Niall Ferguson, British economic and financial historian, believes that Bitcoin is "An option an digital gold," as he said in a interview with a blockchain magazine Breaker Mag on Feb. 13.
Ferguson, a world famous historian and author fourteen books such as The Ascent of Money, declared that Bitcoin itself is "Only money in a very limited sense," stressing that the oldest cryptocurrency is incapable of being money as a means of payment due to massive volatility.
In near future, Bitcoin's main function will be serving as a type of insurance, Ferguson stated, explaining that it is an asset that is hard to confiscate, and anyone might hold private keys the same way the European wealthy used to hoard gold jewelry and precious stones.
While Ferguson said that it is clear that the money of future will be digital, he still expressed scepticism about stablecoins, which are digital currencies that are designed to provide minimum volatility and pegged to fiat currencies, commodities or algorithms.
Ferguson stated that fiat currencies have indeed performed very well in recent years in terms of inflation.
"Stablecoin builders should remember that Bitcoin is an unusual kind of asset, which isn't closely correlated to other asset classes. Investors like that idiosyncrasy."
Regarding the future of money, Ferguson expressed hope that the global community will adopt a universal payment system that treats everyone equally, from the "0.1 percent" to the "Huge class" of people who are outside the financial system, and have to rely on cash and payday loans.
"My nightmare would be that Amazon, Google, or Facebook creates some hugely popular version of a digital dollar at which point every transaction is going to be monitored by the network platforms' big data and AI systems, to an even greater extent than is already true."
Earlier today, Mike Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs partner and founder of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, argued that Bitcoin is going to be a digital gold, claiming that it will be sovereign money.
British Financial Historian Niall Ferguson Says Bitcoin Is 'an Option on Digital Gold'
gepubliceerd op Feb 13, 2019
by Cointele | gepubliceerd op Coinage
Coinage
Vermeld in dit artikel
Recent nieuws
Alles zien
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.