Alexander Hoptner, the chief executive of BitMEX, believes institutional investors still have an appetite for crypto and Ethereum. He said there has not been a single slowdown of institutional push into crypto during the current bear market.
Speaking at the Token2049 Conference, Hoptner pointed out that institutions and finance industry players typically use bear markets for innovation. Despite more pressure to deliver in a bull market, bear markets offer the luxury of more time. The BitMEX boss said adoption for the finance industry has a long horizon which is why institutions will be buying and holding crypto assets while the retail sector is the opposite.
Hoptner is of the opinion that retail is still pulling out whereas institutions are still making a push. He thinks that institutions are preparing themselves to provide the services and retail will come back and push it up again. Hoptner said institutions will start piling back into Ethereum now that it has switched to proof-of-stake (PoS) and satisfies the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. He believes Ethereum is the ideal protocol to build stuff on. And it’s the ideal public event to create financial products for ESG conformity.
The executive outlined that ESG conformity is paramount and institutions can offer products that are really for a wider audience. Analysts, Ethereum enthusiasts, and investors expect ETH prices will touch $3,000 by year-end. Hoptner hopes for the same, especially now that the network is more environmentally friendly and big banks are using it.
