Market Will Decide Amount of Bitcoin ETFs: Strike CEO

Strike CEO Jack Mallers discusses the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. He speaks with Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde on “Bloomberg Technology.”
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You have been someone who’s been developing this space thinking about crypto and Bitcoin in particular for a decade. It took a decade for us to get to this point. What Bitcoin ETF when of course, we saw the brothers, the Winklevoss brothers come out and want to get into this spot Bitcoin ETF scenario.

What does it mean to you? Oh man. Well, first of all, Happy Bitcoin ETF Day. Thank you guys for having me. I think it’s a huge deal. I view bitcoin as the best expression of fiat debasement. What I mean by that is as nation states and central banks print more of their

Own currency and devalue it like devaluing the U.S. dollar. I think Bitcoin is the best expression of that. You can see that most in the rise of bitcoin’s price, and it’s because of two things. It’s the scarcest asset on the planet and you can’t make any more of it.

And it’s one of the only asset classes in the world that demands energy to acquire it. And so those two things make it the best expression of what’s increasingly the biggest problem that money managers have, which is how to take the other side of governments inevitably printing

Their way out of all this debt. And so the fact that Wall Street said, you know what, those hoodie coders over the last decade, boy, they got loud mouths like that Jack guy. But we got to get in on this, too,

Because the government looks like they’re going to stop cute and start QE. And we need to own an asset that protects us. And I think that’s Bitcoin. So monumental day. Let’s go. All right, Jack, Let’s go. Jack, Do we need 11 different ETFs to do that?

You know, who knows best at the free market. And I think it’s important that Wall Street allows for that. So we’ll see. The market will tell us. My personal opinion, probably not. That seems a bit excessive, but I’m here for it and I love it. So we’ll see the free market.

I think we’ll fix a lot of this stuff. I also am not entirely sure how Wall Street in their T plus two settlement is going to handle the apex predator that is bitcoin. I think it’ll be an interesting journey

Over the next 12 months to see how many of these things are left and how they’re able to handle an asset that doesn’t have off hours, that doesn’t have supply that you can go print more of, or that you can call the CEO and tell them to

Calm down. It’s a new beast for Wall Street, but they talk a big game, so hopefully they’re probably capable. When I posted on X that you were coming on the show and you replied with your your apex predator thesis, lots of people had some pretty cerebral

Questions for you, one of which is has Bitcoin kind of lost its original ethos by being accessible as an ETF. The wording of one user is the reason or ethos of Bitcoin gone. Now the ETFs will start to maintain custody of Bitcoin. No, I the most important principle of

Bitcoin is that you’re not required to centralize your custody or to conform to a monetary policy that’s outside of your control. Anyone can still do whatever they want with Bitcoin. I’ve got some stored right in the other room and there’s nothing BlackRock can do about that. But if someone wanted to use bitcoin

With BlackRock, go for it. That doesn’t break any principle or change any type of culture set whatsoever. Like I said, I think it’s monumental that the world has access to a monetary supply where it cannot be inflated and that absolutely demands energy to hold it. Those two things protect you against

Inflation and the devaluing of currency. And so if people want to get that through BlackRock, I would question it. I think it’s maybe a little expensive. It’s not for everybody, but go for it. I don’t I don’t think it’s anyone’s position to say what you can or can’t do in Bitcoin.

That’s why it’s important. What’s interesting about Strike in particular is you have Strike Private, which you help private clients. Ultimately, those high net worth individuals, those family offices that did want exposure to Bitcoin before the suddenly incredibly easy ETF was available. Is that in any way going to implicate

Your business? So we’re seeing all time high numbers, even back to December. This is now a trend leading up to this event. And the way we think about ourselves is we’re one of the best in the world at Bitcoin, if not the best. And what that means is technology licensing, global access.

When it comes to Bitcoin, this new thing, we’re one of the best in the world at that. And so Wall Street may take a sector of high net worth institutional clients that we probably never were going to serve anyway. But it lifts all boats.

It lifts all boats. I really don’t think that this is a winner take all or a winner take most market. This is an entirely new monetary network and we’re one of the best in the world at it. So we’re stoked.

We’re stoked to see the attention, we’re stoked to see the validity, we’re stoked to see the maturity and we’re here for it. I think, you know, in 5 to 10 years being one of the best in the world, that this thing is going to be a really, really good business.

And that’s why I’m the founder and CEO of it. So we’re happy. What’s interesting is, of course in the US, Bitcoin has been seen basically as well an asset to be able to bet on. Ultimately, whether or not it’s a store of value.

It’s certainly been one that people have been wanting to gain exposure to, to see it as volatile, to see the gains. But elsewhere in the world, they do use it as a way of also ultimately being able to transact, to use it as some sort

Of currency. Now, when does that potentially start to seep into the US? Because at the moment we’ve seen the validity of it as an asset, as a store of value, but not as a currency here in the United States. I’m I’m not, to be honest, guys.

I’m not sure it totally matters. So, for example, I don’t own any dollars anymore. I’m sick of them. You know, I think the real risk is owning dollars because all they do is go down. And traditionally, the game was. Well, shoot, what do I own? The government’s going to keep printing

Currency. They’re in so much debt. Do I try and own a house? Do I try to own an index of stocks? Do I try and find out what Jeff Bezos is up to now that he’s not the CEO of Amazon? And Bitcoin is the most accessible, most

Simple, best expression of this problem that, you know, at how many people in the world have to deal with fiat debasement. Give me a number. What do you think? You answer that, Jack. 8 billion. All of us. Everybody is subject to a fiat currency that’s devaluing and everyone has access to this thing.

And so if you want to use it for payment, if you want to store it. So for example, I live on credit cards. The US banking system gives me a 30 day revolving door of credit where I could spend dollars without needing to own

Those pieces of trash. And so I just sit there quiet all day. I spend on credit. And so to me, I don’t know. Anyway, does that answer your question? I think I think it doesn’t totally matter. Jack, we have 5 seconds.

Where does Bitcoin peak in 2024? This, I think we see new highs this year and I think this thing lands between 250 K to a million around the $500,000 range at some point and 25. I think there’s a lot of money printing that the government’s going to have to do and.

Right. And this is the fastest horse.