The crypto winter has been hard, but CEO Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital feels optimistic. In a recent interview, he discussed the ways that this season is much different from the crypto winter experienced in 2014, and what is going to give cryptocurrency the longevity it needs through this time.

He believes that this current state will make it easier for institutional investors to get involved, which means that the bear market definitely has an end in sight.

Speaking with Unconfirmed, Morehead explained that his company is presently interested in substantial scalability, remittance services, and on-ramps for fiat currency. Most of the investments that Pantera Capital made last year was in initial coin offerings (ICOs), which makes this year a much different approach.

Laura shin, a journalist for Unchained, started with discussing the longevity of blockchain technology, to which Morehead stated that he wasn’t as concerned about its ability to stay as he was during the last substantial bear market. The industry is stronger than before, he believes. He also said,

“I think the underlying fundamentals are much much stronger than they were in the 2014-15 crypto winter and it might be a coincidence but it’s funny that Craig Wright pops up at the end of crypto winters.”

Laughing at the joke, Shin brought up the fundamentals that Morehead spoke on, to which he replied that the conditions of the market were good for this type of money to enter. He added,

“Institutional investors really want to have a custodian that’s well-known and regulated. We really haven’t had that in the past.”

Some of the fundamentals he included were the institutional custody solutions being brought to the table by both Fidelity Investments and Bakkt.

Morehead compared institutional investors to retail investors, since they both need to see evidence that prices are going upwards before they embark on an investment in the industry. When Pantera Capital held on around the $65 level, institutional investors were not as interested. However, as they passed $1,000, everyone clamored for a piece of the action, which is what Morehead believes will push the industry into the next bull market.

Speaking on the previous investments and current ones for Pantera, Morehead commented,

“We invest across the entire spectrum. We invest in pre-auction ICOs and liquid blockchains and venture. That has changed dramatically over the last few years.”

He added that ICOs were the hot thing to invest in last year, while venture funds could be more the option for this year.

Shin asked for a prediction on what the trends could be in the industry this year, and Morehead expressed the scalability, cross-border money movements, fiat on-ramps, and portfolio management were their direction. When Morehead was questioned further to estimate a scalability timeline, Morehead said,

“There are a dozen different approaches being taken… I am very confident a couple of them will work. Over the next couple of years, I think you’re going to see blockchains able to scale at least 100x.”

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