The former Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs – Lloyd Blankfein – opined that the ecosystem surrounding cryptocurrencies has evolved in the past year. As such, he raised hopes that the digital asset industry is “happening” despite the recent price crash.
Optimism During The Crash
The American banker who served as Goldman Sachs’ CEO until 2018 has not always been kind to the cryptoverse. At the beginning of 2021, he questioned bitcoin’s ability to be a store of value due to its massive volatility. He also touched upon private keys, saying they are confusing as people could easily lose them.
During his most recent interview with CNBC, though, Blankfein was more supportive. He noted that 2021 had been a highly successful year, and bitcoin and the altcoins have attracted trillions of dollars. Even though most digital assets have been deep in red for the past couple of days, the 67-year-old American believes that “crypto is happening:”
“Look, my view of it is evolving. I can’t predict the future, but I think it’s a big thing to be able to predict the present, like, ‘What is happening?’ And I look at the crypto, and it is happening.”
Speaking on the current price dip, Blankfein said it is not much of a concern since there is a considerable amount of capital invested in the asset class already. He also outlined that bitcoin and altcoins have their benefits to the financial network, such as “instantaneous transfer and reduction of credit risk.”
“And guess what? I would certainly want to have an oar in that water,” Blankfein concluded, hinting he might hop on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.
Crypto’s Current Condition
Even though Blankfein thinks “crypto is happening,” the current market situation is quite. Since the beginning of the year, most digital assets have been on a downtrend. Things are looking rather disappointingly for bitcoin, too. The biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization finished the year with a price tag of around $47,000.
Considered by many as a hedge against inflation and even digital gold, the asset tumbled further at the beginning of 2021 after the Federal Reserve revealed plans to fight the monetary turmoil in the United States.
On that note, Mark Cuban – the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a proponent of the crypto world – opined that BTC is not and will never become an inflation hedge.
In the following weeks, bitcoin continued its decline and at the moment of writing these lines, it is hovering around $34,000.
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