Go Inside NYC's Bitcoin Bar on ETF Approval Day

As Bitcoin ETFs were approved to make history last week, Bitcoiners of all shapes and sizes assembled in a dungy dive bar to celebrate.

The founder of one ETF applicant, a prominent Bitcoin podcast host, and even Silicon Valley Actor T.J. Miller all made appearances at Manhattan’s Pubkey bar, which fittingly, lets people pay in Bitcoin. (Check out the video from Coinage below! ⬇️)

It may be true that the celebrations were short-lived, as Bitcoin stumbled some 6% after a second day of the ETFs trading, but Mark Connors, the Head of Research at 3iQ, says this is par for the course and 100% expected. And if anyone might know, it’s probably him. (3iQ was the first fund to get a Bitcoin Fund approved in North America.)

As Connors predicted at the beginning of last week, before the ETFs even began trading, a dip of exactly the size we saw wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.

“I'm very optimistic on [Bitcoin’s] adoption and price,” he said. “But we're [encouraging] a little bit of caution because it's going to be volatile.”

As the volatility from the ETF’s first day of trading dies down, Connors is still bullish on Bitcoin’s prospects in 2024. His firm just put out a report detailing why they believe Bitcoin will hit a price north of $110,000 this year. That said, he stressed that it’s important to consider investment horizons and risk appetitive before getting over allocated. In fact, most people do better when they just buy and hold Bitcoin for the long term.

“Last cycle, over 90% of people who held assets on exchange lost money because they traded [Bitcoin, and] they got shaken out,” Connors told me. “A retirement account may be a good way to put it away, so you don't see it, and maybe start small.”

Luckily, now that Bitcoin ETFs are trading, it’s never been easier for anyone to gain exposure to Bitcoin in any portfolio.

Let’s just see how long it takes for Bitcoin’s price to rise.