Emin Gün Sirer

Despite the current market downturn, the Cornell University computer scientist and professor says he is bullish about crypto.

Emin Gün Sirer, creator of the Avalanche blockchain protocol, has said the current decline in crypto prices has not dampened his enthusiasm about the future of the market in general.

Speaking to Cointelegraph China, Sirer drew from his “unique vantage point” to offer some of the behind-the-scenes goings-on concerning the growing level of interest in crypto exposure among entities from outside the industry.

According to Sirer, everyone from politicians to central banks and even hedge funds have been inquiring about crypto over the last year. Indeed, the influx of hedge funds and institutional money, in general, seemed to catalyze a massive parabolic advance for the crypto market, beginning in Q4 2020 up until the market decline in May.

Now, the Cornell University professor said hedge funds are not the only big-money players coming into the crypto space.

“I have been getting contacts from retirement funds, not hedge funds, but retirement funds,” Sirer told Cointelegraph China, adding:

“Very different piece, far more slower-moving but with maybe 10 times more dollars under their control and they are slowly coming into crypto.”

The Avalanche founder’s comments are in keeping with revelations from the likes of NYDIG, which said retirement funds and sovereign wealth funds are the next major players to consider crypto exposure.

Despite Sirer’s long-term positive stance, the computer scientist stated that the short-term price action for crypto could remain locked in range-bound sideways accumulation throughout the summer months.

“I expect we will see sideways markets. This is going to be a summer where the price levels are going to maybe remain horizontal, maybe decline a little bit as well. That can happen. But I expect a resurgence back in October, November.”

Sirer also spoke about the limitations of existing blockchain protocols, such as scalability and other performance issues. As part of the interview, Sirer remarked that the architecture of existing blockchain networks is not efficient enough to support all the world’s assets.

Related: Governments are looking to buy Bitcoin, NYDIG CEO confirms

According to the professor, attempting to solve these problems led to his creation of the Avalanche blockchain. Detailing the features of Avalanche, Sirer listed attributes such as the ability to create custom blockchains called subnets and community-driven governance architecture as combinations unique to the network.

Sirer also compared Avalanche with other major blockchains in the space, adding that his protocol offers superior performance over these chains at cheaper operating costs.