Cryptocurrency has been getting a lot more attention with each passing day and there is increased attention from retail and institutional players as well as the government. Facebook announced its Libra and the head of the project, David Marcus, recently endured hours of questioning from the Congress.
Another important event is the upcoming Bitcoin halving that many thinks will shoot prices as high as its previous $20,000 record or even higher. However, with all the news, there are analysts who predict that virtual currencies may not last as long as bulls hope.
Can Crypto be Killed?
As much as there are renewed and continuous calls for the support and regulation of cryptocurrency, there are some who believe that these virtual assets will either die a natural death on their own or be killed by governments and certain giant institutions who might feel threatened and will, therefore, stifle any growth up until its demise.
Possible Natural Death
Bitcoin, for example, is the first fully decentralized virtual asset created and is currently the largest by market cap. Bitcoin has been touted in many quarters as the answer to true financial freedom and inclusion without all the monopoly from Central Banks and other major financial institutions.
However, for Bitcoin to be truly accepted and trusted by the general public as the primary medium of exchange and also a great store value, there are some hurdles it must scale.
The major one is that there are still too many people in the world who don’t know enough about Bitcoin and the fact that there’s such a wide gap in awareness and popularity might cause it to die a natural death.
According to the chairman of Concordium, a Next-Generation blockchain:
“In the longer term, I am bearish on Bitcoin as I believe it does not have the necessary characteristics of a longer-term valuable asset and eventually, that reality will catch up.”
Bitcoin Vs. The World Powers
The cryptocurrency sector is still largely an emerging one and there’s a good chance that with time, adoption will help familiarity and drive awareness so much that the gap would be bridged. However, if this happens, Bitcoin still has to face the bigger powers.
The general idea here is that governments and giant institutions all over the world will not let Bitcoin reach true global adoption because it threatens the monopoly and control that they have.
The benefit of this control – the profits being made by the creation of currency by the government and the creation of credit by the financial institutions – is not something any of these parties would easily relinquish. If crypto becomes that big, there might be increased anti-crypto activity from the powers-that-be.
This view is however not shared by everyone and there are still more people who believe that Bitcoin can never be killed. However, if we agree that the government can also never be killed, then maybe we’re in for a showdown sometime in the near future.
