — the basketball team owned by crypto fan Mark Cuban — began selling tickets and merchandise in exchange for it earlier this year.

Musk and Tesla have been key drivers of the cryptocurrency boom in 2021. The electric-car maker bought $1.5 billion bitcoin in January, and then in March, announced it would start accepting the cryptocurrency in payment for cars.

However, Musk rowed back on that idea in May, criticizing bitcoin’s “insane” energy use. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin, are secured and “mined” using lots of computing power.

Musk began to talk more about dogecoin as he backed away from bitcoin in May, saying he was working with developers to improve its efficiency.

Read more: These 3 proof-of-stake altcoins can surge in the long-term – although shiba inu fever will soon die down, according to a top exec at a platform that hosts almost $3 billion worth of blockchain nodes

It’s been a busy week for Musk, who just sold another $900 million of Tesla stock, taking his total sales since early November to just under $13 billion.

The world’s wealthiest man, he was chosen Monday by Time Magazine as its Person of the Year. The publication called Musk “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman, [and] cad.”

Dogecoin’s Tuesday jump was out of keeping with the rest of the crypto sector, which was a sea of red. Digital assets are seen by most investors as highly speculative, and have suffered as the Federal Reserve has talked up the chances of tighter monetary policy.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for further comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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Battle of the metaverses and a billion-dollar hack — 13 expert predictions for what’s next for crypto in 2022

Traffic lights with green light replaced by bitcoin sign, clouds and light blue sky in the background
Experts share their predictions for crypto in 2022.

WinzenT/Getty Images

  • After an eventful 2021 in crypto, experts shared their predictions for the sector next year with Insider.
  • Among them: Expect a battle for the metaverse, the first billion-dollar hack, and the use of bots to buy NFTs.
  • The crypto economy will top $7.5 trillion in 2022, and most jobs will partly be in the metaverse, were others.

Events in the crypto space are moving a mile a minute — and expect next year to keep up the pace as big business stakes out its turf, blockchains refine their tech, and easier points of entry let newcomers in.

Consider what happened in 2021: El Salvador adopted the top cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender. Retail investors dived in. China cracked down on crypto mining. Facebook went all-in on the metaverse, which has Wall Street seeing dollar signs.

Digital currencies are now well on their way to becoming part of mainstream finance. The US approved the first bitcoin futures ETF, while crypto leaders urged regulators to provide clearer rules for the $3 trillion industry.

That flurry of developments, which came as the pandemic played out, generated a whirlwind of excitement among investors. To learn what drivers might lie ahead, Insider asked industry experts to predict what’s next for crypto.

These are the top 13 predictions for the crypto sector in 2022:

1. Ethereum’s price will rise at a much faster rate than bitcoin, due to the move to proof of stake. — Tom Higgins, CEO at asset management platform Gold-i.

2. Bitcoin may gain the upper hand versus stocks in 2022. — Mike McGlone, head crypto analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

3. A Fortune 500 crypto company that has gone remote-first will declare their official headquarters to be on one of the competing metaverses. — Brandon Arvanaghi, CEO of crypto startup Meow.

4. The metaverse will become the new interface for people to engage with the web and each other. — Justin Banon, co-founder of decentralized network Boson Protocol.

5. Expect a battle between crypto-native metaverse and ones launched by gaming and corporate entities like Meta. — Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.

6. The crypto-economy market capitalization will rise from a peak of $3 trillion in 2021 to over $7.5 trillion at some point in 2022. — Rohit Talwar, CEO at insight and research business Fast Future.

7. Next year will see the world’s first billion-dollar hack as DeFi activity continues to increase. — Benjamin Whitby, who oversees regulatory affairs at cross-chain protocol Qredo, on decentralized finance.

8. At least 25 countries will be using a central bank digital currency by the end of 2022. Either their own, or one issued by another country, such as China’s digital yuan. — Fast Future’s Talwar.

9. Investors will use bots to make purchases during NFT minting events, which could potentially shut out less sophisticated users. — Ethan McMahon, economist at blockchain data platform Chainalysis, on non-fungible tokens.

10. Most people will operate day-to-day jobs partially in the metaverse. — Shane Molidor, chief revenue officer at digital asset financial platform AscendEx.

11. Banks will look to crypto for fraud trends. — Chris Stephens, head of fraud and security analytics at identification platform Callsign.

