On August 7th, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in a press release that it had postponed its decision on the Bitcoin ETF filing submitted by VanEck and SolidX by another 45 days. With the market facing a historic downturn in the wake of the delay, Crypto hedge-fund manager and CEO of Pantera Capital Dan Morehead went on CNBC’s ‘Fast Money’ and encouraged crypto investors not to panic.

CNBC business newsman Bob Pisani began the Fast Money segment by declaring, “We’re no closer to getting a Bitcoin ETF,” further adding that, “the SEC decision was to put [the SolidX Bitcoin ETF] off until September 30th. But don’t kid yourself, the SEC is likely not considering anything other than a lengthy brief on why they will deny the ETF, just as they did the Winklevoss ETF.”

Following this, Dan Morehead provided some much needed encouragement for crypto-enthusiasts that the future of crypto remains positive.

“The main thing to remember is that Bitcoin is a very early-stage venture, but has real-time price feed—and that’s a unique thing. People get excited about the price and overreact,” said Morehead.

In response to Pisani, Morehead admitted that he agrees that Bitcoin ETFs are likely not to come anytime soon.

“I still think it will be quite a long time until an ETF is approved,” said Morehead.

Morehead added that rather than seeking ETF approval, Bitcoin along with other cryptocurrencies would be more practical as assets within hedge-funds. He noted that the last asset class to be approved for ETF certification was copper.

“Copper has been on earth for 10,000 years, and it just got approved in 2012 after a very long multi-year process. I think ETFs in Bitcoin still have a long ways to go.”

Eight of the top ten listed cryptocurrencies have undergone double digit percentage losses in the last 7 days. Much of the downturn, particularly with leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is being unsurprisingly attributed to the negative news coming out of the SEC. However, despite all this, Morehead is encouraging investors to keep things in perspective. He cites that even after hitting lows of nearly $6,200 on the week, Bitcoin is up approximately 82 percent on its year over year statistics. Morehead projects that a year from now Bitcoin will be at a much higher price than it is today.

Morehead concluded his interview by stating his belief for the potentially revolutionary power of the recently announced Bakkt cryptocurrency exchange, which Morehead’s company Pantera, along with Intercontinental Exchange, BCG, Microsoft and Starbucks, have invested in heavily. Baakt is aiming to bring a globalized regulated and connected infrastructure along with institutional and consumer applications to the cryptocurrency marketplace. Furthermore, Bakkt’s partnership with coffee retail giant Starbucks brings with it the exciting possibility that Bitcoin payment options might soon become available across Starbucks stores worldwide.

“That’s huge news,” Morehead said. “[Bakkt Exchange] is going to have a very profound impact over the next five or 10 years for the markets, and, to my mind, that’s what people should be focused on.”

The post Crypto Hedge-Fund Manager Tells CNBC that Investors Need to Stop ‘Overeacting’ to Bitcoin ETF Delays appeared first on UNHASHED.

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