Shark Tank Star Kevin O’Leary Says SEC Can Spark Next Bull Run in Crypto Market
Kevin O’Leary, star of “Shark Tank” and venture investor, weighs in on the condition of the crypto bear market, including his latest altcoin portfolio allocations.
In a recent interview with Crypto Banter, O’Leary reveals that his firm is considering increasing its crypto holdings in Helium (HNT) and Pollen (PCN), two cryptocurrencies with decentralised telecommunications use cases.
“Our own operating procedure [dictates that] we can’t own more than 5% of the operating fund in Bitcoin, so we also have positions in ETH and Solana and all kinds of others. We’re just looking at putting a position on Pollen and Helium which are really eclectic projects around decentralising telco. But the whole point is, you just simply don’t know when these asset classes are going to move.”
O’Leary expects that the Stablecoin Transparency Act, a law that tries to provide legislative clarity for stablecoins, would serve as a signal that the whole sector is on the cusp of legitimization, hence attracting waves of fresh money.
“I have a personal speculation around regulation. I talked about that earlier, that if the Stablecoin Act gets put into law, that will be a signal that all crypto will be regulated at some point. Some people feel good about regulation, others don’t, but here’s a fact to consider regardless of your position.
Most of the sovereign wealth funds that I work for as an indexer have zero position in crypto of any kind. When you ask them if they’re going to buy anything, they want the granddaddy, which is Bitcoin. They’re willing to put 50 basis points to 1% into Bitcoin when their compliance departments allow them to, and that won’t happen until the SEC rules on it as a commodity or a security.”
O’Leary argues that sovereign wealth funds throughout the globe cannot afford to be on poor terms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) due to the importance of the U.S. market to their other investments.
According to venture capitalists, once US authorities provide clarification, large foreign players will enter crypto marketplaces.
“Here’s the upside, 50 basis points in the sovereign wealth and pension funds is a trillion dollars of buying. So you have to be voting and cheering on regulation, you put a trillion dollars into Bitcoin, that’s when you might see it at $60,000 to $100,000 valuations. And those funds don’t care. Once they index it there will be an automatic bid when it dips below the 50 bps they’ve decided to own and they sell into strength so there’s a really really liquid market about to happen. That’s very optimistic for Bitcoin, not pessimistic.”
