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Digital asset investors to be wary of “bumps in the road,” Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu says

  • An explosion in demand for NFTs and growth in the metaverse sector has seen digital assets such as Axie Infinity (AXS), Decentraland (MANA), and The Sandbox (SAND) soar.

  • Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu says the sector has seen “China-like growth” but believes investors must brace for a short term slowdown

Yat Siu, the co-founder and chairman of Hong Kong-based gaming firm Animoca Brands, says the digital asset space is facing potential “bumbs in the road” following an explosive growth trajectory over the past year.

Siu says there’s still a lot of demand for assets in the non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse sectors, with investors eyeing gains likely attracted by recent profits for some of the leading digital assets linked to virtual worlds.

But while he thinks the industry remains locked on long-term growth, the outlook in the short term might not be so great for investors.

Speaking at a Reuters panel on the metaverse on 30 October, the Animoca Brands chairman noted that it’s not just crypto or the NFT space that faces a tricky outlook in the short term. According to him, the forecast that markets are likely to hit rough terrain also applies to the broader financial market.

Siu compares the growth within the metaverse space to China’s explosive economic growth over the past 30 years.

He says people might not see the comparison, but all the factors that supported that kind of growth are there. In this, he points to increased demand as compared to China’s population growth, and broader adoption across crypto to the rapid industrial expansion in the country.

Siu says that long term, investors are likely to be fine but would need to take a cautious approach short term.

“The metaverse is the equivalent [comparable to China’s growth],“ he said at the Reuters Next Conference.

Data from CoinGecko shows that the total NFT market cap currently stands around $66.8 billion, with the valuation seeing a 1.3% downside over the past 24 hours. The metaverse sector has a market cap of $36 billion, about 3% down on the day.

But despite the slowdown, NFTs and metaverse linked tokens have had a staggering 2021, with mega price moves for tokens like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and The Sandbox. 

NFTs sales have fetched crazy prices in the marketplace too, hitting over $10 billion in the third quarter alone. The space is expected to grow even further as creations and virtual property continue to sell for millions of dollars.

The post Digital asset investors to be wary of “bumps in the road,” Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu says appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Fundstrat’s Tom Lee: Jack Dorsey’s departure from Twitter is “bullish for crypto”

  • Dorsey, also the CEO of payments firm Square, stepped down on Monday

  • Tom Lee says its people like Dorsey who can marshal support for crypto innovation

  • Square has increasingly set itself as a pro-Bitcoin firm, including unveiling plans for a bitcoin decentralised exchange

Jack Dorsey’s decision to exit Twitter as the firm’s CEO could end up benefiting cryptocurrency, Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder and managing partner Tom Lee has said.

Dorsey, who stepped down on Monday and plans to focus on payments firm Square, is also a vocal supporter of crypto (more so the pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC)).

Notably, it’s Square that might be at the center of Dorsey’s focus on crypto and Bitcoin innovation, an outlook that sees Lee opine that the ex-Twitter CEO’s exit is bullish for cryptocurrency.

Lee notes that the crypto space doesn’t have “enough capital actually allocated toward crypto innovation.” During an interview with CNBC’s “Tech Check”, the Fundstrat chief explained that its people like Dorsey have the capacity to really invest and marshal support for broader crypto development.

Square taking steps towards crypto innovation

Square, MicroStrategy and Tesla are three of Wall Street’s biggest bitcoin-invested companies, with the addition of BTC on the firm’s balance sheet contributing to increased revenues amid rocketing prices. But that’s not all.

Square’s focus on making it easier for people to invest and spend their BTC has been gaining traction lately and could accelerate now that Dorsey could be fully immersed at the company.

In July, the payments firm announced plans to have the Bitcoin network work with decentralised finance (DeFi) applications. In October, Dorsey revealed that the platform was considering setting up a solar Bitcoin mining operation.

Other than that, Square announced in June that it was working on a Bitcoin hardware wallet targeted at institutional investors and is in the process of developing a decentralised exchange (DEX) as detailed in a recently released whitepaper.

The spike in crypto interest has been driven by major developments in the DeFi, NFTs, and currently Metaverse sectors. Yet, Lee thinks Square’s Dorsey could do even more, telling CNBC that he doesn’t believe the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector “is over-invested yet.”  

Lee’s perspective resonates with that of GK ETF founder and CEO Ross Gerber, who also believes Dorsey’s resignation from Twitter makes sense and could be beneficial to Square Inc.

According to Lee, cryptocurrency provides for the “intersection of financial services and technology,” which means it potentially touches on “literally 60% of the economy.”

Meanwhile, the Fundstrat exec sees Black Friday’s markets sell-off as “horrific” and a massacre largely driven by panic selling. The downside was also heightened by the shortened trading day in the equities markets. But he notes that it offered a window of opportunity to investors.

Bitcoin is trading around $56,986 at the time of writing, about 1.3% down on the day and nearly 18% off since reaching its all-time peak of $69,044 on 10 November.

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