Russia, Colombia, Argentina Blockchain Congress – Buenos Aires April 10^th 2018

Lydia attended the event hosted in Buenos Aires this week. There was a good turnout from local firms such as Bitex, Cryptocup and the Cordoba Bitcoin group.

The event saw a strong Russian presence and it was both challenging (to understand) and interesting to try to hear their thoughts on where the market cap is headed. There was a good debate around how crypto prices right now are like a lifeboat with a hole in it. Every few days there is a valiant effort to bail out the water and prices buoy. But then over the next few days, that hole does its work and the boat continues to sink. To the outside observer just looking at that lifeboat bobbing up and down, it must appear like cryptos are destined to drown.

But if you look out over to the horizon there seems to be a lot more going on. For now, is the time the billionaires have decided to get involved. George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion family office is planning to trade digital assets in a big way.

Adam Fisher, who oversees macro investing at New York-based Soros Fund Management, got internal approval to trade virtual coins in the last few months, though he has yet to make a wager. The Rockefeller family – another giant of the American financial establishment – is joining the party.

Specifically, the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller Foundation, Venrock, has signed a partnership with Coinfund, a Brooklyn-based cryptocurrency investment fund. Rothschild Investment Corporation, one of Chicago’s oldest employee owned investment manager, has invested in digital currency bitcoin via Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), per the documents sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Perhaps all these billionaires are just seeing the writing on the wall.