A proven currency, or a predictable flop? Financial analysts live a year with this question unsolved. Just now the brightest figures of crypto and fiat worlds have crossed swords on the bitcoin theme. Why and for what? Obviously, most experts are waiting for crypto rally and assessing its chances in different ways. Strong statements have been made by: the author of the idea of smart contracts Nick Szabo, who is also considered as Satoshi Nakamoto; the crypto-evangelist Andreas M. Antonopoulos; PayPal ex-CEO Bill Harris and a pensioner from Wall Street Caitlin Long.
Caitlin Long, 22-yr Wall St veteran (ran pension biz at Morgan Stanley), says in her twitter: “Hopefully #HODLers … will realize – Wall St is not #bitcoin’s friend. A Wall St pal actually told me Wall St needs to “solve” BTC’s scarcity problem by adding off-chain coins”.
Former PayPal CEO Bill Harris said on CNBC’s “Fast Money”: “The cult of bitcoin makes many claims — that it’s instant, free, scalable, efficient, secure, globally accepted and useful — it is none of those things. Bitcoin will continue to fall, because there’s just no value there.” Early on April Bill Harris called the cryptocurrency a “colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen.”
Pensioners protect their past. It is not surprising that financiers of the fiat world speak out sharply against bitcoin. It is surprising that skepticism is also voiced by respected figures of crypto.
Nick Szabo, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts pioneer, claims:
– I for one am not lobbying for an ETF or for Wall Street-managed money in general. It might cause more problems than it’s worth. The recent sell-off by dumb money has or soon will deprecate many opinionated know-nothings in this space. We don’t need new ones to take their place.
Nicholas Szabo is a computer scientist, legal scholar and cryptographer known for his research in digital contracts and digital currency. The phrase and concept of “smart contracts” was developed by Szabo with the goal of bringing what he calls the “highly evolved” practices of contract law and practice to the design of electronic commerce protocols. There is a suspicion that Nick Szabo may also be Satoshi Nakamoto.
Andreas M. Antonopoulos, a technologist and serial entrepreneur, one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin, says in his video about cryptography for children and grandfathers:
– I think bitcoin-ETF is a terrible idea. I’m against the ETF, although I think it will happen. Commodity exchange markets are amenable to aggressive manipulation, and the opening of these traded instruments raises the capacity of institutional investors to manipulate courses.
Antonopoulos noted that investors in bitcoin-ETF will not have the same rights as holders of crypto currency. They cannot vote and participate in the development of the bitcoin ecosystem. This will entail a deep centralization of digital money, they can be used not only by manipulators, but also by governments.
And still – let’s face the facts. In the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wDwb36GNxw), Andreas M. Antonopoulos unwittingly identified the main fundamental argument in favor of crypto and bitcoin:
– Traditional financial instruments like credit cards and checks and paper money are not suitable for our digital lifestyle. It’s very difficult to use financial systems that were designed in 1950s online to do e-commerce.
Mankind, entering the digital era, was seeking for an alternative to the existing finances. Bitcoin is the result of these searches. Its appearance is not accidental. And why are they talking about falling to zero? The year-to-year graph shows that the price of bitcoin has grown 1.5 times from $ 4,327 to $ 6,516. The year-to-year indicator is one of the most important, since it gives a picture of the phenomenon under similar conditions. This does not mean that the last year’s peak is bound to happen. But, perhaps, there is no longer need to such take-off at the market?
