A good hard kick in the pants
Dear subscriber
This month we zoom out to see how Bitcoin adoption is (really) going: an objective report-card that is neither the salty take of a Financial Times Columnist, nor the unquantified positive bias of a good section of Bitcoin Twitter.
Among the positives, there are some harsh truths we would do well to face in our quest for widespread adoption of Bitcoin. Then, our optimism will be grounded.
First, the good news: celebrating the wins
The institutional dam is cracking. For the first time in history, major capital allocators are treating Bitcoin not as a speculative toy, but as a strategic reserve asset.
Hedge Fund Brevan Howard now holds $2.3 billion in Bitcoin. With total Assets Under Management of $35 billion, this represents a significant 6.6% of AUM Bitcoin exposure.
Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s $330 billion sovereign wealth fund, has allocated $681 million to Bitcoin. A modest 0.2%, but a seismic first step.
Bhutan, a sovereign nation, has amassed $1.26 billion in bitcoin, acquired through mining, and representing a jaw-dropping 38% of GDP.
These watershed moments
world’s first significant hedge-fund to have more than 5% of AUM in Bitcoin
world’s first Sovereign Fund to have Bitcoin exposure of more than 1/2 Billion
have the potential to positively influence peers in the industry.
Meanwhile, wirehouses, and hedgefunds continue to quietly building positions via ETFs, Bitcoin treasury holdings and now, shares in mining companies. This is how adoption begins, not with a revolutionary bang but with a quiet 13F Filing.
The kick in the pants
The hard truth is that there’s also been three areas where adoption has slowed/stalled, and three areas where adoption has unwound in the last year.