The article mainly talks about how traditional Wall Street is changing its attitudes towards crypto finance based on the Crypto Bahamas conference co-hosted by SALT and FTX. Many Wall Street veterans attended this conference and showed optimism about the future of crypto. The popularity of this conference shows that the baby boomer generation on Wall Street is ready to accept blockchain and crypto finance. For example, major institutions like Citadel Securities, Fidelity, and BlackRock have made crypto investments recently. The institutional allocation to crypto assets is expected to increase to 2.5% in the future.
Crypto Bahamas attracts Wall Street veterans
The Crypto Bahamas conference attracted over 2,000 finance professionals for three days of discussions. Executives from major hedge funds like Third Point and Apollo Global Management attended. In addition to these baby boomer veterans, there were also many young crypto entrepreneurs from companies like Alchemy, Anchorage, and Dapper Labs.
Institutions are embracing crypto investments
The conference shows examples of how Wall Street is embracing crypto finance. For example, Citadel Securities has accepted crypto investments from Paradigm. Fidelity and BlackRock have acquired equity in the USD Coin stablecoin issuer Circle. Fidelity announced bitcoin investment options for customers. Bank of New York Mellon acquired the crypto custodian Fireblocks.
Institutional crypto allocation could rise to 2.5%
Star stock picker Cathie Wood said other brokerages like Charles Schwab will follow Fidelity’s move. She expects institutional crypto allocation to rise to 2.5% from a tiny portion now. Kevin O’Leary of O’Leary Ventures agrees with her forecast but says it requires clearer regulations.
Focus shifts from 3 years to 30 years
According to Brahm Pillai of Keystone Global, past SALT conferences focused on 1-3 year returns. But at Crypto Bahamas, no one discussed expected annual returns. Instead of 3 years, they talked about the next 30 years. So the crypto market downturn in 2022 doesn’t make attendees anxious.
Crypto can complement traditional finance
Brett Harrison of FTX US proposed a clearing system to CFTC that calculates margin requirements every 30 seconds. He believes such technology can greatly improve on current clearing processes. Anthony Scaramucci said more financial innovation like FTX US will happen. He argued crypto is the future trend and more nimble than traditional finance. One day crypto exchanges like FTX could even acquire Wall Street stalwarts like Goldman Sachs.
The Crypto Bahamas conference shows that Wall Street veterans are ready to accept crypto finance, which is seen as the more efficient and innovative future of finance. Major institutions have started allocating funds to crypto. The institutional crypto allocation may rise to 2.5% in the future. Crypto is also seen as a complement rather than a competitor to traditional finance.