12. Initial Game Offerings will become popular. Expect the larger organizations like GameStop and Epic to begin making plays at some point in 2022. — Nick Saponaro, co-founder and CEO of decentralized payment ecosystem Divi Project.

13. If countries take a hostile stance, adoption will be much slower. — Witek Radomski, co-founder and CTO at blockchain platform Enjin.

Read More: If you’re a millennial or Gen Z crypto investor, it’s time to diversify, according to the investment chief for a firm managing $260 billion. He breaks down 6 ‘less fashionable’ assets offering uncorrelated returns.

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Battle of the metaverses and a billion-dollar hack — 13 expert predictions of what’s next for crypto in 2022

Traffic lights with green light replaced by bitcoin sign, clouds and light blue sky in the background
Experts share their predictions for crypto in 2022.

WinzenT/Getty Images

  • After an eventful 2021 in crypto, experts shared their predictions for the sector next year with Insider.
  • Among them: Expect a battle for the metaverse, the first billion-dollar hack, and the use of bots to buy NFTs.
  • The crypto economy will top $7.5 trillion in 2022, and most jobs will partly be in the metaverse, were others.

Events in the crypto space are moving a mile a minute — and expect next year to keep up the pace as big business stakes out its turf, blockchains refine their tech, and easier points of entry let newcomers in.

Consider what happened in 2021: El Salvador adopted the top cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender. Retail investors dived in. China cracked down on crypto mining. Facebook went all-in on the metaverse, which has Wall Street seeing dollar signs.

Digital currencies are now well on their way to becoming part of mainstream finance. The US approved the first bitcoin futures ETF, while crypto leaders urged regulators to provide clearer rules for the $3 trillion industry.

That flurry of developments, which came as the pandemic played out, generated a whirlwind of excitement among investors. To learn what drivers might lie ahead, Insider asked industry experts to predict what’s next for crypto.

These are the top 13 predictions for the crypto sector in 2022:

1. Ethereum’s price will rise at a much faster rate than bitcoin, due to the move to proof of stake. — Tom Higgins, CEO at asset management platform Gold-i.

2. Bitcoin may gain the upper hand versus stocks in 2022. — Mike McGlone, head crypto analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

3. A Fortune 500 crypto company that has gone remote-first will declare their official headquarters to be on one of the competing metaverses. — Brandon Arvanaghi, CEO of crypto startup Meow.

4. The metaverse will become the new interface for people to engage with the web and each other. — Justin Banon, co-founder of decentralized network Boson Protocol.

5. Expect a battle between crypto-native metaverse and ones launched by gaming and corporate entities like Meta. — Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.

6. The crypto-economy market capitalization will rise from a peak of $3 trillion in 2021 to over $7.5 trillion at some point in 2022. — Rohit Talwar, CEO at insight and research business Fast Future.

7. Next year will see the world’s first billion-dollar hack as DeFi activity continues to increase. — Benjamin Whitby, who oversees regulatory affairs at cross-chain protocol Qredo, on decentralized finance.

8. At least 25 countries will be using a central bank digital currency by the end of 2022. Either their own, or one issued by another country, such as China’s digital yuan. — Fast Future’s Talwar.

9. Investors will use bots to make purchases during NFT minting events, which could potentially shut out less sophisticated users. — Ethan McMahon, economist at blockchain data platform Chainalysis, on non-fungible tokens.

10. Most people will operate day-to-day jobs partially in the metaverse. — Shane Molidor, chief revenue officer at digital asset financial platform AscendEx.

11. Banks will look to crypto for fraud trends. — Chris Stephens, head of fraud and security analytics at identification platform Callsign.

12. Initial Game Offerings will become popular. Expect the larger organizations like GameStop and Epic to begin making plays at some point in 2022. — Nick Saponaro, co-founder and CEO of decentralized payment ecosystem Divi Project.

13. If countries take a hostile stance, adoption will be much slower. — Witek Radomski, co-founder and CTO at blockchain platform Enjin.

Read More: If you’re a millennial or Gen Z crypto investor, it’s time to diversify, according to the investment chief for a firm managing $260 billion. He breaks down 6 ‘less fashionable’ assets offering uncorrelated returns.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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A co-founder of The Sandbox explains what on earth is going on in the metaverse — where land is selling for millions and Snoop Dogg is hanging out

A rendering of land in The Sandbox virtual metaverse
The Sandbox is at the center of a virtual land boom.

