David Mercer: “$250-500k Bitcoin is entirely possible”

David Mercer, the CEO of LMAX group, believes that a “$250K-500k Bitcoin is entirely possible” and that “we haven’t seen anything like what’s coming” when discussing the future of institutional investment in crypto.

During his fireside chat at the Digital Asset Summit London today, Mercer spoke of the challenges facing exchanges when it comes to maintaining uptime and how avoiding any disruptions in service is imperative for attracting institutional grade investors to the space.

Mercer noted the key tenets of his business model, the Group’s institutional cryptocurrency exchange, which include “trust, tech, credit and compliance” – can cover the full spectrum of what’s expected from an institutional-grade crypto exchange and provide investors with a reliable medium to trade on.

A key point that Mercer then touched on was that leading banks “know how to access crypto but the lack of intermediation provided by banksand trust” can be an issue, especially when it comes to “waiting for approval” for gatekeepers and regulators.

The biggest stumbling blocks currently facing banks, he said, include “getting a tick from a regulator” and institutional participants access to credit, provided by banks – something Mercer believes the market can be overcome by a greater focus on establishing reliable credit networks and building trust between legacy and cryptocurrency markets.

He also touched on his experiences with US banks and their approach to crypto, saying that most banks “have strategies” and should focus on derivatives markets before venturing into spot crypto trading.

Once crypto assets are regulated and approved and they can touch cash markets within crypto, it may explode within “24-36 months”- which could lead to a “$250-500k Bitcoin”.

Mercer also predicted that within a “three-year time horizon, crypto assets will take over gold” as an asset class and that “it is coming” when referring to the flood of new capital and volume from the largest institutional buyers.