Latest / The Paul Barron Crypto Show / Stablecoin Bill Leads XRP ETF Approval🚀XRP Las Vegas🚨Matt Hougan Bitwise INTERVIEW
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: All right, we are here at XRP Las Vegas. If
- 0:08Speaker 1: joining me today of course is Meadow coming in for
- 0:10Speaker 1: bit wise.
- 0:10Speaker 2: How are you? I'm great, Thanks for having me.
- 0:12Speaker 1: Yeah, so, Matt, first time are in person.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Right, that's good. Let's get into a little bit.
- 0:17Speaker 1: About what's happening with bitwise right now. Yeah.
- 0:19Speaker 2: So the market is unlocking in two major ways for bitwise. Remember,
- 0:23Speaker 2: bitwise serves a lot of institutional and professional investors, So
- 0:27Speaker 2: the dual unlocks are those platforms are getting more interested
- 0:31Speaker 2: and more open in letting their wealth advisors and wealthy
- 0:34Speaker 2: investors access crypto at the same time that the SEC
- 0:38Speaker 2: is broadening the window of what it will allow in ETF.
- 0:41Speaker 2: So it's a very exciting time for bit wise because
- 0:44Speaker 2: that means we can build the products that people want
- 0:47Speaker 2: and help them access it. So we do these surveys
- 0:49Speaker 2: of institutions every year and we ask what's preventing you
- 0:52Speaker 2: from allocating to crypto. It's not the volatility, it's not
- 0:56Speaker 2: environmental concerns, it's not any of the fun questions. It's
- 0:59Speaker 2: always been regulatory uncertainty, because the last thing these people
- 1:03Speaker 2: want is a regulator knocking on their door and asking
- 1:07Speaker 2: them questions about why you did this or why you
- 1:09Speaker 2: did that. They need the regulatory green life. So the
- 1:12Speaker 2: approval of ETF specifically provided a lot of that regulatory clarity,
- 1:17Speaker 2: and now that the SEC is hopefully allowing more and
- 1:20Speaker 2: more ETFs, it's just opening it up significantly every day
- 1:25Speaker 2: with the.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Genius Act going through. Most likely will happen maybe this week.
- 1:30Speaker 1: How quickly will we start to see US dollars moving
- 1:34Speaker 1: in and on Chaine so it can't start deploying.
- 1:37Speaker 2: Oh, I think it's going to be very fast. I
- 1:39Speaker 2: mean the US Treasury, which is not known for outlandish predictions,
- 1:42Speaker 2: thanks stable coin, AUM will go from two hundred and
- 1:45Speaker 2: fifty billion to day to two plus trillion dollars within
- 1:49Speaker 2: the next few years. I think they may be understated,
- 1:51Speaker 2: but they're predicting a ten x and that means critically
- 1:55Speaker 2: that people are going to be using crypto in their
- 1:58Speaker 2: day to day lives in the next couple of years.
- 2:01Speaker 2: There's always been this criticism of crypto, when are we
- 2:03Speaker 2: going to see the real world impact. The answer to
- 2:05Speaker 2: that is, in the next few months, we're gonna start
- 2:07Speaker 2: seeing stable coins penetrate regular daily use. You're going to
- 2:11Speaker 2: start feeling it in the next couple of months. I
- 2:14Speaker 2: heard Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, on the other day
- 2:17Speaker 2: he's using stable coins to do collateral settlement on the weekends.
- 2:22Speaker 1: Right.
- 2:22Speaker 2: I actually think there's going to be a big B
- 2:24Speaker 2: to B move, a big international move. Look, I think
- 2:26Speaker 2: it's going to get to the consumer. I think in
- 2:28Speaker 2: a few years we may be buying goods on Amazon
- 2:31Speaker 2: with stable coins and getting a one or two percent discount.
- 2:34Speaker 2: But I actually think businesses are going to be the
- 2:36Speaker 2: first ones to pick them up. If we're talking about
- 2:39Speaker 2: paying an extra two percent when we go to buy
- 2:41Speaker 2: a coffee, that's like, you know, what is it twenty
- 2:43Speaker 2: thirty cents sort of whatever. If you're moving trillions of dollars,
- 2:46Speaker 2: you better believe that two percent matters. So I think
- 2:49Speaker 2: it's gonna be B to B first, B two C
- 2:51Speaker 2: sooner than you think. But B two C will still
- 2:53Speaker 2: be you know, a year or two away in the US,
- 2:55Speaker 2: But you're gonna see the B to B impacts I
- 2:57Speaker 2: think pretty immediately.
- 2:59Speaker 1: Obviously, ETFs have kind of been the deployment mechanism for
- 3:02Speaker 1: most crypto friendly investors. They're saying, Okay, I want to
- 3:05Speaker 1: access I'm going to go to an ETF right now. Yep.
