Play Video Blockchain Capital's Spencer Bogart says Yale CIO's move into crypto is first step to a new crypto bull market
Bitcoin is close to bottoming, and once it rebounds, this week's developments will fuel its climb, said Spencer Bogart of cryptocurrency and blockchain venture firm Blockchain Capital.
"We're down about 70 percent from our highs, so I think that bitcoin is close to bottoming and so is the rest of the market," Bogart said Friday on CNBC's "Fast Money."
Cryptocurrency has had a big week. On Wednesday, TD Ameritrade announced a strategic investment in an exchange called ErisX, which offers both bitcoin spot and futures trading. High-speed trading company Virtu Financial will also back the exchange. On Thursday, cryptocurrency index fund leader Bitwise Asset Management announced an investment from longtime financial advisor and billionaire Ric Edelman, who also joined the advisory board. And on Friday, David Swensen, who's known as Yale's Warren Buffett, made his first big bets on crypto, investing in two venture funds dedicated to cryptocurrency.
Despite the news, bitcoin has hovered around $6,600 all week.
"Towards the end of last year, when we were in the peak of this bull market, bad news seemed to have no effect on the markets ... Now we are seeing the other side of that, when we have a week of news with TD, Ric Edelman and Yale, and it has almost no effect on price," he said.
Bogart, former bitcoin analyst and VP at Needham, called the developments "important building blocks to leading more institutional capital into the space."
"I think it's going to take a little bit of time, but each of these news items is a piece of [kindling] that we are going to throw onto a future crypto bonfire when we have the next bull market," he added.
Bitcoin was last down 0.81 percent at $6,608.74, according to Coindesk. Bitcoin briefly topped $19,000 in December, before losing more than half its value.
— CNBC's Kate Rooney contributed to this report.
