Jeff Roberts, Executive Editor of Decrypt & Author of 'Kings of Crypto', talks about what to expect from the Bitcoin conference and highlights the challenges for crypto adoption. 

Opening Bell

Bitcoin 2022 Conference Is Underway in Miami 

here to discuss this, Jeff roberts, executive editor at decrypt and author of King of crypto, Jeff glad to have you on this morning last year's conference sparked international news. As the president of El Salvador decided to make Bitcoin in national currency after attending that conference, What are you expecting for this kind of Bitcoin 2022 event? Well actually the president of El Salvador canceled his experience, his appearance this year. We're not sure why, but there's gonna be a whole lot of other news with companies rolling out new products and just a whole lot of Bitcoin hype and of course the city of Miami trying to plant the flag as being America's crypto capital. You know, as far as Miami goes, we know Miami is positioning itself to kind of be um, you know, the center of the crypto space, We have seen the mayor get really aggressive on this, I believe even at one point taking his, his salary essentially in Bitcoin and then trying to make kind of legislation for the city to, to move ahead and accept tax payments in crypto as well. Any updates in terms of, you know, the goals there in Miami to become the next kind of tech and crypto hub. It's kind of more of a branding thing. They did a clever stunt yesterday though, you're probably familiar with the wall Street ball, I believe it's kind of near the cheddar offices, but Miami rolled out its own version of the ball that has laser eyes, which is sort of a symbol of crypto believers. So there's now a big, big Miami crypto ball, um, to sort of, you know, signify what they want to do. Um, yeah, but of course for this to really work, you have to get people who want to live in Miami and live in florida and a lot of people don't, to be honest, although a lot of people do. So, you know, Miami has certainly done a very good job of branding itself as that, but you know, the mayor of new york to thinks that he's going to accept part of his salary in Bitcoin too. So I think that kind of the title of crypto capital of America is still up for grabs, although Miami has done a very good job of, you know, branding itself. Is that Yeah. And in terms of people living in Miami, I think it depends on who you're talking to, right? Because I know me, I wouldn't mind being that that close to a beach. Um, and then maybe having an opportunity to capitalize on some of these new assets. Um, in terms of the broader adoption in that fight to kind of be the crypto capital of the world or even here in the US we know that, that, that conversation is growing right. We see Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen giving her first talk about, you know, dedicated, um, you know, the crypto policy and even regulation, which some and I would think many actually say this is probably a good thing for the overall crypto space, do you expect her comments will provide kind of more regulatory clarity for for institutional investors specifically, I wouldn't get your hopes up because the senior figures in the biden administration have been sort of implacably hostile to crypto. That's led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, but also the chair of the sec and Janet Yellen to, they sort of seemed to be kind of have a progressive mind view that crypto is bad and, you know, it's prone to scams and stuff like that and service should be stopped. They're moving forward a little bit though, to to try to give some clarity, provide a legal framework framework for it to flourish. But I know a lot of people in crypto industry are worried they don't get it right. Crypto could leave american chores to go somewhere else where the regulatory climate is not so hostile. But let's wait to see what she says. I mean, they're moving slowly in the right direction, but a lot is going to happen for the regulatory climate to get better. You know, even if they're moving slowly right now, you know, toward that regulatory environment. I wonder if you can just briefly speak about that regulatory environment and how important that is for really crypto to kick off as an asset that the institutional investor accepts, because that's when big money starts to come in, and you can see kind of really significant movements. I would imagine, um, in the crypto space. Yeah, well, I mean, some things have to happen, you know, big irritant right now is there's a Bitcoin E T. F. A lot of companies are trying to get Bitcoin E T. F. So to make it easier for both retail and institutional investors to buy Bitcoin in the form of stock. And the chairman of the sec has, you know, you know, continued to resist proving that no one's really sure why, as it stands, you know, wealthy people can buy it, but not not ordinary people. Um, and in terms of institutional investors, Yeah, I think they just need some clarity on, you know, what's the security, what's not. But the crypto industry has been, you know, asking for this for years and the the White House and the regulatory agency has been dragging their feet. So, you know, it's sort of on the cusp of really a breaking point, a lot more institutional money flooding in. But first off, I think you need to see a new approach to the sec to really kind of permit crypto to flourish in the US In terms of just looking at Bitcoin, I'm