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Pantera's Morehead Says Bitcoin Is `Screaming Buy,' Bets on Icon

Pantera's Morehead Says Bitcoin Is `Screaming Buy,' Bets on Icon

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin “is a screaming buy right now,” according to Dan Morehead, chief executive officer of $1 billion cryptocurrency hedge fund Pantera Capital Management LP.

In a interview with Bloomberg Television Thursday, Morehead said Pantera has about 10 percent of its investments in Bitcoins, which approached $20,000 apiece late last year before retreating to about half that in the following months. But the fund’s single largest bet is on Icon, which will let different blockchains -- digital ledgers -- talk to one another, he said.

Morehead is anticipating that Bitcoin will recover and reach new highs within 12 months. As digital tokens continue to multiply and gain wider use, the $400 billion crypto market could balloon to $4 trillion, he said, and even $40 trillion is “definitely possible.”

“It’s the 10-year forecast,” Morehead said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Pantera's Morehead Says Bitcoin Is `Screaming Buy,' Bets on Icon

Hundreds of hedge funds focused on cryptocurrencies have opened up in the last two years to make money on the highly volatile coins and on blockchain technology -- which can be used for everything from recording cross-border payments to tracking items in a supply chain.

Institutional investor interest in tokens is on the rise as well, Morehead said, noting that in its early days, crypto was considered “skanky.” And while today only 10 percent of his hedge fund’s limited partners are institutions, that’s likely to change in the next 18 months, he said. Morehead pointed to last year’s listing of crypto futures as well as Wall Street’s growing interest in clearing crypto trades.

“Anything that’s a $400 billion asset will not be ignored for long,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Schatzker in New York at eschatzker@bloomberg.net, Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Andrew Dunn, Dave Liedtka

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.