Trends Watch: Ethereum

EisnerAmper’s Trends Watch is a weekly entry to our Alternative Investments Intelligence blog, featuring the views and insights of executives from alternative investment firms. If you’re interested in being featured, please contact Elana Margulies-Snyderman.  

This week, Elana talks with Taylor Day, Founder, Navigate.

What is your outlook for investing in crypto?

We view the current phase of this asset class as a land grab. Nearly all metrics suggest that digital assets are about to enter a hyper adoption phase over the next decade. Our investments are centered around accumulating the assets we believe will be the pillars of this space in the years to come. Our strategy focuses on long-term investments in the strongest digital assets while also earning yield on our assets under management.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities and why?

I am exceptionally excited about the future of Ethereum, which has been the epicenter of blockchain innovations. During my years in this space, Ethereum has been an ever-growing garden of innovation ranging from open-source financial applications to nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Ethereum is building an online economy that anyone with an internet connection can access. The world is entering into a new renaissance period for the internet and finance where digital ownership and new ideas flourish without censorship. By owning ETH, the native currency on Ethereum, you are owning a piece of the network. It is very much like owning a piece of the early internet if it were possible. I see Ether as an asset and the applications built on top of the Ethereum network as being one of the greatest opportunities of our generation.

What are the greatest challenges you face and why?

Our greatest challenge also equals our greatest opportunity. Most people do not yet understand how blockchains and cryptocurrencies work. The fact is that a massive wall of capital has not entered the cryptocurrency markets due to most investors not understanding the underlying technology and disrupting force of blockchains. Global stocks, bonds, and real estate account for $574 trillion of value, whereas crypto accounts for $1.8 trillion. Now, keeping this fact in mind, crypto is in the same adoption stage as the internet in 1998. As more and more people begin to adopt and understand this technology, simply the crumbs from these other major asset classes could cause the cryptocurrency market cap to increase by multiples. Our firm seeks to accelerate this adoption by educating and informing our clients on how to position their portfolios for a digital future.

What keeps you up at night?

Missed opportunities. In this space there are seemingly endless amounts of opportunities with countless new ideas and projects launching every day. Staying on top of the rapid innovation in this asset class can be a daunting task. However, following the innovation is what excites me as an investor. A general principle is that crypto tends to reward curiosity. Although it may seem like an unending quest of research, it can be quite rewarding.

The views and opinions expressed above are of the interviewee only, and do not/are not intended to reflect the views of EisnerAmper.