New York – Bitcoin Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead said it may be a difficult market now, but long-term investors should look to the future.
“Bitcoin will significantly outperform gold 10 years from now. It’s very clear,” Morehead said during a panel discussion with Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee at the Ondo Summit in New York City on Tuesday.
“Paper currency depreciates by 3% every year, which is what is called a stable currency,” Morehead said. “Now, over your lifetime, it’s 90 percent,” he continued. “Therefore, it’s perfectly rational to invest in a fixed amount of something, like gold or Bitcoin.”
Morehead noted that while Bitcoin and gold trade cyclically, investor attention tends to rotate. “Gold is way ahead, but they do go back and forth,” he said, adding that total ETF inflows into the two assets over the past few years have been roughly equal.
Equally optimistic, Tom Lee casts some shadow over the four-year cycle that some believe is responsible for the current downturn. “I don’t think this is a four-year cycle,” he said, citing different indicators such as Ethereum During the October 2025 cryptocurrency crash, activity increased and deleveraging accelerated. “This is greater than the loss in November 2022,” Lee argued.
Morehead also said that despite recent developments such as Bitcoin ETFs, institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies remains small. “All these $100 billion alternative companies have zero exposure to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, which is why I’m still so bullish,” he said. “There can be no bubble when the median institutional holdings…are actually 0.0.”
Morehead said the reasons that once deterred large institutions are disappearing. “The list of reasons to say no to crypto used to be very long… they were almost all crossed off,” he said, pointing to improved custody options and regulatory transparency.
He believes that blockchain has delivered annual returns of up to 80% over 12 years and has a low correlation with stocks, making it a rare asset class that can provide high growth and portfolio diversification. “There has never been a better asset class in history.”
Li agreed that blockchain infrastructure is quietly being embedded in financial systems. “I think cryptocurrencies are starting to invisibly become a part of everyone’s lives,” he said, citing stablecoins, tokenized assets and crypto-powered neobanks as examples. “People may actually start using cryptocurrencies without realizing they are actually using cryptocurrencies.”
As for regulatory shifts, both speakers said the United States is at an inflection point. “It’s going to take days and nights to figure it out,” Morehead said. “We’re coming from such an incredibly negative point to now what I would call neutrality… Hopefully the United States will be neutral soon.”
Looking ahead, Morehead sees multiple catalysts, including the potential for a “global arms race” between U.S. allies and adversaries over Bitcoin. “Countries … are going to realize, as China has, that it’s crazy to store a thousand years of your life savings in one asset. [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessant can cancel. That’s crazy. It’s smarter to buy Bitcoin. “