The Sandbox

  • A whole lot of hype has built up around the metaverse, and Wall Street is getting excited about its money-making potential.
  • A piece of land in The Sandbox just sold for $4.3 million, while buyers are rushing to get a plot near Snoop Dogg’s virtual mansion.
  • The Sandbox cofounder Sebastien Borget told Insider that it’s still early days, but a whole new economy could soon be built.

Noone knows what the metaverse is going to look like. Or even it’s really going to become a thing.

The fuzzy term refers to virtual worlds in which people create avatars to play games, work, build things, or watch virtual events. Big beasts such as Facebook want in, but crypto developers are currently making the running.

Either way, there’s a lot of hype about it right now. The Wall Street crowd is getting very excited about its money-making potential.

Nothing has driven that hype more than the huge property transactions that are taking place, with parcels of virtual land changing hands for millions of dollars.

Right at the centre of the virtual land boom is The Sandbox, a blockchain-based decentralized metaverse. A tract of virtual land inside it just sold for $4.3 million, even though it’s yet to fully launch.

As the virtual world develops next year, people will be able to build and sell items, play games to earn tokens, trade property, and more.

Sandbox has seen $211 million of land sales

Sebastien Borget co-founded The Sandbox gaming company in 2012, and is now its chief operating officer. He says virtual land sales have exploded in recent months, and that total sales between 2019 and today amount to $211 million.

Crypto enthusiasts, creators and gamers alike have been drawn in. The ‘sand’ cryptocurrency is up more than 9,000% in the last year.

“So far the reception has been good and we have thousands of users playing simultaneously [in the alpha version],” Borget told Insider. Yet he added: “It’s still very early on.”

Read more: More than $100 million of metaverse land was sold in the last week alone. The co-founder of a virtual real estate company breaks down why the opportunity in digital properties could rise ​200x in 16 months.

He envisions it becoming a digital economy with virtual concerts, art galleries, museums, and architectural practices.

Borget has been very excited by the arrival of legendary rapper Snoop Dogg into The Sandbox, with the Doggfather set to perform virtual shows. Someone just coughed up $450,000 for a piece of land near Snoop’s mansion — likely the most expensive land sale by square metre so far.

Crypto tech ‘allows user ownership’

Early metaverses such as The Sandbox and Decentraland are rooted in decentralized crypto technology, with transactions denominated in digital tokens.

But why must metaverses be based on crypto technology? Couldn’t they just be written using normal computer code?

Borget said blockchain technology is hugely useful for allowing users to own the content they create in The Sandbox, because it lets them mint it onto non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — a sort of unique crypto collectible.

It also allows complex networks to exist without any one entity having overall control. For example, the amount of land in The Sandbox is finite, Borget said, and is governed by a so-called smart contract written onto the blockchain.

“I’m working to grow the decentralized part of the metaverse where we enable users to truly own their identity and be self-sovereign,” he said.

Metaverse are drawing in big brands

Yet that’s not to say the crypto metaverse is some kind of socialist state. Companies like The Sandbox are out to make money through numerous fees on users. The Sandbox takes a chunky 5% each time anyone buys or sells anything with the sand token, for example.

The Sandbox believes deals with major brands are key to creating a vibrant economy within the metaverse and drawing in users. Museums and art galleries may be a way off but so far The Smurfs, Care Bears, and The Walking Dead have signed up.

It speaks to Borget’s vision of the metaverse, a quirky place where fun is paramount.

“Avatars … will have access to very diverse culturally diverse experiences,” he said. “And that makes it a compelling place to be.”

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Crypto firms have embarked on a lobbying blitz this year and have reportedly spent $5 million in the first 3 quarters as regulation looms

crypto
The cryptocurrency market this year has swelled to a valuation of $2.2 trillion.

Jack Taylor/Getty Images

  • Crypto firms spent $5 million in the first nine months of 2021 lobbying US legislators, The Economist reported. 
  • The report noted spending by crypto exchange Coinbase and payments company Block.
  • Roughly $2.5 million of the funds were spent between July and September, a quadrupling over the year-ago period. 

