Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and VC Firm Initialized Capital, is sticking to his guns with respect to his optimistic outlook for the cryptocurrency space.

In two recent interviews, the 35-year-old entrepreneur offered a positive perspective on the leading cryptocurrencies and companies in the industry – doubling down on his predictions that bitcoin (BTC) will hit $20,000 and Ether (ETH) $1,500 by the end of the year.

Talking yesterday to CNBC, Ohanian explained why he still sees bitcoin as resilient:

Bitcoin has had quite a bit of battle-testing over the years, and it’s certainly the most robust…what this is more than anything else is a changing sign of the times…as volatile as its been we see it continuing going up over the long term, because more and more people are going to look for alternatives to fiat as a store of value

Noting that he and his VC firm are very wary of “fraudulent” and “far less robust” smaller cryptocurrencies, he was also keen to stress how they are more interested in the less glamorous but essential elements of the industry:

We’re looking for those companies who are building the robust but very unsexy infrastructure that’s probably not going to make a headline anytime soon.

“Picks and Shovels”

It is this approach that led Ohanian to make a very early investment in the now industry-leading Coinbase back in 2012 – when bitcoin was worth just $5 – and at a time when it had more associations with nefarious internet dealings than leading financial institutions.

In another interview for Cheddar, he explained how this early venture has guided their approach to crypto investment:

This was before crypto was really a trend and we wanted to make a bet on the founder Brian Arsmtrong, and this premise that if bitcoin were real…if bitcoin did become a real store of value in this new internet – who would be the best broker between fiat and crypto? And Brian was the leader of it in terms of having the mind to build the storage to keep it secure as well as the willingness to put his name on the website at a time when everyone was a little bit shadier and more suspect.

With Ohanian adding that his firm are looking to invest in the “picks and shovels” that will be “fundamental parts” of the future industry, the crypto-community will likely find encouragement from such a high-profile endorsement of the space.

Featured Image Credit: “Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder, Reddit, on the Center Stage at Collision 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. P” by “Diarmuid Greene / Collision / Sportsfile” via Flickr; licensed under “CC BY 2.0”