Dawn Fitzpatrick – CFO of Soros Fund Management – recently weighed in on what makes cryptocurrency interesting to her. Contrary to comments from months ago, she has now said bitcoin is more than a hedge against inflation, citing other use cases.
Fitzpatrick: What Makes Cryptocurrency Interesting
Fitzpatrick aired her thoughts in an interview with Bloomberg this Tuesday. After mentioning Bitcoin’s recent rally to $ 50,000, Fitzpatrick questioned one of his previous crypto assumptions:
“I’m not sure Bitcoin is only viewed as an inflation hedge here. I think he crossed the chasm to generalize.
She went on to cite the $2 trillion+ cryptocurrency market cap, and over 200 million users of digital assets around the world. With this, she sees more than a new asset class, but a booming industry and technology.
“The coins themselves are less interesting than the use-cases of DeFi and things like that.” said the CFO.
Fitzpatrick added that Soros Fund Management owns some cryptocurrencies, but not a lot. The company began trading Bitcoin months ago and has kept an eye on the space since 2018. Fitzpatrick said the organization was doing more than just “kicking the tires.”
Months ago, Fitzpatrick’s opinions on Bitcoin were slightly different. She called it more of a commodity than a currency and cited the debasement of fiat currency as a primary driver for its demand.
Could Fitzpatrick be interested in Altcoins?
Although Soros Fund Management has only confirmed Bitcoin trading, Fitzpatrick’s comments may also indicate an interest in altcoins. People and businesses don’t use Bitcoin much for decentralized finance at the moment. Developing smart contracts and supporting NFTs is primarily the domain of Ethereum and other blockchain networks.
Meanwhile, insofar as people use crypto to pay for goods, services, and labor, stablecoins are the primary vehicle for it. Tether – the most popular stablecoin – currently has more than double Bitcoin’s trading volume.
Other large institutions also seem to favor DeFi. In Central, Northern, and Western Europe, over 80% of large institutional crypto transactions were sent to DeFi protocols in June 2021.
