Meet Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research

August 28, 2024

Watch Time 3:30 MIN

Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research, shares his journey from journalism to finance and discusses how his research experience influenced his perspective on Bitcoin as a technological innovation.

Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Matthew Sigel. I run digital assets research at VanEck and manage one of our liquid token strategies. I've been here for almost four years after a career in journalism and covering equities on the buy side and the sell side.

Career Highlights

I started my career as a journalist covering finance at CNBC and Bloomberg. And I got disillusioned with the news industry relatively early on.

So I realized that I was going to need more training.

So that's what I did. And I ended up joining Alliance Bernstein after passing level one of the CFA. And then I grinded on the next two levels while working full time.

I worked as a tech analyst covering stocks on the US and global thematic equity funds, which at the time were run by Cathie Wood. And I was covering mostly tech and then towards the later years, commodities and kind of China and Asia specifically.

And after four years, our views diverged somewhat in terms of how to approach investing. And I missed parts of journalism that you can find on the sell side.

So I left the buy side in 2011 and spent 10 years on the sell side at a Hong Kong based broker dealer that sold research to institutional investors.

I traveled frequently throughout Asia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and started hearing from regular people about Bitcoin and digital assets as a diversifier and as a global digitally native asset that could take share from the US dollar over time.

So when Bitcoin came around, it resonated with me as a technological innovation that might eventually take margin away from the centralized institutions like banks and the social media companies which have come to dominate US equity markets.

So, I invested in Bitcoin, started following the space, and knew the people at VanEck from reading my research. So, I joined in 2021, and we've since accelerated our product roadmap.

The most interesting thing about finance is always the search for the truth. Price discovery is the market's interpretation of current reality. And then investors have to have the creativity to imagine how that reality may change and how the price will react. So it's a limitless amount of information that we are trying to synthesize and we get real-time feedback every day from the prices on the screen. So the measuring stick is extremely transparent and we don't worry too much about feelings. We're trying to deal with facts and prices and I enjoy that.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE

Coin Definitions

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer Bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.

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This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

Investments in digital assets and Web3 companies are highly speculative and involve a high degree of risk. These risks include, but are not limited to: the technology is new and many of its uses may be untested; intense competition; slow adoption rates and the potential for product obsolescence; volatility and limited liquidity, including but not limited to, inability to liquidate a position; loss or destruction of key(s) to access accounts or the blockchain; reliance on digital wallets; reliance on unregulated markets and exchanges; reliance on the internet; cybersecurity risks; and the lack of regulation and the potential for new laws and regulation that may be difficult to predict. Moreover, the extent to which Web3 companies or digital assets utilize blockchain technology may vary, and it is possible that even widespread adoption of blockchain technology may not result in a material increase in the value of such companies or digital assets.

Digital asset prices are highly volatile, and the value of digital assets, and the companies that invest in them, can rise or fall dramatically and quickly. If their value goes down, there’s no guarantee that it will rise again. As a result, there is a significant risk of loss of your entire principal investment.

Digital assets are not generally backed or supported by any government or central bank and are not covered by FDIC or SIPC insurance. Accounts at digital asset custodians and exchanges are not protected by SPIC and are not FDIC insured. Furthermore, markets and exchanges for digital assets are not regulated with the same controls or customer protections available in traditional equity, option, futures, or foreign exchange investing.

Digital assets include, but are not limited to, cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, assets stored or created using blockchain technology, and other Web3 products.

Web3 Companies include but are not limited to, companies that involve the development, innovation, and/or utilization of blockchain, digital assets, or crypto technologies.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. As with any investment strategy, there is no guarantee that investment objectives will be met and investors may lose money. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

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