Galaxy Digital co-president explains two things deterring institutional crypto buying

In recent months, companies such as MicroStrategy and Tesla have picked up sizable positions in Bitcoin (BTC). This trend has not yet become the norm for most companies, however. Damien Vanderwilt, co-president of Galaxy Digital, believes security and taxes may be acting as deterrents for crypto investing. 

"When we think about the conversations we have with corporates and institutional clients and any part of those constituencies considering investing in the sector, the first order problem is safety and are the assets that they're buying going to be safe and available and secure,” Vanderwilt told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday.

“The second order problem, particularly for the corporates, is tax treatment and the way that particularly under GAAP accounting in the U.S., Bitcoin is viewed as an intangible asset," he added.

The Bloomberg interviewer noted that “5% of finance executives” are considering Bitcoin purchases. This 5% figure came from a report recently published by research firm Gartner, detailing February survey results from 77 finance executives. “Just 5% of Finance Executives Polled in February 2021 Said They Planned to Hold Bitcoin as a Corporate Asset in 2021,” said a Feb. 16 public statement from Gartner on the report.

MicroStrategy, MassMutual, Tesla and Square have all allocated millions of dollars to Bitcoin. MicroStrategy has spent more than $1 billion on the asset and put an additional billion into BTC recently. Square also recently announced adding $170 million worth of Bitcoin to its stack. The firm spent $50 million on the coin last fall.

“They’re not unsolvable problems or things that companies can’t get comfortable with, but it does take a little bit of time,” Vanderwilt said of the two issues he mentioned.