Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Bitcoin is Dying and 'Will Be Remembered like Pogs'

Anthony Cuthbertson reports:
Amid falling bitcoin prices and further scandal surrounding the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, author and financial commentator Jeffrey Robinson has told IBTimes UK that bitcoin is "dying" and will be remembered "much like Pogs and the Sinclair C5".

Robinson, author of BitCon: The Naked Truth about Bitcoin, claims that the lack of intrinsic value behind the altcoin makes it neither a currency nor a commodity and that the entire system is held together by either people with a vested interest in seeing prices go up, or fools.

"The whole thing is a pump and dump," Robinson said. "There is no reason for bitcoin to be worth $215 or $1,000, none whatsoever. Can the price fall lower? Of course it can. All commodities, even pretend commodities like bitcoin have a floor and a ceiling - except bitcoin doesn't. There is no floor, it's zero, and there is no ceiling, the sky's the limit.

"You look at the bitcoin market of what, 13.5 million coins, right now fewer than 1,000 people own more than 50% of those coins. It is in their interest to move the price up, bring greater fools into it, get the price high enough and dump it on the greater fools to make a profit."

1 comment:

  1. This guy has no idea what he's talking about. For one, an altcoin is a cryptocurrency that is not bitcoin. People use it to exchange goods and services so yes, it IS a currency. All currencies have a subjective element, but bitcoin's intrinsic value lies in its utility as a digital currency and payment network. What evidence is there that bitcoin is a "pump and dump" scheme? The bitcoin protocol is an invention that solves two very difficult computer science problems that had never been done before. The origins of gold were likely similar, yet the author probably has no problem there. It's no surprise from a mainstream journalist like Mr. Robinson, but I don't understand how liberty minded folk can bash bitcoin when the alternative is inefficient PM or (digital) fiat currency.

    ReplyDelete