Bitcoin Holds $70,000 as CoinDesk 20 ETF Debuts During Crypto Pullback

Let's get to the big story.

Breakdown.

Well, Bitcoin is in the red on this Thursday morning, clinging to the 70,000 level, and this does come as the crypto market continues its aggressive retreat.

Bitcoin is now sitting more than 40% below the record high of 126,000 we saw last October.

Meanwhile, Proshares launching the first US ETF tied to the Coin Desk 20, giving investors access to the heart of the crypto market.

Well, joining me this morning.

The New York Stock Exchange is Andy Barra, head of product and research at Coin desk indices.

Good morning, Andy.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Good morning.

I'm going to start with a little anecdote.

So my son just turned 18 years old, and when he was born in 2008, you know, we were, everybody was panicky, right?

It was a panicky time, and we started his college savings account in 2008, and now he's going to head off to college next year, and he's the best investor in the house.

Why?

Because he bought when fear had gripped.

Nation and held on tight for 18 years.

I just opened a brokerage account for him last week after his 18th birthday, and I'm glad to see prices are coming down to give him another great entry point so that 20 years from now he can be the best investor in the house again.

The crypto market is locked in a really kind of bottomless bear period right now.

There's no doubt about it.

There's no way to sugarcoat it.

Ever since October, people are starting to say crypto winner again.

An expression we thought we had shelved back in 2023.

So the only positive things we can say about the market right now are that we're kind of exploring that space where there wasn't a lot of trading right after the election in 2024, so there wasn't a lot of kind of activity in this area between 69,000 and 80,000.

So maybe we need to fill.

In a little bit.

The other I think positive thing to say is that our trend products have been pretty good.

Bitcoin and other crypto assets have been heading down, but they're heading down in a trend predictive way.

So trend products that some of our clients have on have kept investors out of the way a little bit.

But outside of that.

Are people doing with all their dollars because everything seems to be going down.

Yes, and Andy, I think perspective is key here.

So what is the data telling you when it comes to the volatility in crypto?

Yes, the amazing thing is that the last time we would have seen a drawdown like this, you would have easily expected to see Bitcoin at 60, 70, 80% annualized volatility.

It's stuck in the forties here.

And so when you try to, you know, look at this situation versus 2 years ago or 5 years ago or 10 years ago, it really has matured.

So I read a great news piece this morning which just said Wall Street is getting bored with AI and with crypto, and that might just be the case.

So.

People are going to be licking their wounds, looking at losses.

Worst time to trade is when you're anxious.

Best time to trade is when you have dry powder.

So it's a great time to watch the markets.

Volatility is low.

The slow slow money continues to move forward, and now you have a desk.

20 ETF through ProShares, which is a swap-based product.

It's excellent with some great swap partners Falcon X and Galaxy listed right here on the New York Stock Exchange, so investors can really get that broad-based Coin desk 20 exposure and they'll just have to figure out what's the right entry point.

Yes, and Andy, earlier this week you and I were at the Ando summit, and this has come at a time as we're watching volatility not just in crypto but also across all asset classes, and there are a lot of events coming down the pike, not just here in the US but also overseas.

So what are you focused on?

Well, the Ando summit was great because it really kind of Punctuated this idea that tokenization and getting tokenized equities tradable around the world is a big initiative this year and we're really going to have to see if retail and mass affluent investors really want to scoop up Nvidia shares at 2 in the morning in Bulgaria, but many people think they do.

So that was a great kind of time capsule of the institutional progress.

Consensus of course point to this fantastic headline event in Hong Kong, 2nd 1 in Miami coming in May.

We'll have a ton of announcements.

I wish I could just burst out with them.

Now, but hang on to your hats for some great announcements there and collecting.

Then there's East Denver the week after, very crypto native event, and Ethereum is at its kind of turning point of whether it really wants to take the momentum it's built up over the last year for stablecoins and tokenization.

Push forward or if it gets kind of mired in some of the things that have kept it from progressing as fast as possible in the past, yes, and then we start, you know, heavy duty conference season, so the industry is as vibrant as ever.

Most people in the industry have seen drawdowns like this before and so people are just kind of, as our CEO just said on another TV station earlier this morning, we're just.

Working right through it.

Yes, and finally, Andy, before I let you go, you and I have been talking to many people in this area, in this industry, whether we're talking about Tradify, DeFi, everything in between.

So for viewers out there who don't have the opportunity to talk to people in the crypto space, what would you say is the temperature right now and What is the outlook moving forward?

We always say it's a great time to learn more.

There's 15 ways to buy Bitcoin now, so access is no longer an issue.

And I probably spent 3 or 4 days when I first set up my first bought Bitcoin to make sure everything was fine and I wasn't going to lose my money.

Now that's not an issue, so access is easy.

Access to Coin desk 20 just got a lot easier yesterday, so access is not a problem.

I think that people should You know, think about AI.

Think about stocks.

Think about the macro picture, interest rates, metals, base metals, and precious metals, and how Bitcoin, they expect Bitcoin's price to relate to that.

Bitcoin is still very narrowly held, so it really has a whole distribution lifetime ahead of it.

And then for blockchain assets, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, the stablecoin and tokenization thing is definitely not going away.

So if you gaze towards the horizon.

Things will grow and it's just that people have to stomach environments like this on the road to get there.

Well, Andy, always great talking to you.

Thank you so much for joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange today.

Thank you.