Commenting on the sharp fluctuations in the Bitcoin price, Bullish CEO and former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) President Tom Farley said that volatility in the cryptocurrency market is “a structural reality that will last for many years.”
Speaking to CNBC, Farley said that Bitcoin’s return to the $90,000 level was encouraging, but not surprising to him.
Farley, noting that he had to turn off price monitors after becoming a full-time crypto manager, said, “Volatility is real and will be with us for a long time.” Recalling that approximately 160,000 Bitcoins are produced each year, Farley argued that this represents a supply of approximately $15 billion, which requires constant new buyers.
Farley noted that MicroStrategy absorbed all the new supply by purchasing 180,000 BTC in the first seven months of last year. He added that the company only purchased 15,000–20,000 BTC for the remainder of the year, thus exacerbating declines and volatility due to the “marginal buyer withdrawal.” Noting that Bullish holds 24,000 BTC, Farley reiterated his optimism for the market in the long term.
Recalling the selling pressure caused by the Yearn Finance hack, as well as macro concerns such as the Bank of Japan’s interest rate policy, Farley stated that great progress has been made in the field of security in recent years.
Farley said that the succession of hacking and fraud incidents during 2021-2022 had caused him serious hesitations. “But that number has dropped dramatically. Six months ago, my team and I looked at each other and said, ‘It really feels like an institutional asset class now.’”
Farley noted that the reliability of centralized exchanges has increased and custody providers have become largely robust. “Major hacks are much less frequent; the infrastructure has reached a battle-hardened level,” he said. However, Farley noted that security risk remains the biggest threat facing crypto companies, and he cautioned that underestimating its severity would be a grave mistake.
*This is not investment advice.