Even though the crypto markets have seen a quite significant rebound yesterday, with most notably ethereum jumping by over 12 percent, the whole market has touched its yearly low this week. Bitcoin has shed more than 60 percent of its value but that pales in comparison to most other coins, like XRP that plummeted over 90 percent from its heights at the turn of the year.

A number of punters in the crypto industry have recently been hailing bitcoin as the most reliable digital asset while issuing warnings on altcoins and the initial coin offering (ICO) market. Sonny Singh, a chief commercial officer at the crypto payment processor BitPay is the latest to voice his support for the “yes to bitcoin, no to altcoins” camp.

Speaking to Bloomberg, the BitPay executive claimed that crypto markets are in dire need of a “defining moment” that will be a catalyst for the next period of growth. Mr. Singh believes that moment will come with major institutional investors such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs entering the crypto markets.

According to him, “Next year you’ll see the talk of the big entrants become real — Goldman Sachs launching a trading desk, Fidelity does launch a bitcoin product, Square offers bitcoin processing for merchants, BlackRock offers an ETF. When these things start to happen you’ll see some adoption and then the price will bounce up again.“

The crypto sphere has been hoping for the launch of bitcoin ETF for quite some time with numerous applications already denied by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Crypto aficionados are now waiting for the SEC ruling on SolidX/VanEck bitcoin ETF request, considered the likeliest of the bunch to get approved.

Some even argue that bitcoin ETF would be harmful as it would undermine the core decentralization principle. Critics also claim that real-world use cases and adoption should be prioritized over trading and price speculation.

However, Mr. Singh is much less optimistic on altcoins, claiming that, “The ICO market is in a lot of trouble and will never get back to where they were eight months ago. At BitPay, we’ve never been more bullish on bitcoin. Where the issue is, is the altcoins. Those will never come back, the way bitcoin will come back. Bitcoin will rebound next year. You’re not seeing the likes of BlackRock launching an altcoin product. Bitcoin’s the leader in the space.“

BitPay has recently partnered a Texas luxury car retailer Post Oak Motor Cars, which has become the first high-end dealership to accept crypto payments, with BTC and BCH being accepted.

Although the altcoin market has taken a beating in 2018 it seems unlikely it will completely cease to exist. The days of shady projects raising millions in days are probably gone but with increased regulatory attention towards ICOs, we might see offerings that will comply with existing laws rather than try to circumvent them.

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