curious that is down nearly 25% from its highs back in November. What do you make of Bitcoin's price activity has seen support kind of above that 30,000 threshold, which I think is an overall positive indicator, but when you look at it from an investor perspective, the correlation with Bitcoin has shifted, you know, at one point it seemed like last year it was moving inversely kind of with markets or or tech stocks specifically and then it kind of moved in line with that. And so I think from an investor perspective it really is one that investors are struggling with that correlation factor and then really trying to gauge the price activity. What's your thoughts on that? Yeah, that's a smart observation because, you know, people are looking for his Bitcoin like a hedge and alternative to gold into stocks or but lately it looks like maybe it's correlated with it, you know, I confess, you know, I'm just not sure at any point, but I think the important thing when you're looking at, you know, you've got a thing on your screen, their bitcoins down 7%. Yeah, that sounds bad. But you have to look at from the historical context, I mean, Bitcoin used to swing like 20% or 30% in a day And yes, it's down from its high last November. But you know, remember in the past, remember that like many of 2017 it crashed like over 80% and that's what Bitcoin is done historically, but every year it seems to get more stable and yes, it's still volatile, like that number shows 7% is a big number, but compared historically it's you know, it's it's these these swings are much lower than they used to be. It's much less volatile than it used to be and then historically too, I mean Bitcoin probably is one of the best investments you could have made over the last 10 years. I'm not endorsing it saying to buy it or anything like that, but just saying, you know, in terms of like yes, you know my God, Bitcoin swung 20% it's off this high or whatever, but I just think look at the long term trend of Bitcoin before you sort of make up your mind about whether Bitcoins are good or bad investment. Yeah, and I'm kind of in the same line with you, you know, and I'm not supporting or against it per se, but from a technical perspective it does see support over the 30,000 threshold which from a technical analyst perspective it shows a higher support certainly than we saw last year. Um and in a really good kind of threshold of overall kind of moving steadily higher, albeit right now kind of hanging around 43,000 off of its kind of resistance line at 60,000. So again, if you were to three years ago where Bitcoin was what 10-K I Any other recession at one point and now you're solidly and at the support line of over 30,000 and right now at 43,000, I think you do have a bit of a bullish case there before I let you go here, I do want to talk a little bit about, you know, some concerns, right? Like hackers have stolen over $1.2 billion dollars in crypto over this past year alone. How do you kind of these headlines, you know, maybe deter mainstream adoption and even give stronger credence to those who are kind of in the regulatory, you know, position or the position to make regulatory oversight of recommendations and see kind of a headline like this? Well, I think the Miami crowd would call stuff like that fud, fear, uncertainty, doubt and sort of feel that crypto is unfairly maligned. Yes, there's tons of hacks happen. But you know, part of it is, I mean, there's always been a criminal, you know, there's always been criminal attacks in crypto. People use it for bad purposes. Just like people use $100 bills, but the percentage of crypto that's used for criminal purposes as an overall share of crypto has actually gone down significantly year over year. And you know, the reality is too, if you know what you're doing with Bitcoin and holding your crypto, it's very safe. Bitcoin network has never been hacked. You know, there's a lot of things around it have been hacked, a lot of companies are hacked and yeah, be careful out there. You know, don't go throwing your money willy nilly into new crypto projects, but do a little bit of reading in terms of if you're worried about the security of Bitcoin or ethereum, I frankly think that's, you know, silly concern at that point, but there's a lot of people in media who don't like it, don't understand it and you know, like to write these sort of, you know, splashy headlines and similar, a lot of the people in the government are like 80 years old and likewise don't really want to, you know, take the time to understand the upsides of crypto. Sure there's downsides, but there's a lot of upsides too. So I'm just saying be careful with those dramatic headlines about crime and crashes and stuff like that. Just take time to do your own homework, read up about Bitcoin, try it, use it and then, you know, with a small amount of money if need be before you sort of, you know, decide it's criminal or bad or if it's good, you know, I'm not taking position either way, but give it a fair shake, I'm glad that you point that out, you know, this is a newer asset class and it is one that has potential, you know, great upside but also comes with a learning curve that is pretty significant and requires you to do your homework and to do your reading to potentially kind of enjoy the benefits of that upside, Jeff, really glad to have you on, really appreciate your inside Jeff roberts. Executive editor at decrypt and author of Kings of crypto