Lane Castleman joins me now, the co-CEO at blockchain.com. Lane, it's great to have your perspective here on the show. People are wondering, have we seen the bottom of the ongoing crypto bear market? Right around 65K for BTC, down 25% on the year, down 48% from where pricing was in early October. What do you think, Lane?
Well, thanks so much for having me. And I should note, I don't have a crystal ball. So I don't know when we're at the top or the bottom. I can tell you, Sentiment is feeling much better now than it has felt in a long time. I think we're seeing a lot of reaction to all the conversation going on in D.C. about clarity and just the recent market movements by some of the major companies in the space and investors. Feels like a good moment to be getting back into crypto and thinking about it.
So you mentioned the Clarity Act lane. Anyone who's been watching the show knows we've been giving our viewers updates on it seemingly by the day all year long. What is your latest read and how likely is it to actually pass before the November midterms?
My gosh this this act seems to be changing every day one direction or another. But one thing is certain and that is we have the most crypto friendly bipartisan Congress in history. And I think there is something to be said for the commitment we've received across the entire industry from elected officials and every state and every corner of the country to really make sure we have clarity. because that's all the crypto industry is asking for, a permanent regulatory framework. So I think we'll see some real decisive action. Hopefully we see it before the midterms, but if not, I know it'll get done.
Lane, is there one part in particular of the Clarity Act you are most bullish on? What part of it, if and when it does pass and works its way onto the desk of the president, do you think, ah, at long last, we will have accomplished that thing?
I think clear rules between the CFTC and the SEC is really what we're waiting for. Of course, in this administration, it's pretty clear how the rules are separated out between the two agencies. But the future is long and crypto is here to stay. So we want to make sure those rules are enshrined for all future administrations and whether there's one party in power over another. We want a level playing field and one that we know how to plan for well in advance. So I think the CFTC being on the leading edge of crypto regulation probably makes the most sense for us and the thing that I'm most excited about.
Lane, I need your take on perps, because if you work in the fintech space, you're not going very far over the course of your workday without coming across a perps-related headline. What does your read on this rise of perpetual futures and what it means for, I guess, both for the industry as well as would-be users out there?
Really does seem like every day there's something new being announced about perks from one of the leading major crypto companies. And that's a good thing. I think if you step back a little bit what you're seeing is finally the intersection of traditional finance or try buying crypto and the industry realizing that there's a lot that we can learn from try. And sometimes we can do it a little bit faster, maybe a little bit better. And I think that's what you're seeing happen with Perps. It really is an amazing product to offer our customers. And we're seeing a lot of uptick from not just customers that you traditionally expect to be in the space, but newcomers who want to learn more about how to invest in finance, and they find it more approachable to do it through PerpTech.
How are you thinking about the rise of prediction markets more broadly?
The prediction market space has been super interesting for us. Outside the US, we launched something called Snap Markets, which are short markets that allow you to invest and bet on things as fun as the price of Bitcoin going up or down on a 30-second market. We have a lot of new products like that that we're launching, and that's our take on prediction markets. But look, I think consumers are really driving the direction here. And they've said that they want the opportunity to invest in things that are happening on any given moment and any given day. I think some of the predictions that come out of prediction markets are a little off base. I think last week or the week before, there were some predictions leading about whether or not we'd have an alien reveal announcement coming out of the White House. And that was one of the number one investment prediction markets out there. So some of them aren't necessarily totally relevant to what's happening in reality. But I think it's a really exciting product and a market neutral product to be offering to consumers. And we're seeing a lot of excitement for it, not just in the US, but Blockchain.com operates in over 100 countries. And we're seeing the excitement in a lot of countries around the world for something new.
I for one am, we gotta leave the interview there, I for one am looking forward to the announcements of Aliens landing, if and when that happens. Lane Kassman, co-CEO of Blockchain.com, thanks for joining us, do it again soon.
