Flame X Hall – Cointelegraph Magazine

A decade ago, there was less interest in Bitcoin ETFs, but as interest and knowledge about Bitcoin has grown, so has the audience. Balchunas and Seifert are betting on the winning horse, making some bullish predictions that the SEC will approve the Bitcoin ETF space on January 10 — and that the regulator approved 11 applications by the deadline last week.

Balchunas has 219,200 X followers and growing confidence, which will happen as of June 2023, every comment is uploaded by Bitcoiners.

He pretty much took on a secondary role, becoming a TradFi version of Dr. Dolittle, but instead of talking to animals, he's talking to crypto bros.

“People were looking for a non-crypto person to give the land,” he explained.

“What James [Seyffart] And I need an interpreter in traditional finance in the world of crypto. ETFs have been the story line for doing just that. Education side, ETF and how the regulatory process works. I think we've covered that.

However, he explains that there are some users of the fridge who believe he has an ulterior motive.

“Someone thinks I'm doing this to grab my wallet, we have a really funny relationship,” he laughs.

Despite his embrace of the Bitcoin ETF, he still has one thing about Bitcoin – it hasn't done exactly what it should have done.

“One issue I still have with Bitcoin is that it was always intended to be a currency. This is real money and gone. The price is variable, and it is like a commodity, like gold,” he says.

He said the switch from currency to commodity made him a little skeptical.

However, Balchunas thinks he's got Bitcoin balls, given the years of negative media coverage he's faced as a pro.

“He makes me respect him, he's relentless, he comes right back. He has a cockroach mentality, you can't get rid of him even after being trashed by the media.

What made X famous?

Although Balchunas has been in the game for a long time, he admits that the crypto community has grown his social media numbers.

“Crypto people are great at engagement, it's really increased my following,” he says.

He also appreciates that the crypto people do not take themselves too seriously, unlike the bros in the office of these straight-shaven financial bros.

“With traditional finance, you don't get the personality, everyone is worried about their compliance officer, so it was fun and I really liked it,” he says.

When BlackRock first filed for a Bitcoin ETF in June 2023, it noticed a spike in its initial followers.

But things kicked into gear when he started throwing out projections — down to a certain percentage of SEC approval chances.

“We did this before it was cool, so it's hard for me to say that,” he said.

“People wanted to hear that, we were very optimistic and it definitely added followers.”

What kind of content do you create?

Anyone in the crypto scene, especially those following the Bitcoin ETF drama, probably knows Balchunas by now.

He was on top of all Bitcoin ETF filings, amendments and SEC rulings.

Now that 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs got the green light last week, what's next? Is Balchunas taking off or stuck around?

“The competition is going to keep us going for a while, we're going to keep an eye on ETFs,” he says.

But as time goes on and the incentive fades, he'll find that his ETF coverage will become a regular part of the equation, and he may soon find himself spending most of his time in the glamorous world of other ETFs. Like precious metals.

“Over time, this will scale to the level of a small portion of our coverage.”

What kind of content do you like?

Despite his TradFi background, Balchunas is attuned to the crypto community and appreciates accounts that break down Bitcoin in an accessible and understandable way for their audience.

His personal favorites include the Bitcoin archive, popular crypto podcaster Scott Melker or The Wolf of All Streets, and venture capitalist Nick Carter.

“He's a real fighter,” says Balchunas, co-founder of blockchain data aggregator Coinmetrics.

“I've been following him throughout the FTX debacle, and I'm excited about his comments,” he says.

Predictions?

Now it's time to ask Mr. Balchunas to bless Flame Hall with his Bitcoin price prediction.

“It's such a wild treasure even if I'm allowed to,” he laughs.

Although it's a bit provocative, it's not ready to put out the exact number. This makes sense. It's not worth instigating multiple HR meetings at Bloomberg with just this one interview.

Or maybe he's running away from the regret of imagining the wealth he could pocket from buying bitcoin when he first got wind of it.

“I first heard about Bitcoin in 2013, I had to buy some, now I'm kicking myself,” he says.

However, he emphasized that the ETF is an important step towards achieving more stable crypto regulations in the United States.

Although he predicts that “nothing can happen” until the election.

“If Biden wins again, there will be an attempt at regulation, but Democrats are more opposed to it,” he explained.

“ETFs offer a fun experiment, they do your work for you. ETFs clean up the crypto world, and that's all they need.”

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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.