According to Hartman Capital founder and crypto content creator Felix Hartman, the presidential election may not have to wait for the massive crypto rally sparked by Donald Trump to end.
“The moment Trump's chances of winning the election are very slim, which could happen at any number of times… I expect the crypto market to explode,” Hartmann told Hall of Flame.
“When we realize that we're not going to be sued to death, there may be a way for this industry to support itself and become more casual rumors and rumours.”
But if Kamala Harris ends up taking the top spot, it will see a very sad outlook for the crypto industry.
“If Kamala wins, I think we're going to have the longest winter we've ever seen because it's four years. There will be less capital for new projects, market makers are already cutting back,” he said.
Hartmann, now 29, started his own hedge fund Hartmann Capital in 2018 at the age of 23 after a multi-billionaire promised him millions in crypto trading.
In the end, the agreement was not fulfilled.
While consulting for an investment bank, he had dinner with the billionaire founder, who he saw as a “young genius” for introducing crypto to the firm and developing tokenization strategies.
“Why don't we give this guy $10 million to start a business for us,” Hartman recalls.
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Hartman went home, explained how Google was starting a hedge fund, and spent $25,000 in legal fees to set everything up.
By the time everything was settled, it took several months, and by mid-2018, the price of Bitcoin had dropped by 50% from $20,000 to $10,000.
The failure was enough to scare the billionaire and his team.
Hartman, against the advice of his friends and family, continued to work even as Bitcoin fell to $3,000 in late 2018.
Flash forward two years to 2020 and Mark Yusko, founder of Morgan Creek Management, is knocking on the door.
“Hey Felix I'll be in Santa Monica soon, we should have coffee,” Hartman tweeted.
Yusko is impressed with his return. Hartmann had no clue that his association with Yusko would involve investing in either of his funds.
Now, still in his 20s, he's dealing with more zeros on screen than most people will ever see in a lifetime.
“Hedge funds trade every single day, I think there was a month where we had half a billion dollars in a month, in terms of AUM we were trading, you're talking maybe $40 million in assets,” Hartman explains.
What made Felix Hartmann famous on social media?
As a millennial, Hartman is probably more tech-savvy than other crypto fund managers. He is big on video content and uses Instagram and TikTok, which has helped him amass nearly 100,000 followers on his social media channels.
When he first started fund management, he says he built a following by chronicling his startup journey and living in a three-bedroom apartment with two other entrepreneurs.
Once his money started trading in the millions, he fired his roommates and took the entire three-bedroom house to himself.
He admits that MTV-style content is a thing of the past, and these days, his videos and content focus more on Bitcoin, crypto, metaverse and AI.
What content does Felix Hartmann produce?
Hartman admits the content has “evolved over time,” and that's fair enough considering he started creating crypto content in his early 20s.
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“I try to be thoughtful and think about what my audience cares about, what's important to them,” he said.
“That was a struggle, because I'm really mature. The way I look at the market as a fund manager is completely different from retail investors,” he added.
“I can be sane and crazy, but it doesn't help anyone.”
Hartman is trying to find the “sweet spot” but has a mission to share information about technologies that are changing the world and “get closer to people.”
“I'm more concerned about the impact of these technologies than the financial returns,” he said.
Hartmann says you probably won't find it when he says, “Token XYZ is going to go to a zillion dollars.”
What content does Felix Hartmann like?
Hartmann says he's a fan of “intellectually honest,” which is a fancy way of saying he's not a fan of crypto bros “shilling their bags” with hundreds of posts a day.
“I love people who share their thoughtful opinions,” explains Hartman.
Hartman enjoys the content of other “fund guys” like BlockTower Capital Chief Investment Officer Ari Paul, Multicoin Capital Co-Founder Kyle Samani and Archa Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman.
Predictions about Felix Hartmann?
Hartman said that if Trump wins the election, “Bitcoin is going to start to explode” or the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, “will be fired or let go.” Either way, it will bring more transparency and reduce worry about legal issues for crypto companies.
However, many crypto firms argue that they can bail if Harris wins because the legal fees to defend themselves will be very heavy over the next four years.
“Any project with a market value of a billion dollars or less, the treasury is probably only seven figures, maybe only $5 million in the runway. If you run away, if you have $5 million, you don't have the money to defend yourself in court for another two to four years.
Hartman said some crypto companies charge at least “five figures a month” in legal fees, even for basic tasks like answering questions.
If Trump wins, Bitcoin's six-figure price this year could be “a bit of a stretch,” Hartman said. However, he thinks getting to “$90,000” is definitely within reach.
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Ciaran Lyon
Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.
