The recent entry of Morgan Stanley into the US spot bitcoin ETF market has been seen by some as a catalyst to end the current crypto bear market, given the vast distribution power of the company's $8 trillion wealth management network. However, Blockstream CEO Adam Back cautions that this process will be slower than anticipated. Back, an early contributor to the Bitcoin community, notes that while bitcoin ETFs are a significant development, institutional adoption is a gradual process. "I think what people may have miscalculated is that institutional adoption is very slow," he said in an interview.
"So the ETFs got bought, but when BlackRock is saying they recommend 2% to 4% allocation in their general stock portfolio, the fund managers haven't done that yet. And they will, but it's slower than people anticipate." He adds that investors don't pile in overnight and that a build-up could take a year or even 18 months. Back also discusses the impact of regulatory influences, including the Trump administration's crypto-friendly stance, and the potential for bitcoin's cyclical nature to affect pricing. Additionally, he addresses concerns about quantum-computing hardware and its potential to break Bitcoin's cryptography, stating that institutions will carefully consider such risks.