Lunar Strategy CEO says ‘institutional investors are coming back’ to crypto

In an exclusive interview with Finbold, Tim Haldorsson, the CEO of crypto and Web3 marketing agency Lunar Strategy, shared his views on institutional interest in the digital asset space. He highlighted the motivations behind the renewed institutional interest in crypto, particularly through the application of various exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

At the same time, anticipating the upcoming Bitcoin halving, Haldorsson provided insights on what to expect in terms of price movement, basing his predictions on historical price movements. In this context, the executive also discussed how altcoins are likely to be affected. In addition, he addressed the potential impact of current global issues, such as macroeconomic factors and geopolitical tensions, on Bitcoin.

Additionally, during ongoing discussions about crypto regulations, Haldorsson noted how laws in various jurisdictions affect the sector. Interestingly, he pointed out potential outcomes in regions where cryptocurrencies are less regulated.

As the CEO of Lunar Strategy, can you share the vision and mission that drives your company? What sets your marketing agency apart from others in the industry?

“When we first started crypto marketing in 2019, almost all agencies in the industry had anonymous profile pictures, joined video calls without video and shared their names, etc. on the website.

Even today it is a large part of the ecosystem that tries to hide themselves and not show their faces etc on their website.

We’ve decided to go all in on transparency and showing ourselves because we’re proud of our work in the industry and want to make sure we’re working with companies we’re proud to work with.

It remains our mission to push web3 into the mainstream where it can improve quality of life for hundreds of millions of people within finance (DeFi), gaming (gamefi) and art/collectibles as NFT.”

Lunar Strategy has an impressive portfolio including clients such as OKX and Bitmex. Can you share a success story or case study that highlights your crypto marketing approach?

“When it comes to marketing in the crypto space, in a bull market we had a playbook focused on top-level publishing, along with top key opinion leaders within a certain ecosystem like BNB, Polygon and Solana. Create ‘ a strong compelling story around the cryptocurrency, and then amplify it within just one ecosystem for the most viral effect.

Then when it came to the bear market, it was more to focus on long-term building and attract developers and projects to different ecosystems. This required a more local approach that was more focused on reaching certain key parts of the ecosystem such as developers, VCs, builders and more. Instead of just focusing the marketing on investors.”

Reflecting on your crypto marketing insights, your company recently offered valuable resources such as the 45-page guide on mastering X (formerly Twitter) for marketing in the crypto space. What are the key lessons from this guide, and in your opinion, why is X an essential platform for cryptocurrency marketing success?

“When it came to X, it became the new hub for announcing news, updates and talking directly to your community with media/news sites as the intermediary that filtered what they deemed newsworthy. This allowed X to become the place where people can learn about the latest news/developments of crypto projects.

It also made X a research playground where key opinion leaders began sharing “alpha” and short-form content on various projects and topics, leading traders to buy and invest in new projects.

All these factors combined have made X a very valuable platform for projects to announce news and for traders, investors, projects to find news and more.

From your vantage point, do you expect more institutional investors to jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon in the near future? What indicators in the market or marketing sector indicate this trend?

“Right now we see 10+ of the world’s largest funds applying for Bitcoin ETF, these funds are making money and they won’t apply if they don’t see demand from investors but also a opportunity in the market.

This shows strong signs that institutional investors are coming back and looking for higher returns and want to deploy some of their capital.

From my personal perspective, we have worked with almost 75 crypto projects this year alone. During last year the client budgets were limited and focused on smaller activities, but in the last 3-6 months we have started to see our client investors put more capital and funding into marketing and growth. Some of our clients can now even double or triple their marketing investments.”

In the context of the current global economic landscape, how do you see cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, responding to ongoing challenges such as inflation, interest rate changes, and geopolitical tensions?

“Bitcoin’s role as a potential hedge against inflation is a subject of ongoing debate. Its fixed supply suggests it can be a hedge against inflation, but its price volatility often undermines this potential. This volatility is a critical factor in its response to economic shifts.

Interest rate changes further complicate Bitcoin’s position in the investment landscape. As you noted, higher interest rates tend to make traditional investments more attractive, potentially drawing capital away from Bitcoin and similar assets. Conversely, in a low-interest environment, Bitcoin’s potential for higher returns may attract more investment, although it comes with increased risk.

When we lived in the zero interest world, people looked for returns/investments in riskier assets like crypto, SaaS and technology.

