Institutional investors are gradually entering the cryptocurrency industry by acquiring assets directly or investing in crypto-focused projects.
Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation, believes an increasing number of institutions plan to allocate capital to cryptocurrencies.
She shared this view during an interview at the ongoing Paris Blockchain Week Summit. According to Flament, the shift of companies from Web2 to Web3 is driving higher institutional participation in the crypto space. She said:
“We are seeing very strong appetite from institutional investors to understand the industry, to understand where they can participate.”
The crypto industry remains largely unregulated across many regions. Flament expects regulation to play a major role in determining the scale and pace of institutional involvement in cryptocurrencies.
She added that one of the NEAR Foundation’s priorities is helping pioneer sensible regulation for the crypto ecosystem. She commented:
“We need to be more coordinated in speaking for the industry and ultimately work with regulators.”
Several countries, including the United States, are working to introduce policies to properly regulate the rapidly growing crypto sector.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are gaining popularity within the crypto ecosystem. Flament expressed enthusiasm about the rise of DAOs and the contributions they bring to the industry.
The decentralized nature of DAOs is a significant positive for the market, and Flament intends to attract more DAOs to the Near Protocol ecosystem.
NEAR, the native token of the Near Protocol, ranks among the leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. It is currently one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap and among the faster-growing assets in the sector.
At the time of reporting, NEAR was trading at $15.69 per coin, down more than 20% from its all-time high of $20. NEAR had declined over 3% in the past 24 hours amid broader weakness across the crypto market.