James Wo, founder and chief executive of crypto investment firm DFG, says bitcoin remains the dominant institutional asset in crypto – and is unlikely to achieve the same status anytime soon.
Speaking to CoinDesk at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris, Wo dismissed Bitmine Immersion Technologies President Tom Lee’s big prediction that ether would hit $250,000, arguing that Ethereum doesn’t have the same consensus and institutional recognition that has formed around bitcoin.
“I totally disagree with him,” Wo said.
“Bitcoin has a very strong consensus. If you talk to anyone who was an early backer… they believe in Bitcoin. Today, beyond the initial support for Bitcoin, everyone in crypto, as well as traditional financiers, are trying to recognize Bitcoin as a safe haven or an asset class. I don’t think Ethereum is there yet.”
Ether was trading around $1,775 at the time of writing, while bitcoin was nearing $63,000.
Wo argued that the fundamental valuation of ether remains heavily dependent on the localized application layer running directly on top of the network to capture the value of fees. While modern Layer 2 networks now divert transaction volume and capture fees independently, Wo explains that the network’s accumulation of value has been structurally different.
“The value of ether has been more diversified or decentralized,” Wo noted.
“The Ethereum token as a whole is not going to capture a lot of value. On-chain activity is not as strong as expected…I don’t think Ethereum will even reach an all-time high. I think Bitcoin will do well, but not Ethereum,” he asserted.
However, not everyone agrees that Ethereum’s value accumulation problem is permanent.
In February, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reignited debate within the community after suggesting that Layer 2 networks, which have long been considered the primary scaling solution, might “no longer make sense” as Ethereum becomes faster and cheaper. The discussion reflects broader questions about whether future upgrades could allow more economic activity to return directly to Ethereum’s base layer.
“What is Bitcoin?” »
Wo’s view, however, reflects the perspective of an investor who has spent more than a decade deploying capital into digital assets, starting with Bitcoin.
After studying mathematics in college, Wo began watching his classmates trade bitcoin during the bear market of 2014. He then entered the industry with an initial capital of $20 million from his mother, who, at the time, ran a well-established business and private equity firm in China.
“At first, I don’t think she trusted me,” Wo recalls. “What is Bitcoin? She has no idea.” But she still gave him the money and said, “Okay, so I’ll still support you.”
He deployed this initial capital into Bitcoin during the market lows of late 2014 and 2015. As the 2016 bull market developed, he diversified DFG’s balance sheet into alternative layer 1 protocols, becoming an early participant in ecosystems such as Solana, Polkadot, and Near.
He also led early enterprise investments in consumer applications and Web3 infrastructure, including an initial $10 million allocation into Circle’s USDC stablecoin project in January 2018.
These investments helped transform DFG from a bitcoin-focused investment vehicle into one of the largest crypto venture capitalists. Today, the company manages more than 100 portfolio entities with total assets under management of more than $1 billion.
Bitcoin’s new all-time high
Although Wo remains cautious on ether, his multi-year outlook for bitcoin is positive. He views this asset as a liquid investment superior to that of regional real estate and traditional stock markets.
“I strongly believe it will outperform the Chinese stock market as well as the US stock market,” Wo said. “Bitcoin in every aspect you can think of from an investment perspective: the liquidity is the best in the world.”
Wo expects that Bitcoin may undergo a short-term correction before reaching new highs later in the cycle.
“If it drops 50% as a correction…the bottom should be between $60,000 and $62,000,” Wo calculated, adding that only an extreme black swan geopolitical event would send the asset lower.
Longer term, he expects Bitcoin to reach new record highs in the coming years.
“At the peak, we have about $125,000…I think we’ll hit an all-time high in 2027 or 2028.”
