On the back of Bitcoin’s recent correction and subsequent push back towards the $12K mark, long-time Bitcoin nonbeliever Mark Carney claims that the dominant cryptocurrency has failed on almost every front.
Bank of England, Unsurprisingly, Doesn’t Like Bitcoin
According to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Bitcoin has failed as both a viable currency and as a store of value — citing volatility and the lack of vendor adoption.
On February 19th, Carney shared his already well-established position on the popular cyrptocurrency with students at London’s Regent’s University, stating:
It has pretty much failed thus far on … the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange.
Nevertheless, not even Carney can deny that Bitcoin’s underlying technology is still incredibly useful and a more than viable way to verify financial transactions in a decentralized manner, which he admitted in response to a question.
In fact, the Bank of England has already begun compiling research on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in hopes of someday issuing their own Sterling-backed digital currency.
The Future of Currency
Of course, Carney’s views aren’t shared by everyone.
Venture capitalist and Tezos investor Tim Draper has gone on record to state the exact opposite, stating that it is his belief that a “very large portion” of the $86 trillion global currency market “will be crypto” in future.
On the subject of Bitcoin, specifically, he’s also extremely bullish, telling Bloomberg:
I’m looking at it in a very different way because I think Bitcoin is the future currency. People ask me, ‘Are you going to sell your bitcoin [for fiat]?’ and I say, ‘Why would I sell the future for the past?’
Draper also disagrees with Carney on the store-of-value front, claiming the virtual currency and the blockchain are actually far more secure than banks. He stated:
My Bitcoin is more secure than my dollars in the banks… my Bitcoin is very secure. The Blockchain has not been hacked, whereas banks have been hacked over and over.
It’s worth noting, however, that Draper does have a substantial investment in the dominant cryptocurrency. He is currently holding roughly 32,000 BTC as a result of auctions after the Silk Road shutdown in 2014, which is now worth $310 million.
What do you think about Bitcoin as the future of currency? Do you agree with Draper, or are you more in line with Carney? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Flickr/@Policy Exchange, and Wikipedia Commons.
