“Traditional assets are driven by economic growth, Fed policies, inflation. Crypto is driven by the technology itself, Millennial adoption.”

Biography:

Mark Yusko is the founder and CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-registered financial advisory service that provides a wide range of investment services to institutions and high-net-worth individuals and families. The company also researches and invests in emerging decentralized digital currency networks, including nonfungible token platforms. 

Yusko got into the asset management and investment industries in the early 1990s. His career started to take off after being appointed senior investment director at the University of Notre Dame Investment Office, where his tenure spanned from 1993 to 1998.

Yusko then founded the UNC Management Company in 2002, where he served as president. The firm was initially formed to provide financial advisory services to the University of North Carolina. 

He later founded Morgan Creek Capital Management in 2004 and helped to work out a partnership with Salient Partners LP, a private equity firm. The alliance led to the creation of the $3.5-billion Endowment Fund, of which he served as chief investment officer until 2013. Morgan Creek Capital Management currently manages over $1.5 billion in investor assets.

Yusko’s 2022:

2022 was an eventful year for Yusko. In June, his investment firm Morgan Creek Digital reportedly clashed with crypto exchange FTX and attempted to raise $250 million to acquire a majority stake in digital asset lender BlockFi. Morgan Creek Digital was a stakeholder in BlockFi, and according to Yusko, a decision was made to safeguard his company’s investment after FTX extended $250 million in credit to BlockFi but appended a series of unfavorable terms that would potentially see early investors lose out. The deal ended with BlockFi owing FTX some $275 million. BlockFi was forced to declare bankruptcy in November after the contagion of the FTX scandal put it in a cash crunch.

In December, Yusko’s firm was involved in Metagood’s NFT startup fundraising event that led to a $5-million pre-seed round. In the same month, Morgan Creek participated in a Series A fundraising round for the Evertas crypto insurance firm and helped raise $14 million.

Besides supporting crypto projects through his firm, Yusko was particularly vocal about his support for Bitcoin while making some bold predictions about the cryptocurrency. According to the hedge fund manager, Bitcoin has the potential to reach $250,000 in the next couple of years.

Yusko’s 2023:

Through Morgan Creek Capital Management, Yusko is expected to continue investing in nascent crypto and blockchain projects with significant upside potential in 2023. The CEO is also likely to continue supporting Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry at large.

In December 2022, Yusko publicized his opinion that the crypto industry will rise again despite being ignored by key mainstream intuitions. According to the hedge fund manager, the sector is set to achieve mainstream adoption in the coming years. He is likely to continue upholding these views in 2023.