2018-12-18 07:20 |
2018 has been an otherwise horrifying year for the cryptocurrency world and its associated digital assets.
But for Greg Tusar, who was once the former head of electronic trading with the multinational Goldman Sachs Group, he has a great deal of optimism held for the crypto world.
“It's as if we're undergoing the early days of the electronic equities trading world,” Tusar explained. The now CTO and Co-founder of Tagomi Holdings gave his insights into the crypto market. “While it is in its relatively early stages, there's a wealth of opportunities in order to build some truly unique and exceptional businesses which can have an impact.”
Lauded as one of the first live electronic-based trading brokers which offers high-quality services, Tagomi has since begun conducting client trades. Tusar, in conjunction with his fellow co-founders, Marc Bhargava, who serves as the company's president, and the current CEO, Jennifer Campbell.
As a trading platform, Tagomi offers a unique combination of liqudity across a wider number of exchanges, while also offering more in the way of trade reports and increased transparency for customers. These include hedge funds and those individuals that are of a higher net worth, according to the founder-based trio.
Along with a market that is undergoing some of the lowest valuations in history, the cryptocurrency investment world is also rife with a number of challenges which impact heavily upon its future as a viable market. From large exchanges which are a struggle to communicate effectively with and issues of regulation and custody concerns, these are obstacles to overcome.
Tusar concedes these points but goes on to add that there isn't anyone out there that can really help some of these clients in putting together a strong enough strategy from start to finish. One of the other issues is the fact that large-scale institutional investors may find themselves having to cut up orders that would otherwise be possible in the conventional market.
“The current environment is challenging, for sure, but we think there’s a lot of longer-term demand for digital assets and helping clients understand the transformative impact of crypto and blockchain,” he went on to argue.
Recounting some of his professional experience, Tusar was a Goldman Sachs veteran of over a decade, finally deciding to leave after spending his time as global head of electronic trading services.
Along with his time serving as a trading head, he has been a very reputable representative for the company, being a readily visible individual at industry conferences, and openly speaking out about regulatory propositions, including the structure of equity markets and was officially made a partner in 2008.
Among the more recent additions to his experience includes working as the head of client market making and execution at KCG Holdings Inc, a New York-based company. Alongside KCG, Tusar also worked as the CEO of Greyworld Consulting.
The launch of trading by Tagomi Holdings comes amid a meltdown in the cryptocurrency universe that has seen the largest tokens shed billions in market value after surging in 2017. Bitcoin, which traded near $20,000 just a year ago, has dropped more than 75 percent to around $3,200 Monday. And some analysts are predicting it is likely to continue its downward trend and could fall as low as $1,500.
Compared to any other area of the investing world, the cryptocurrency market has come under an insane degree of pressure from US regulatory bodies, which have been piling on the intensity, cracking down on the space by and large. More recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has swatted down a number of attempts by private companies in order to create a Bitcoin ETF. This was due to the fact that there were serious concerns around possible price manipulations and concerns over surveillance.
In the past, the SEC has also been involved in the prosecution and fining of companies which didn't officially register their ICOs as securities.
But while the respective values of these cryptocurrencies have dropped significantly, the overall volatility of the market has fallen as well, and the variety of tools that the company provides is becoming an increasingly important attribute, according to Campbell.
“In periods of lower volatility, tools like those Tagomi provides, which reduce transaction costs, will become far more important.”
Those investors that are involved with trading in Tagomi, in general, have a more long-term perspective with regards to digital assets, especially cryptocurrencies, argued Tusar.
Some of these optimistic investors also include Founders Fund, which is the venture capital company of Peter Thiel. Along with Thiel's fund, supporters include SV Angel, Brainchild, Digital Currency Group.
“Officially, we had commenced building the platform back in March, and have since begun testing it out at various levels for a number of months,” Tusar elaborated. “We're now working to launch because we have officially finished building the platform, and now the goal is to get out there and entice clients into testing out the platform. The sort of people we are working to engage at the moment are highly intrigued and otherwise frustrated because they want to see its potential realized, something that can only happen after years.”
For investors, Digital assets are in an incredibly early stage of their life, Tusar stated.
“By working to take a longer-term view, I honestly believe that this is a truly unique and transformative technology, of which we're still seeing in its early stages.”
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