Kevin O'Leary: 'Spigots of Capital' for Crypto Once Policy, Rules Are Set

Mar 08, 2023

Big funds are just waiting for clear US regulations to pour money into crypto assets, according to 'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary.

"There are billions of dollars out there waiting for policy," the investor said at the Bitcoin Miami conference Wednesday.

"What we're missing is policy. When we get policy, and the regulator regulates, that's not a negative thing," he added."The spigots of capital are going to flood into this sector, like you've never seen. So for those of us that can invest in it now — you're getting ahead of what's going to be a huge wave of interest when policy occurs."The O'Shares chairman, who has been spending time in Washington DC talking to lawmakers, said he's encouraged by their willingness to work with colleagues across the aisle on legislation around crypto and blockchain-based technology.

"The good news is, on a bipartisan basis, there are many senators and reps that are thinking about this in a proactive way," he said in his keynote speech."So I'm going to give you what I'm calling the 'five vectors of policy', and give you an update on where we're at on this stuff."

One vector is a bill being co-led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, in the works since last year, which focuses on taxes and securities in crypto. The Responsible Financial Innovation Act aims to clarify the definition of a crypto broker, set up a self-regulatory body for digital assets and set up a framework for taxation on digital asset gains.

Beyond this "Big Daddy bill" — which is crucial to encouraging sovereign wealth funds and the like into crypto — O'Leary gave a shout-out to President Joe Biden's executive order on cryptocurrencies, signed in March.

"The president himself in his direct order, his executive order, talked about crypto as something that he wouldn't make illegal, that was the most important message in there," he said.Another vector is Sen. Bill Hagerty's legislation on stablecoin, the Stablecoin Transparency Act, which is designed to provide clarity on what constitutes that type of cryptocurrency, and how they are backed. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that's pegged to an asset such as a fiat currency, government bonds, or a precious metal.

"If it [stablecoins] are backed by the U.S. dollar, it will become the reserve currency of the Earth. That's what will happen, and why would we want to give that up to any other country? Why would we ever give up that innovation?" O'Leary said.

He said he would argue that stablecoins are one of the fastest-growing asset classes, outside of bitcoin. O'Leary has previously said he's invested in over 30 different cryptos, with no more than a 5% position in any one. In that portfolio, he named bitcoin, ethereum, polygon, hbar, avalanche, and helium as being among his holdings.

Bitcoin Miami is taking place this week over four days, from Wednesday to Sunday. The list of speakers includes MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, ARK Invest owner Cathie Wood, Palantir's Peter Thiel and tennis champion Serena Williams, among others.

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