Two opinions: Dr Garrick Hileman from Cambridge and finance expert Byron Wien on cryptocurrency
Dr. Garrick Hileman, a Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and a Researcher at the Centre for Macroeconomics, has had a short interview with the reporters from Crowdfund Insider. He is focused on blockchain research and cryptocurrency and sometimes appears in the media as an invited expert. In the interview, he expressed overall optimism about Bitcoin, while admitting the current ICO mechanism is far from perfect (Vitalik Buterin would approve this statement).
Chinese government, according to Dr. Hileman, might review its approach to cryptocurrency in the future to help China remain the leading cryptocurrency country, but its current motivation is the desire to safeguard the financial system. An effort will be made to rebalance the current cryptocurrency market situation in China, Dr. Hileman assures.
Bitcoin, while not having intrinsic value, features “intrinsic utility” – and this is why Jamie Dimon’s recent statements are not right, the scientist believes. He reminds in the interview that the usefulness of Bitcoin has shaped its market demand and thus the price became so high. Interestingly, Dr. Hileman thinks that law enforcement monitoring blockchain would prove very good for hacker tracking, as for the first time, the police can open and look through the criminal accounting books online.
Meanwhile, CNBC has had an interview with an experienced market strategist, Byron Wien. In a telephone conversation, the vice chairman at Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions Group stated that although he is not as extreme as Jamie Dimon in his assessment of Bitcoin riskiness, he doesn’t own any bitcoins and doesn’t play on it. Byron Wien even believes that the market fluctuations of Bitcoin do not affect the world market in general.
So, while the Cambridge scientist believes Bitcoin is perspective and has a good future, the more practical Byron Wien believes that today Bitcoin is not worth the trader’s attention.