Cryptocurrency firms ramped up spending during 2021 to lobby US lawmakers as the industry faces potential legislation, with the tab ballooning to about $5 million over a few months, according to The Economist. 

The spending took place during the first nine months of this year and the amount was calculated using public disclosures, the magazine reported in its December 11 edition. Roughly $2.5 million of the funds were spent between July and September, a quadrupling over the same period in 2020. 

The amount of money spent employs the equivalent of 86 full-time staff, a surge from just one in 2016, the report said. It also said crypto exchange Coinbase spent $625,000 on lobbyists in the third quarter alone and payments company Block has shelled out more than $1.7 million since April 2020. 

Block recently had a name change from Square. Its CEO and bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey recently left the helm of Twitter to focus more time on the payments company that he co-founded. 

There are “reams of regulations” potentially in play for the crypto industry, the report said. Issues under consideration include the taxation of crypto investments and protection of consumers from fraud, reducing systemic risk, and ensuring fair competition.

An overall surge in prices for bitcoin, altcoins, NFTs and DeFi tokens this year had collectively pushed the cryptocurrency market past a $3 trillion valuation for the first time. The market cap has since slipped, moving to $2.2 trillion on Friday. 

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Trading app Public adds 4 more cryptocurrencies including metaverse token Decentraland

Decentraland, one of the most popular metaverses
Decentraland, one of the most popular metaverses. Decentraland press kit

Decentraland press kit

  • Trading app Public added four more digital assets to its crypto trading platform, the company said.
  • Metaverse token decentraland, which has rallied about 150% this year, was one of them.
  • Public now has 25 cryptocurrencies available to buy and sell on its platform.

Trading app Public just added four more tokens to its crypto exchange, including metaverse favorite Decentraland.

Public, the social stock trading app that launched in 2019, added cryptocurrencies Decentraland, Cosmos, Fantom, and The Graph to its platform — bringing the total number of tokens users can buy and sell to 25, the company said in an email to Insider.

In reference to how it determines which crypto tokens to add to its platform, Public said: 

“When offering new crypto assets, we work in close collaboration with our partner Apex Crypto, and we also have a variety of attributes we consider, including market cap, trading volume, ensuring a diverse set of offerings, and providing a balance between offering well-known, popular assets and meeting the market moment”

The Decentraland token has surged about 150% in the past year, with much of those gains coming in the past month since the company formerly known as Facebook rebranded to Meta.

The metaverse is considered the next phase of the internet, a digital world where people can live, work, interact, and play. Decentraland is a version of the metaverse where people can buy and sell virtual items like land using the platform’s native MANA token. One plot of land recently sold for about $2.5 million, Insider reported at the time. 

Public started offering crypto trading in October amid a broad rally in digital assets. At first, the platform allowed trading of just 10 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether. Amid the epic rise in dogecoin spinoff shiba inu, the platform began offering the dog-inspired meme coin. In November, Public added 10 more coins, including Solana, Terra, Uniswap, Avalanche, Chainlink, Polygon. 

The platform has bolstered its crypto offerings, in contrast to competitor Robinhood, which has held off on adding more digital assets to its roster until further clarity is provided around regulation of the space. 

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposes letting business pay state fees with cryptocurrencies

Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

  • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed letting businesses pay state fees with crypto in his budget plan.
  • He also suggested exploring ways to use blockchain technology for car titles and Medicaid payments.
  • He said he wants the state government to be “crypto friendly.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed letting businesses pay state fees with cryptocurrencies. 

The Republican governor announced the idea in his 2022-23 budget proposal released Thursday. In his “Freedom First Budget,” DeSantis suggested providing $200,000 to the state’s financial services department in order to give them the ability to accept state fees from Florida corporations in cryptocurrency.

He also proposed allocating another $500,000 to exploring the use of blockchain technology to maintain and provide motor vehicle titles and to authenticate Medicaid transactions and identify potential fraud. According to a report from Fortune, DeSantis said he’s hoping to make the state government “crypto friendly.”

“Florida encourages cryptocurrency as a means of commerce and furthering Florida’s attractiveness to businesses and economic growth,” he wrote in the proposal.

Florida, and more specifically Miami, has become a crypto hub. The massive bitcoin convention this year took place in Miami, whose mayor, Francis Suarez, has since agreed to take his paycheck in crypto.

