While bitcoin's price continued to show indecision and stagnation, several notable figures recently came out with bold statements on the future of crypto.
Bitcoin to zero?
The annual World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland kicked off yesterday with events that will last until January 25. The World Economic Forum already has seen a few bold statements on bitcoin's future.
According to a CNBC report on a panel discussion in Davos, BCG Digital Ventures founder Jeff Schumacher thinks bitcoin's price will hit zero. “I do believe it will go to zero. I think it’s a great technology but I don’t believe it’s a currency. It’s not based on anything,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher does, however, invest in blockchain technology-related endeavors, but apparently does not see value in bitcoin itself.
Expressing contrary views on the panel, Silver Lake Partners co-founder Glenn Hutchins expressed positivity toward bitcoin as a store of value. Although Hutchins too expressed more interest in other projects and their technologies than in bitcoin itself as an asset. "I am much less interested in investing around bitcoin as a currency unit or a currency equivalent, or even the blockchain as an accounting ledger. I am thinking much more about the protocols. In other words, what is the underlying protocol going to do as a consequence of which, which tokens are valuable or not.”
Crypto won't take over fiat?
Further sharp comments recently came out of the World Economic Forum regarding crypto's future. Yahoo Finance UK covered a panel called Building a Sustainable Crypto-Architecture. In the discussion, Harvard Thomas D. Cabot Public Policy and Economics professor Ken Rogoff stated, “I think its [cryptocurrency] transparently a bubble and there will be many papers on it.”
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Although one look at bitcoin's chart might show the bubble has already popped, as seen in Bloomberg's tweet. Bloomberg also detailed the subject in an article last December.
How Bitcoin's crash compares to history's biggest bubbles https://t.co/U3CObvwgRt pic.twitter.com/VMqxjTpBLO
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) November 23, 2018
“I think the possibility of a cryptocurrency taking over fiat money — like dollars and pounds — is basically zero. In the history of currency, the private sector advanced everything," Rogoff also explained.
Rogoff essentially posited that fiat currency always will be in the spotlight of development and attention. Rogoff added, “I promise you that’s the endgame here. I think if you take the crypto out of the cryptocurrency, so you can do anonymous transactions, there’s just not value-added compared to fiat.”
The Harvard professor does, however, see some sort of value in cryptocurrencies, but basically only in a "dystopian future", according to Yahoo Finance UK.
CEO of Nasdaq chimes in before the World Economic Forum
Nasdaq president and CEO Adena Friedman wrote a recent article a couple of days before the World Economic Forum started, discussing several topics. Among the topics included crypto space sentiment.
She explained, "[t]he invention itself [cryptocurrency] is a tremendous demonstration of genius and creativity, and it deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy. We would argue that two key ingredients to establishing a practical utility and a more stable value are governance and regulatory clarity – both of which are antithetical to the original intent as a decentralized, ungovernable global currency."
Friedman went on to discuss regulatory necessity, crypto space transparency, trust and Nasdaq's role in the future of the crypto space.
She noted, "[w]hile this year will be another proving ground for cryptocurrencies, we believe digital currencies will have a role in the future. The extent of its impact will depend on the evolution of regulation and broader institutional adoption."
By Benjamin Prius via Crypto Insider
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