*By Jacqueline Corba*
The crypto world is turning to institutional investors to get the market out of its summer slump.
"This year, it's not *only* an asset that's only gone up, but it has great trading range, and that attracts a different type of institution where they see that volatility as an opportunity," Harbor Peak partner Paul Johnson said Thursday on Cheddar's CryptoCraze.
"But they are still, to some degree, trapped on the sidelines mostly for technical and institutional reasons ー not for any kind of market reasons," he said.
Bitcoin dropped Thursday below the $7,000 threshold, a mark it has hovered around for much of the summer. And it's a far cry from its all-time high close to $20,000 back in December of 2017.
"Short-term I think you are in a tight trading range through the fall," Johnson said.
The market is also anxiously awaiting approval of a Bitcoin ETF by the SEC. The agency rejected several proposals [last week] (https://cheddar.com/videos/sec-rejects-some-bitcoin-etf-proposals).
Johnson said the SEC is wary that its approval may signal investors to act too quickly.
"If they endorse an ETF they almost feel like they are telling retail and institutional investors this is a green light, and I think that makes them very nervous," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-many-institutional-investors-are-trapped-on-sidelines-of-crypto).
President Donald Trump is talking up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. While Trump has seized on similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, there were already expectations of a massive buildout of data centers and electricity plants needed for the development of AI.
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