Bitcoin 
It is rare for the founder of a digital assets-focused company to say investors ‘could probably live without’ cryptocurrency, but ByteTree Asset Management’s Charlie Morris was quick to add the caveat ‘for now’.
Morris, co-founder and chief investment officer of the boutique group, said the longevity of changes in the way money is traded, as well as the boom in the associated technologies, is going to be hard to ignore – even for large institutional players.
Having launched its flagship ETP Bold earlier this year, in conjunction with crypto specialist 21Shares, ByteTree AM is looking to combine the liquidity and quality of two very different asset classes – bitcoin and gold.
With both asset classes under pressure currently – as bitcoin is down 32% year-on-year – Morris said investors need to think longer term. ‘While the crypto industry has been one hell of a ride over the last decade, I think in the long term they will recognise that the idea of exchanging value across the internet is here to stay,’ said Morris.
However, the former HSBC fund manager likened the current crypto universe to the ‘Wild West’, as there is a lot of unregulated activity, but he believes it will gradually become normalised and more attractive to the wider investment world.
