'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary says bitcoin won't hit $300,000 until institutions are comfortable buying the crypto

• Kevin O'Leary said bitcoin won't hit $300,000 until wealth and pension funds warm up to it.
• Bitcoin's price will soar once US regulators clarify rules around cryptocurrencies, he predicted.

Don't expect bitcoin to double or triple in price anytime soon, going by "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary's prediction.

"If you want to talk about bitcoin going to $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, it's going to be when institutions can finally buy it," he said in a Wednesday interview with Stansberry Research.

"At some point in the next two to three years, the US regulator is going to rule on cryptocurrencies," he said.

President Joe Biden's administration is reportedly expected to sign an executive order next week, directing federal agencies to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

Many crypto advocates are in favor of regulation, as long as this would allow participants to operate confidently and relatively freely under a clear framework that takes into account relevant issues. Some legacy financial institutions including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan have added or expanded their crypto offerings. But a lack of clarity on rules has so far held back many investors from taking bigger stakes in crypto.

O'Leary said this phase of unclear regulation will end eventually.

"As soon as that happens, if I'm running a sovereign fund or pension plan, I'm going to allocate to it probably 1% to 3%, and I want to be long bitcoin when that happens," O'Leary said.

The Canadian businessman is personally known to hold bitcoin, ethereum, and stablecoin USD Coin. He's previously said his portfolio is nowhere near 20% in crypto, but has gone over 10.7% in his operating company.

"I can tell you with certainty right now, because I service sovereign wealth funds and pension plans and in the indexing business — for all of the hype around bitcoin, none of those institutions own a single coin," he said. "And they're not going to until their compliance departments allow for the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) mandates to be checked the box on that, and of course, be compliant on the asset class itself."

"But when they do get that go ahead, the price of the coin is going to appreciate dramatically," he added.

Bitcoin was last trading 5.6% lower on Friday at $40,329, and is down 40% from its all-time high of around $69,000 in November, according to data from CoinGecko.

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