New York-Bitcoin It may be stuck in a tough market now, but long-term investors should look to the future, according to Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital.
“Within 10 years from now, bitcoin will massively outperform gold. That’s very obvious,” Morehead said during a panel with Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) president Tom Lee at the Ondo Summit in New York City on Tuesday.
“Paper money degrades 3% every year, and that’s called stable money,” Morehead said. “Now, over the course of your life, that’s 90%,” he continued. “Therefore, it is totally rational to invest in something with a fixed amount, like gold or bitcoin.”
While Bitcoin and gold have traded in cycles, Morehead noted, investors’ attention tends to rotate. “Gold made a lot of progress, but they go back and forth,” he said, adding that total ETF inflows into both assets have been about the same in recent years.
An equally optimistic Tom Lee threw some shade at the four-year cycle, which some believe is driving the current slowdown. “I don’t think it’s a four-year cycle,” he said, citing divergent metrics like Ethereum’s. increasing activity and accelerated deleveraging that occurred during the cryptocurrency crash in October 2025. “That was a bigger destruction than November 2022,” Lee argued.
Morehead also said that institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies remains minimal, despite recent developments such as the launch of bitcoin ETFs. “All these $100 billion alternative companies don’t have bitcoins or cryptocurrencies, and that’s why I’m still so bullish,” he said. “You can’t have a bubble when the average participation of institutional investors… is literally 0.0.”
According to Morehead, the reasons that once kept big institutions away are disappearing. “The list of reasons to say no to cryptocurrencies used to be very long… Virtually all of them are crossed off,” he said, pointing to improved custody options and regulatory clarity.
He argued that blockchain’s 80% annual returns over 12 years and its low correlation with stocks make it a rare asset class that offers both high growth and portfolio diversification. “There has never been a better asset class in history.”
Lee agreed that blockchain infrastructure is quietly being integrated into the financial system. “I think cryptocurrencies are starting to invisibly become a more invisible part of everyone’s lives,” he said, pointing to stablecoins, tokenized assets, and crypto-powered neobanks as examples. “People can start using cryptocurrencies without realizing that they are actually using them.”
Regarding regulatory changes, both speakers said the United States is at an inflection point. “It’s night and day for clarity,” Morehead said. “We are going from an incredibly negative point to a point that I would now call neutral… and I hope that the United States will soon be neutral.”
Looking ahead, Morehead sees multiple catalysts, including a possible “global arms race” to acquire bitcoin between US allies and adversaries. “Countries… will realize, like China, that it is crazy to have 1,000 years of life savings stored in an asset that [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent can cancel. That’s crazy. It is much smarter to buy bitcoins.”
