Pension Funds, Insurers Could Drive Bitcoin’s ‘Third Wave’ Of Adoption, Says Adam Back

Adam Back said bank capital rules still make holding Bitcoin "quite expensive" for lenders.

• Blockstream CEO Adam Back said Bitcoin's "third wave" of adoption is "still largely to come," led by pension funds, insurers, and other professional money managers.
• He said the first wave was individuals buying directly, and the second came from spot Bitcoin ETFs.
• Back said large banks have proposed model portfolios with "2 to 4% allocation to Bitcoin," which could reach savers through mutual funds and pension plans.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back said the next big wave of Bitcoin (BTC) buying will come from professional money managers such as pension funds and insurers, adding that this phase is "still largely to come."

During an interview with Bitcoin Magazine on Saturday, Back, the inventor of Hashcash, said Bitcoin's first wave of adoption came from "individuals mining or buying Bitcoin OTC or on Bitcoin exchanges."

He added that "then, the ETFs brought in a second wave." Spot exchange-traded funds opened Bitcoin up to investors who were used to buying assets through a broker or financial adviser.

The third wave, he said, will come through large pools of capital run by professionals. Back noted that several large investment banks have "proposed model portfolios where they would suggest 2 to 4% allocation to Bitcoin."

Those allocations could flow into mutual funds that individuals pay into for long-term savings, or "be used by pension funds," he said.

Indirect Exposure

Back said that is how many people will end up owning Bitcoin without buying it themselves. "For most people, they are not managing their own investments," he said.

Instead, their money is invested "by professional money managers in pension funds, insurance companies, life insurance policies." He added that Bitcoin treasury companies are also part of that picture, since some of those funds buy shares of publicly listed firms that hold Bitcoin.

Hurdles For Banks

Back said regulation still limits how easily traditional institutions can hold Bitcoin. He pointed to bank capital rules, under which holding Bitcoin for clients "uses up a lot of tier one capital. So, it's quite expensive for them."

He said that comes down to global Basel banking rules, which are still adapting to the asset. Back also noted that major custodians of stocks and bonds are starting to move into Bitcoin custody, helped by rule changes in the U.S. over the past year.

Bitcoin's price was up 0.7% over 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC moved to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

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