Sam Bankman-Fried – the man in charge of popular and fast-growing cryptocurrency exchange FTX – says there is likely to be more institutional adoption of cryptocurrency in the year 2022 granted regulation becomes a solid thing.
Sam Bankman-Fried On What Will Attract Institutions
Regulation has been a controversial topic in the crypto space for many years. For some, the idea of bringing regulation into the mix goes against everything crypto stands for. After all, it was designed to be a fully decentralized space that allowed people to have full and total control over their finances. To make this happen, there cannot be any rules or regulations that get in the way of their decisions.
However, this has caused problems for some in that the crypto space has been overwrought with fraud and scams from malicious actors who seek to get their hands on funds they have not earned. Thus, the industry has recorded billion-dollar theft over the past several years, and much of that money has not been recovered given that there are no regulations providing help to those who have been victimized.
The big question is whether to let the crypto space remain as it is or introduce some elements of traditional finance to ensure traders are more protected in the future. According to Sam Bankman-Fried, engaging in the latter is likely to bring more institutions and companies onboard the crypto train. As it stands, the space is largely dominated by retailers, and while there are occasional institutional investments from companies such as Square and MicroStrategy, these are rare by comparison.
The idea is that regulation is what is necessary to stabilize crypto and make it more mainstream and legitimate. Bankman-Fried is confident that with the right rules in place, enterprises will flock to the space in droves, begin investing regularly, and really drive prices sky high. He says:
Especially if we feel like they’re getting clarity, that could come in a tidal wave. It could come in a trickle.
At the same time, he acknowledges that regulation is going to take a long time to establish, and thus traders shouldn’t expect to see any serious changes occur in the immediate future. He says:
It’s going to be a long process, probably stretched out over a few years. I’ve talked to every large bank, every large investment bank, pension funds — they’re all eyeing the sector. Many of them have started breaking ground on their activities in it, but it’s just slow and it takes time.
This Could Be a Major Turning Point for Crypto
Bankman-Fried began his exchange just three years ago in 2019. He is confident that big things are going to happen for crypto in 2022 given what a stellar year 2021 was for bitcoin and related assets. He says:
I do think that there’s going to be a lot happening this year.
