ARK’s Chris Burniske And Coinbase’s Adam White On Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies As An Asset Class

Bitcoin, which turned seven earlier this year, seems to be maturing.
After reaching a peak of more than $1,000 per bitcoin in late 2013 and then dwindling back down to the $200s last year, the price, now around $650, has become less volatile. Institutional investors have shown greater demand for it, cryptocurrency exchanges have added more advanced features for professional traders and even the likes of Paypal have begun to accept it as payment.
But what do all these developments mean exactly?
On this week’s episode of Unchained (iTunes, TuneIn Radio), my podcast exploring blockchain and fintech, I talk with two guests who have explored these trends in-depth: Chris Burniske, blockchain analyst and products lead at ARK Investment Management, the first public fund manager to invest in Bitcoin, and Adam White, vice president of business development and strategy at Coinbase.
The two, who co-authored a white paper outlining four reasons why Bitcoin represents a new asset class, bring complementary perspectives to the show. Burniske, who does both research and business development, has written several white papers on Bitcoin and the technology behind it, blockchain.
White, whose company has done almost $4.5 billion in Bitcoin transactions for its customers, brokered the deals that got major retailers such as Overstock, Expedia and Dell to accept bitcoin and also heads up Coinbase’s institutional exchange, Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX). They make a strong case for why bitcoin represents a new asset class, not just from an analytical perspective but also from their observations of the behaviors of retail and institutional investors.

This post was published at Forbes on JUL 11, 2016 @.