Is That the Iceberg?

"It's really a matter of moving at the pace of the decisions of institutional players." That's Shaun Martinak, research and portfolio manager at One River Digital, the newly-launched arm of One River Asset Management that's working with clients to add crypto exposure to their portfolios. 

In an interview during the latest episode of The Scoop podcast, Martinak observed that while institutional players have made headlines entering crypto, some of the largest investors--including pensions and endowments--account for only a small fraction of the crypto market. He believes that, in the future, there will be a place for such investments in the portfolios of these types of investors. 

"I think between 2 and 10 percent is a perfectly good number," he said, speaking to the penetration of pension funds and endowments into crypto. "And it's a matter of the timeline for education and the timeline for decision making." He said such firms are actively seeking exposure though One River as they actively pitch for their business. "I think the pitch is multifaceted, but it really boils down to: This is an area of fundamental growth at a time where fundamental growth is difficult to find."

The metaverse 

While hesitant to make predictions on cryptocurrency portfolio allocation over the next 12 months, Martinak was enthusiastic about the growth and technological advancement he’s seen in the gaming segment. Ultimately, he sees the possibility of gaming and NFT assets sitting alongside traditional assets in an investor's portfolio. 

“When I think about the metaverse and I think about what digital assets and crypto primitives bring to existing in a space with other people in a digital environment, it just seems like it compounds how much time and attention we spend on our screens and in our information universe because your bank account is going to live in there with you, your value is going to live in there with you," he said.

As Martinak posits: “What is this going to look like in its version of the Super Bowl?”

Episode 75 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Shaun Martinak, Research and Portfolio Manager for Digital Assets at One River Digital.

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