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Eric Larchevêque, CEO of the hardware wallet manufacturer, Ledger, opined that the entry of financial institutions into the world of decentralized currency and blockchain, is not just for internal administrative purposes. Larchevêque believes that the crypto-technology could be used by institutions to create a “back office.”
In a podcast with Bloomberg, Larchevêque spoke about institutional investors, the fallout of the CBOE cancelling BTC Futures, the need for a hardware wallet, and the introduction of Ledger Nano X.
The Ledger CEO acknowledged the bearish effect of the crypto-winter. However, he remained confident that the market will hold firm, despite several coins dropping in value.
“Despite the collapse of the price in the recent months, the strategies are still very strong.”
Larchevêque stated that the entry of financial institutions into the cryptocurrency realm was not merely based on the underlying technology of the blockchain, as many have touted. He added that both decentralized currency and the process of tokenization will form the pillar of what could be the back office for institutions.
“Most of the financial institutions have a very strong strategy for the future of crypto because it is not only decentralised cryptocurrencies, it’s also tokenization and basically they really want to build a new back office based on this technology.”
The tokenization process, in the form of initial coin offerings [ICOs], was quickly abandoned after many associated crimes came to be known. A report by CipherTrace stated that over $725 million was stolen in 2018, due to fraudulent initial coin offerings, pyramid schemes, and exit schemes.
With the futures trading not shorting the contract on CBOE anymore, Larchevêque also reiterated his belief that the exit of the exchange could be a positive sign for the coin market.
Back when the CME and the CBOE entered the cryptospace in late-2017, the cryptocurrency market “shot to the moon,” leading to a surge in Ledger hardware wallets. During the period, Ledger sold over a million units, despite an expected sales figure of 30,000.
Larchevêque also cited the plethora of “opportunities” for financial institutions in the virtual currency market now, saying that a positive change in the collective market’s value was imminent.
“The future is really aligned with cryptocurrencies, tokenization, they don’t want to miss the next wave.”