Miami is quickly becoming the Wall Street for crypto companies, as businesses like FTX, eToro, and Blockchain.com, among others, have expanded their footprint on the city. The Miami Heat’s stadium was recently rebranded to FTX Arena, and Blockchain.com moved its headquarters to Miami from New York.

On top of that, a cryptocurrency called “MiamiCoin” has even been introduced in the hopes of generating enough revenue to replace income from taxes.

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A California democrat’s joke during Wednesday’s crypto hearing has spurred the creation of ‘mongoose coin’

Family of banded mongoose at Masai Mara National Park, Kenya.
Family of banded mongoose at Masai Mara National Park, Kenya. Getty images stock photo

Getty images stock photo

  • Rep. Brad Sherman joked about a hypothetical mongoose coin upending the crypto world. 
  • His jab spurred several versions of a mongoose coin trading on various platforms.
  • “Bitcoin could be replaced by ether which could be replaced by doge,” he said.

The Congressional hearing on crypto spurred a new meme cryptocurrency: mongoose coin.

On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee questioned six crypto leaders about the benefits and challenges of digital assets. FTX Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried and Coinbase CEO Alesia Jeanne Haas testified at the hearing, along with the heads of Bitfury, Circle, Paxos Trust Company, and Stellar Development Foundation.

In his line of questions, Rep. Brad Sherman, a California democrat, said cryptocurrencies themselves are the No. 1 threat to crypto. 

“Bitcoin could be replaced by ether which could be replaced by doge,” he said. That, he said, “could be replaced by hamster coin and then there’s cobra coin.”

“What could mongoose coin do to crypto coin?” He joked. A Mongoose — an African animal that can get as long as 2 feet — is known for living in burrows and eating other animals, including cobra snakes.

Following his remarks, several mongoose coins started trading on platforms including Polygon, Avalanche, and Binance Smart Chain. Decrypt and Mashable first reported the news. 

On Polygon and Binance Smart Chain, the supply was approximately “69,420,000,” a popular meme finance number. Some of the coins saw a price surge before dropping back down.  

Mongoose coin follows a long line of meme tokens. Likely the most well-known meme coin, boosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is dogecoin. Following dogecoin came shiba inu coin. Some, like Squid Game coin based on the Netflix hit show, have been scams.

“Will mongoose coin always have a value?” Sherman said at the hearing. “I don’t know. I just made it up. It’s a joke. Although I said that about hamster coin, and then I found out there really was a hamster coin. It’s not fair to compare fiat currencies’ current system to what cryptocurrencies aspire to be.”

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Bitcoin’s price could surge by another $500,000 as institutional investors search for uncorrelated assets, Cathie Wood says

Cathie Wood of Ark Invest

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

  • Bitcoin’s price could surge to $550,000 as institutional investors ramp up allocations to the space, according to Cathie Wood.
  • Wood told CNBC on Thursday that institutions are seeking exposure to uncorrelated assets and crypto fits the bill.
  • “The move by institutions into bitcoin could add $500,000 to bitcoin’s price if they moved into the tune of roughly 5% over time,” Wood said.

The price of bitcoin could surge to more than $500,000 as institutional investors begin to allocate to the relatively new cryptocurrency space, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood told CNBC in an interview on Thursday.

Wood explained that institutions are always in search of investments that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes like stocks and bonds, and crypto fits that bill.

“I think institutions are moving in [to crypto] right now,” Wood said, adding that they currently prefer the two largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ether. As a whole, according to Wood, institutions barely have any exposure to the space.

“The reason institutions are moving in is to some extent this is a new asset class with correlations very different compared to other asset classes,” Wood explained. A study conducted by Ark Invest found that the asset with the closest correlation to bitcoin is real estate.

That runs counter to the commonly held belief that cryptocurrencies are risk assets that move in tandem with broader moves in the stock market. For example, amid the Omicron-induced stock market sell-off last week, bitcoin entered a bear market, falling more than 20% from its recent high.

“Institutional managers have to look at new asset classes that are evolving, that have low correlations, that’s the key to diversification, and it’s the holy grail in terms of asset allocation,” Wood said. 

If institutions moved roughly 5% of their portfolio to bitcoin over time, Wood believes it would add $500,000 to the current price of bitcoin, to about $550,000 based on bitcoin’s current price. That represents potential upside of 1,000% from current levels. 

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