I just saw a very interesting panel at the Ondo Summit in New York where Dan Morehead from Pantera Capital said something worth considering: in the next 10 years, Bitcoin will massively surpass gold. And frankly, it makes sense if you look at it from a certain angle.

The argument is simple but powerful. Fiat currencies depreciate about 3% annually, which over your lifetime amounts to losing around 90% of purchasing power. So investing in assets with a fixed supply like Bitcoin or gold is not just rational, it’s almost necessary. The interesting part is that Bitcoin and gold have been constantly rotating investor attention, but the total flows into ETFs of both have been nearly identical in recent years.

Tom Lee, who was also on the panel, was equally optimistic but questioned something many take for granted: that four-year cycle some believe is defining the market. Lee argues that the metrics diverge too much. Activity on Ethereum remains accelerated, while there was a significant reduction in leverage recently, even greater than a few years ago. That doesn’t quite fit the simple cycle many expected.

What caught my attention was when Morehead mentioned that institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies remains minimal, despite the existing Bitcoin ETFs. Companies valued in hundreds of billions of dollars literally don’t hold Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in their portfolios. That’s almost absurd when you think about diversification.

The list of reasons why large institutions avoided cryptocurrencies used to be long. Insecure custody, lack of regulatory clarity, reputational risk. But Morehead was clear: almost all those excuses have disappeared. Custody has improved, regulation is clarifying, and blockchain infrastructure is quietly integrating into the financial system. Even things like stablecoins, tokenized assets, and crypto-powered neobanks are normalizing without most people noticing.

From another perspective, blockchain has generated annual returns of 80% over 12 years with low correlation to stocks. That’s practically a unique asset class offering both growth and diversification. Lee agreed that cryptocurrencies are starting to become part of everyone’s lives invisibly. People could be using cryptocurrencies without even realizing it, and that includes the entire digital asset ecosystem, from NFTs to more specialized tokens.

Regarding regulatory changes, both were optimistic. The U.S. is at a turning point. Moving from an incredibly negative stance to neutral is a massive shift. Morehead even mentioned there could be a “global arms race” for Bitcoin among countries. China will eventually realize it’s illogical to have a thousand years of savings in an asset that can be canceled by a Treasury official. Bitcoin is a much smarter alternative.

The current price of Bitcoin is around $74,050, and although the market remains volatile, the institutional narrative is changing. With institutional exposure still near zero and infrastructure constantly improving, the long-term potential remains quite interesting for anyone willing to look beyond short-term noise.