Digital assets have value beyond crypto ‘hype’

3 December 2021
| By Chris Dastoor |
image
image
expand image

As the corporate regulator has given approval for crypto products, the funds management industry should consider how blockchain and digital assets could be used in the broader market.

When asked if there was a role for digital assets at the Calastone Connect Forum, Sam Hallinan, Schroders Australia chief executive, said he was “frustrated” with the hype around cryptocurrency.

“The hype predominately centres around crypto primarily because of the volume ascribed to tracking the value of crypto and linked to that, the volatility of those valuations,” Hallinan said.

“I get frustrated with that hype because it distracts everyone from things that really matter, as it pertains to the underpinnings of crypto which is blockchain and digital currencies.”

However, Hallinan said blockchain and digital currency itself was not overhyped as it was here to stay and was a “game changer” for the potential it had to affect everyday life.

“Yet the volume of editorial media and discussions revolve around crypto which I find disappointing,” Hallinan said.

“Because I don’t get how Ethereum can go up six times in less than 12 months and on what basis if it’s just not on pure speculation.”

“Every minute we spent talking about crypto is a lost minute talking about how we can try and change the world leveraging blockchain and digital currencies.”

Hallinan said the technology itself would be “massive”, from an asset management perspective.

“If we want to access or want to provide the retail investor with an experience that is fundamentally different than the one they’ve experienced today, we have to connect them closer to the investing process, to the investments themselves,” Hallinan said.

Recently, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had introduced a ‘crypto-asset’ category in the licensing application for responsible entities and funds.

Monochrome had already launched a Bitcoin fund, with BetaShares, VanEck and ETF Securities expected to launch its own products in the near future.

However, BetaShares and ETF Securities had also already launched funds that focused on technologies that serviced the blockchain and digital currency industries, with the former having broken records on its first day of trading.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

GG

So shareholders lose a dividend plus have seen the erosion of value. Qantas decides to clawback remuneration from Alan ...

2 months 1 week ago
Denise Baker

This is why I left my last position. There was no interest in giving the client quality time, it was all about bumping ...

2 months 1 week ago
gonski

So the Hayne Royal Commission has left us with this. What a sad day for the financial planning industry. Clearly most ...

2 months 1 week ago

A Sydney-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services in the interest of consumer protection after failing to act on conduct concerns. ...

3 weeks 3 days ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a $250 million Sydney fund manager, one of two AFSL cancellations announced by the corporate regulator....

3 weeks 1 day ago

Having divested its advice business in August, AMP is undergoing restructuring in at least four other departments amid a cost simplification program....

2 weeks 5 days ago