However, when interest increased to 5-10%, the risk appetite of these investments completely disappeared, it caused crypto crashes by 80-90%, SaaS and technology were hammered into the market and many technological unicorns have 90% lose some of their ratings.

What we have seen this year is that many of the same assets, e.g. Bitcoin price increased by 150% in 2023 alone, and many other assets also increased by 100-300%. Many people are looking and starting to deploy their capital in these areas because the risk/reward ratio looks better again.”

Shifting gears to a broader industry perspective, in your recent CoinDesk article, you discussed the critical role of crypto-allocations in the blockchain ecosystem. Can you elaborate on why these grants are especially essential during times of financial constraints in the crypto market?

“Crypto awards are a great way to encourage growth within your own ecosystem. This means that the foundations, the main contributors to the ecosystem, can use treasuries to invest in the growth of the community.

Some projects like DFINITY launch local hubs, Solana launch Superteams, and various protocols with large conferences, developer grants and marketing grants for people who contribute to the growth of the ecosystem.

In a bear market, due to the limited funding and many bad ideas/projects going bankrupt, this provides opportunities to finance and get a strong return for your treasury investment in the market. This is also because the community and investors will remember who was here to support the ecosystem in bad times.

So do relatively small investments, you can actually help develop and grow your ecosystem to be ready for changes in the market.”

How do you see the role of regulatory frameworks and globalization in shaping the future of the crypto industry? Specifically, how can regulation and global cooperation promote more equitable and sustainable growth within the blockchain ecosystem?

“We are seeing at the moment that the regulatory machinery is cracking down on companies that have tried to play outside the current framework. Paying hefty fines, and settlements with the SEC and other regulators.

We always have to balance regulation with adoption, in certain developing countries crypto was adopted because it was easy to download a non-custodial wallet and just start using Stablecoins and crypto. In Asia and Africa, crypto has flourished without any regulations and will continue to do so.

However, within b2b in Europe we need to play within the rules and make sure we can still maximize the value of web3 for the market.

Since the foundation of our company, the focus has been on following the rules and regulations within the framework within which we work and live. In Portugal we were early adopters of KYC/AML requirements for all our customers, this was to make sure we could function and grow as a business.”

Considering the importance of ethics and transparency, how does Lunar Strategy maintain the highest standards of integrity and trust, to ensure that its marketing campaigns adhere to ethical guidelines, especially in an industry that faces criticism for a lack of transparency ?

“What is a company without values ​​or ethics? Can it even survive in the long term?

Crypto is a market filled with untrustworthy players and companies, since we started we have been careful in selecting companies to work with and put our name behind, with internal guidelines and in consultation with our lawyers.

We have as a base principle to ask ourselves the question “would I invest in this crypto?” And “does this project actually solve a problem that needs to be solved?”

When it comes to campaigns and PR, we follow technical and financial editorial guidelines to make sure we make claims we can back up and put our name behind.”

Given the historical context of Bitcoin’s price movements around its halving events, as evidenced by the bullish momentum and post-halving price increases in previous cycles, how do you speculate that the next halving event in April 2024 might affect Bitcoin’s price? Additionally, based on your expertise in crypto marketing, what kind of market trends or investor behavior do you anticipate leading up to and following this event?

“Since joining the crypto space in 2017, I have been in several crypto roller coasters and follow similar trends.

When the halving happens, then based on historical data, it caused a demand/supply shock because each block puts less selling pressure on the market.

Then, in anticipation, many traders invest which leads to the bitcoin price going up, when this happens, other people often speculate in riskier altcoins with the mindset “If I want to make 100x my money, I can’t invest in bitcoin. ” causing a so-called altcoin bull market.

This is great for market firms like ours because it means more entrepreneurs, starting projects and looking for marketing support.”

Looking to the future, what are your aspirations for Lunar Strategy? How do you see the agency evolving and contributing to the growth and development of the crypto ecosystem?

“During the bear market, our team doubled in preparation, we forged partnerships with VCs, launchpads and agencies to improve our services.

We launched a full marketing academy to quickly onboard new team members when demand backfires.

Internally, we once again doubled down on standardized offers, and focused our marketing campaigns on X, PR and influencers which is a strong offer where we stand out in the market.

We look forward to onboarding and collaborating with many more top and industry leading projects.”

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