$ 16tn Estimated market value by 2030 quickly that some consumers haven ’ t done their research properly before parting with their money – and although the picture is different with institutional investors , it points to broader challenges within the digital asset space . Extreme price volatility and the prevalence of crypto scams leave a lingering sense of unease among retail investors towards crypto – something that the past few months have only exacerbated .
FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL
KEITH BEAR
TITLE : ASSOCIATE PARTNER COMPANY : ELIXIRR INDUSTRY : MANAGEMENT
Keith is an Associate Partner at Elixirr where he focuses on Digital Asset strategy engagements . He sits on the Bank of England CBDC Technology Forum , ESMA ’ s Consultative Working Group for Financial Innovation , and mentors at the Techstars Barclays , ABN AMRO and Web3 Accelerators . He also serves as an Advisory Board member for a number of fintechs , as an Independent Director at DFNS , a walletas-a-service infrastructure provider , and on the Technology and Operations Resilience Committee at the London Metal Exchange . Keith is also a Research Fellow at University of Cambridge ’ s Centre for Alternative Finance , chairing the digital asset research programme that is supported by 15 public and private institutions including Fidelity . Previously , Keith led the Financial Markets industry at IBM .
Fidelity International and Elixirr recently collaborated in researching how many institutional clients are offering crypto and digital asset services to clients , how many have dedicated digital asset units in place , and what the perspectives are for growth of the digital assets industry .
“ We are at the early stages of a transformation of financial markets ,” states Bear . “ Whilst the crypto market may be beginning to show green shoots in its recovery , the bigger opportunity is how the key technologies from crypto ( blockchain , tokens , automated market making ) will transform traditional financial markets . Tokenisation can bring great investor access to illiquid markets like private equity and real estate , broader investor access through fractionalisation of assets like art and collectibles , and great efficiencies to post-trade through the instantaneous exchange of tokenised cash and securities through atomic settlement , reducing friction and costs . Some estimates see tokenised markets being a $ 16tn market ( 10 % of global GDP ) by 2030 , and the early innovators such as Fidelity are wellpositioned to ride this wave .”
Institutional investors adopting a long-sighted approach The issue of knowledge and education continues to be one of crypto ’ s sorest points . On the retail side , research from Cardify suggests that a third of consumers who invest in crypto admit to having little or no understanding of the products they ’ re buying . Crypto has moved into the mainstream so
$ 16tn Estimated market value by 2030 quickly that some consumers haven ’ t done their research properly before parting with their money – and although the picture is different with institutional investors , it points to broader challenges within the digital asset space . Extreme price volatility and the prevalence of crypto scams leave a lingering sense of unease among retail investors towards crypto – something that the past few months have only exacerbated .
“ The level of understanding is still limited ,” Froehlich says about retail investors . “ Bitcoin was launched in 2009 , so some passionate people have had time to explore the concept and make an opinion about that , but most consumers started looking at cryptocurrency around 2020 or 2021 when bitcoin was making all the headlines . In this sense , it has
70 fintechmagazine . com | June 2023