Alex Krüger, a prominent economist and trader, recently said that the “largest asset managers” have “little interest” in the cryptoasset market because it is “too small to accommodate their size and justify their time.”

Krüger, a Columbia University MBA graduate, told CryptoGlobe that there’s a “need to differentiate between different kinds of institutional investors.” He explained: 

Many perceive bitcoin as a ponzi scheme, and the potential reputational damage does not justify the perceived upside.

“Institutional Investors Not Required For Crypto To Grow”

He added that “some smaller funds and family offices are already in the space” and that “the number of institutional investors in crypto is progressively increasing.” However, Krüger clarified that “institutional investors are not required for crypto to grow.”

But at the same time, they “represent a large pool of incremental demand, which is particularly important given how at this stage most demand is speculative”, Krüger stated. When questioned about the importance of the development of custodial solutions for cryptoassets, the Manhattan, New York resident said they are “a requisite for widespread institutional adoption.”

In response to a question about whether blockchain technology has use cases beyond decentralized money transfer, Krüger said distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be used to improve supply chain management processes and traditional voting methods.

User-Friendly Interfaces Required In Order To Attract More Users

Commenting on what it would take for cryptocurrencies to reach mainstream adoption, Krüger said that application “interfaces [would have to be] easy-to-use”, or in other words, more user-friendly and intuitive. This, according to Krüger, will “require time” as paradigm-changing technologies take many years to fully develop and achieve mass adoption.

Other crypto industry professionals such as Elizabeth White, the founder of the White Company, a New York-based firm that provides the “opportunity for clients who hold wealth in cryptocurrencies to [anonymously] purchase luxury goods”, told CryptoGlobe recently that we need to “encourage merchants to accept cryptocurrency” through “payment systems where they don’t have to worry about the volatility as they have the option to convert immediately to fiat.”

Crypto Needs To Be More Spendable

Indeed, cryptocurrency prices continue to remain highly volatile and until the market stabilizes, it might be difficult to convince more people to use cryptocurrencies. According to White, whose crypto concierge business helped clients transact over $250 million even during the prolonged bear market, believes that “we need to make it easier for people to use cryptocurrency in everyday life.”

She explained that this can be done by providing payment processing gateways that “can be used anywhere MasterCard/Visa are accepted.” She added that “this is a simple way that a two-sided network (for merchants and consumers) can be created.”