Mai Capital Predicts Tough Year for Crypto — Expects Bitcoin and Ethereum to Do Well Once Regulations Come Into Focus

Mai Capital Management’s chief equity strategist and regional president, Chris Grisanti, has predicted that this year will be tough for crypto largely due to regulations. However, he expects established cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, to “do quite well” once regulations come into focus.

Equity Strategist’s Crypto Predictions

Mai Capital Management’s Chris Grisanti shared his outlook for the cryptocurrency market in an interview with CNBC Thursday. Grisanti, CFA, is chief equity strategist and regional president of Mai Capital Management, a wealth management firm that provides planning and investment advisory services.

Noting that crypto is “almost a victim of its own success,” Grisanti detailed:

I think it’s going to be a tougher year for crypto … There will be calls for regulation from all over the place — from China, from Europe, and here in the United States.

Nonetheless, the equity strategist sees some cryptocurrencies coming out ahead. “I do think there will be a great winnowing as well. I think the more established coins like bitcoin and ethereum will do quite well after regulations come into focus,” he described.

The strategist elaborated:

Once regulations are in place, institutional investors, I think, will get more comfortable treating bitcoin not like a currency but like gold, which is a hedge against inflation and other things.

A recent survey by Nickel Digital Asset Management, a regulated European digital asset hedge fund manager, also shows that institutional investors are optimistic about more regulation coming to the crypto industry.

Commenting on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) being granted more power to regulate the crypto space, “73% of institutional investors and wealth managers believe this will have a positive impact on the price of crypto and digital assets and 32% believe it will have a very positive effect.”