Despite the price declines that cryptocurrencies have endured this year, an ex-Goldman Sachs executive is still optimistic about the future of digital assets.

Greg Tusar, who is a former global head of electronic trading at the New York-based financial giant, likened the current state of the crypto market to the ‘early days of trading equities electronically’, according to Bloomberg. Consequently, Tusar sees huge opportunities for entrepreneurs in the space:

“It’s early stage, there’s a lot of opportunity to build great businesses and have impact.”

Evidently, Tusar has taken his own advice and is the co-founder of Tagomi Holdings, a live electronic crypto brokerage which launched recently. The startup has received the backing of among others Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that counts billionaire Peter Thiel among its key people.

Institutional Investors

According to Tusar, who doubles up as the startup’s chief technology officer, the live electronic crypto brokerage will offer sophisticated execution and transparency that wealth management firms and top family offices require in order for them to invest in digital assets:

“Tagomi applies proven electronic trading solutions that these sophisticated investors have come to expect, and removes the operational hurdles commonly associated with digital asset investing.”

Tusar is not alone in expressing optimism for cryptocurrencies despite the bearish conditions. Earlier this month, the CEO of Circle Jeremy Allaire predicted that the prices of cryptocurrencies will rocket in the next 36 months.

While he didn’t mention a specific price for bitcoin, Allaire revealed that he was betting for the price to go up:

“I don’t make significant price predictions. But it’s certainly going to be worth a great deal more than it’s worth today. I am long in the market.”

Growing Adoption

Another perennial optimist has been the founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee, who recently argued that the current prices for cryptocurrencies were unjustified as the adoption had greatly increased with the number of crypto wallets having risen dramatically.

Last month, the chief executive of cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz, also expressed optimism about the future of the space. While giving his price prediction for bitcoin, Novogratz stated that the next rally will be driven by institutional investors:

“There’s going to be a case of institutional FOMO [fear of missing out], just like there was in retail.”

Founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are the other big names in crypto who see better days ahead. The twins have gone on to back their views by continuing to release new products amidst the bearish conditions including a mobile app for their Gemini crypto exchange saying that “We think it’s a space that’s here to stay.”