- 3:08Speaker 1: Next up is going to be these next layer of
- 3:10Speaker 1: ETFs coming through XRP, Solana, et cetera. How close do
- 3:14Speaker 1: you think we are on seeing those really?
- 3:16Speaker 2: You know, I can't speak on any specific filing because
- 3:18Speaker 2: of course we have filings live at the SEC. But
- 3:21Speaker 2: I think we're making progress. You have all the indications
- 3:24Speaker 2: that we're on track. What do I mean by that?
- 3:26Speaker 2: You know, we're starting to see regulated futures trade, We're
- 3:29Speaker 2: starting to see the SEC consider more innovative things. We're
- 3:33Speaker 2: getting to the point in the timeline where the SEC
- 3:35Speaker 2: has to say yes or no. So I'm hopeful we'll
- 3:38Speaker 2: see major unlocks. And I will say this when I
- 3:41Speaker 2: talk to institutional investors, they're excited to look beyond bitcoins.
- 3:45Speaker 2: Many of them have exposure to bitcoin, and they're happy
- 3:48Speaker 2: about that. It's a great hedge against fiat debasement. It's
- 3:51Speaker 2: great hedge against debt and deficits. But what else can
- 3:54Speaker 2: blockchains do? They can do amazing things on stable coins, topnization,
- 3:58Speaker 2: et cetera, and that means broadening your exposure. So I'm
- 4:01Speaker 2: hopeful we'll get there this year. From the SEC's perspective,
- 4:04Speaker 2: and I think the institutional demand will be there for
- 4:08Speaker 2: these other non bitcoin exposures because these are markets that
- 4:11Speaker 2: people are very excited.
- 4:12Speaker 1: Do you think there's anything that could hold this back?
- 4:15Speaker 2: Well, Washington can always fumble it at the one yard line.
- 4:19Speaker 2: I mean, how many times have we seen that? So
- 4:21Speaker 2: I'm very optimistic about the stable coin bill, but it's
- 4:24Speaker 2: not signed into law yet. That would be a significant setback.
- 4:29Speaker 2: You could see the SEC be more conservative. Again, I'm
- 4:32Speaker 2: very optimistic. I think the data is there, I think
- 4:35Speaker 2: the rationale is there. But I've definitely learned over the years, Paul,
- 4:38Speaker 2: you can't trust Washington until it's done. So I'm keeping
- 4:42Speaker 2: a hawkeye on Washington to make sure they stay on
- 4:44Speaker 2: the path of doing the right thing for investors and
- 4:47Speaker 2: the right thing for America. I think they will, but
- 4:50Speaker 2: you know, let's prove it before we celebrate.
- 4:52Speaker 1: Do you feel like maybe the market has desensitized away
- 4:56Speaker 1: from tariffs.
- 4:57Speaker 2: I think two things are happening. One, I think it's
- 4:59Speaker 2: decent they are tied away from tariffs. We realize the
- 5:02Speaker 2: world's not going to end. There will be tariffs. They'll
- 5:05Speaker 2: be varying in size and will continue to live our
- 5:07Speaker 2: day to day lives.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Right.
- 5:09Speaker 2: I also think to an extent, people are looking at
- 5:11Speaker 2: crypto actually, is this source of stability right edge? If
- 5:15Speaker 2: you think of do you want to loan government money
- 5:18Speaker 2: for the next thirty years? Right? That seems a little crazy.
- 5:21Speaker 2: We see these deficits spiraling to infinity. Crypto is just
- 5:25Speaker 2: doing its things. So I think it is decoupling a
- 5:27Speaker 2: little bit, and I think people are calming down that, yes,
- 5:30Speaker 2: the world is changing, but it's not you know, it's
- 5:33Speaker 2: not completely changing.
- 5:34Speaker 1: How big of a role do you think China's going
- 5:36Speaker 1: to play in digital assets?
- 5:37Speaker 2: I think it's sort of up to them. If they
- 5:39Speaker 2: want to be a closed ecosystem that's oppressive to their
- 5:43Speaker 2: people and insists on surveillance and doesn't embrace these decentralized,
- 5:48Speaker 2: freedom driving assets that crypto are, then they're not going
- 5:52Speaker 2: to play a role at all. They can wall themselves off.
- 5:55Speaker 2: If they open up, which they have in the past
- 5:57Speaker 2: they've been on again, off again, then they could play
- 6:00Speaker 2: I think it's really up to them. I don't know,
- 6:03Speaker 2: you know which side of the spectrum they'll fall on.
- 6:05Speaker 2: I'm not a China expert, but it's it's up to
- 6:08Speaker 2: them right now, it looks like not that big a role.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Matt Hogan, always love having you on the show.
- 6:12Speaker 2: Thanks for having me today. Yeah, I appreciate it.