CryptoSlate sat down with Tim McKeon, the Chief Strategy Officer at the Wyoming Minimal Foundation and an associate finance professor at the University of Oregon. McKeon predicts that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF will grant institutional investors seamless access to the asset, triggering a significant surge in both demand and the price of BTC. He elaborated on several critical topics, including the future of asset tokenization, crypto's role in the evolving global economy, and the essential criteria for achieving mainstream adoption.
Beyond his work at the Wyoming Minimal Foundation, Tim McKeon advises Eidon, a digital asset issuance platform. Outside the cryptocurrency sector, he is a partner at Collaborative Fund, a venture capital firm, and maintains his academic position as an associate professor of finance at the University of Oregon.
Professor McKeon's research papers have been published in leading academic journals, including the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. His expert insights have also been featured in prominent media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Business Times, VentureBeat, Bloomberg Businessweek, the New York Times (DealBook), Forbes, and MarketWatch.
In 2017, McKeon co-founded the real estate development firm known as Skyworks Development Group.
While some cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) will positively impact Bitcoin's price, others remain skeptical about its significance. According to McKeon:
“The launch of an ETF will make Bitcoin exposure more easily accessible to a vast spectrum of investors. If there is latent demand that is being suppressed due to accessibility issues, then the ETF would create strong buy-side pressure and have a positive effect on price.”
McKeon anticipates that the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs will attract a cohort of investors who currently face challenges investing in Bitcoin through compliant, regulated channels.
Consequently, institutions represent the primary investor group expected to drive the growth of Bitcoin ETFs. McKeon asserts that the entry of such investors into the Bitcoin market will inevitably lead to an increase in both demand and price.
However, it's worth noting that the launch of Bitcoin futures by CBOE Global Markets and CME Group in December 2017 failed to generate a sustained increase in demand or positively influence the price.
Similar to the current expectations for ETFs, many in the crypto community anticipated that the introduction of futures would attract institutional investors and thus drive a price rally. In reality, demand for CBOE's bitcoin futures was so low that the exchange eventually delisted them.
Tim McKeon, echoing the Wyoming Minimal Foundation's philosophy, champions tokenized assets as the most efficient method for “documenting and transferring ownership claims.” A quintessential example is the tokenization of real estate assets. While tokenized real estate can be transferred in seconds, traditional property transactions can take months to finalize.
The chief strategy officer added that advancements in user interfaces and operational tools will eventually lead to a significant reduction in issuance, trading, and capital costs. For instance, improved tooling will diminish the need for professionals to handle various tasks involved in the issuance of security tokens.
According to McKeon, this technological progress, coupled with cost reductions, will foster an increase in capital formation on a global scale.
When asked about the future of money, McKeon stated that fiat currencies will continue to be the dominant medium of exchange in the near term. He added, however, that the use of fiat-pegged digital assets (stablecoins) will continue to grow.
In McKeon's view, fiat-pegged assets are crucial for onboarding new users into the crypto economy while minimizing their exposure to volatility risks. In the long term, he hopes the industry will move away from fiat pegs. As the cryptocurrency sector matures, sees broader adoption, and achieves greater stability, the need for stablecoins will diminish.
CryptoSlate previously covered the growing interest of university students in blockchain courses back in August 2018. Students are eager to enroll in blockchain courses because it enhances their career prospects, with “blockchain developer” being listed as a top “emerging job” due to the opportunities in the field.
We asked McKeon about the types of blockchain courses being offered in universities. He identified computer science, finance, and law departments as the main areas involved with blockchain education. The professor added that the most comprehensive programs integrate elements from all three disciplines.
According to McKeon on mainstream adoption:
“Only a minority of users will embrace technology for its own sake. For mainstream adoption, crypto must enable features and functionality that are both in high demand and difficult to achieve through other means.”
McKeon believes that crypto technology must outperform existing systems before widespread adoption can be realized. This will require significant improvements in user interfaces and private key management solutions, making crypto more user-friendly for non-technical individuals. Additionally, entering and exiting the crypto market with fiat currencies should become a seamless process for users, McKeon noted.
Finally, McKeon asserted that regulatory clarity is a prerequisite for mainstream adoption. Regulators must clearly define the various categories of crypto assets and provide guidelines for their treatment.
If regulatory bodies, like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), do provide this clarity, investors and businesses that were previously hesitant to enter the industry due to regulatory uncertainty may finally commit.
