Crypto markets are being shaped by the same macro forces that are spooking traditional financial markets, but their international and borderless nature provides a layer of protection, according to Offchain Labs co-founder and chief scientist Edward Felten.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” Felten noted that the recent volatility in crypto markets is being driven by broader concerns around global trade and economic policy. The source is stemming from uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs and comments from President Donald Trump.
Offchain Labs is the team behind Arbitrum, one of the leading Ethereum (ETH) Layer 2 scaling solutions.
“The whole world is trying to figure out, really decipher what President Trump is saying, what he wants to do with the tariffs, what his end goal is.”
Crypto’s borderless nature offers strategic advantage
Despite near-term volatility, Felten pointed to a growing sense of long-term optimism across the crypto space.
“People are more bullish in the long run because the technology continues to develop,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot more adoption by institutions and a lot more regulatory clarity.”
When asked whether Trump’s focus on the U.S. trade deficit might intersect with his interest in crypto, Felten dismissed the idea that crypto is constrained by national borders.
“I think crypto is inherently international,” he explained. “When I think about the development teams that we have and the customers who use the technology, we don’t think about it as siloed by nation. It really is an inherently international community and set of companies.”
Felten emphasized that while crypto markets are not immune to global economic turbulence, they are less affected by the kinds of trade barriers that can disrupt other sectors.
“We feel the turbulence of the general markets,” he said. “But we don’t have the same kind of barriers at borders that you see in some other markets.”
