Seek founder Matt Rockman likened the rise of cryptocurrencies to that of the internet in the early nineties.
Crypto following in the internet’s footsteps
Serious investors can no longer just ignore cryptocurrencies. Those are the words of Seek’s co-founder Matt Rockman. The head of the $14 billion AUD-valued jobs website likened the development of Bitcoin and Ethereum to that of the internet in the early nineties and said that he had around 3% of his portfolio invested in crypto.
Interestingly, Rockman stated crypto being a hedge against inflation and volatility in the broader market as his reasoning for investing. This argument has been discussed many times, with crypto proponents ardently in favour of crypto as an inflation hedge. However, the markets so far do not seem to agree, as crypto recently took a nosedive, following a wider downturn in equities amidst fear that inflation in the developed world is spiralling out of control. That has also dampened investors’ hopes that crypto may be in a “supercycle” that would evade a significant bear market until higher valuations are reached.
Rockman firmly in favour of crypto
Mr. Rockman finds himself in good company and part of a growing group of investors that regard crypto as an innovative space that is also an excellent investment opportunity and bound to grow in the future. “The prime pumping by central banks has a lot of money in the system and unrealistically low interest rates are causing market distortions. I think at some point, the cycle will turn,” he said. “Crypto is one of the few hedges one can have in a portfolio, other than gold, to give you some downside protection in these crazy times.”
He continued that crypto was exciting and terrifying at the same time but that this was not only part of the appeal but pretty much exactly what made crypto so interesting and promising as an investment vehicle. According to Rockman, crypto in that sense is very much like the early internet, which also was rife with scams and Ponzi schemes and melted down in its own investment bubble in the early 2000s, before eventually becoming the investment juggernaut that carries western economies today.
“It’s a wildly fantastic sort of technology, and I think years from now we’re going to see a lot more use cases for it,” said Rockman. Rockman also added that his investments are split between Bitcoin and Ethereum and that further regulation would do the industry well. However, achieving that would be another question and a difficult one as well. As crypto is quite evasive of central control by design, Mr.Rockman is right to believe that regulators will have their hands full to press it into a coherent regulatory framework that balances innovation and investor security.
Still, with yet another prominent name joining the ranks of investment heavyweights getting into crypto, it does very much feel like the start of a massive movement that will not be stopped any time soon.