oppn parties Is Bitcoin Headed For Zero?

News Snippets

  • The home ministry has notified 50% constable-level jobs in BSF for direct recruitment for ex-Agniveers
  • Supreme Court said that if an accused or even a convict obtains a NOC from the concerned court with the rider that permission would be needed to go abroad, the government cannot obstruct renewal of their passport
  • Supreme Court said that criminal record and gravity of offence play a big part in bail decisions while quashing the bail of 5 habitual offenders
  • PM Modi visits Bengal, fails to holds a rally in Matua heartland of Nadia after dense fog prevents landing of his helicopter but addresses the crowd virtually from Kolkata aiprort
  • Government firm on sim-linking for web access to messaging apps, but may increase the auto logout time from 6 hours to 12-18 hours
  • Mizoram-New Delhi Rajdhani Express hits an elephant herd in Assam, killing seven elephants including four calves
  • Indian women take on Sri Lanka is the first match of the T20 series at Visakhapatnam today
  • U19 Asia Cup: India take on Pakistan today for the crown
  • In a surprisng move, the selectors dropped Shubman Gill from the T20 World Cup squad and made Axar Patel the vice-captain. Jitesh Sharma was also dropped to make way for Ishan Kishan as he was performing well and Rinku Singh earned a spot for his finishing abilities
  • Opposition parties, chiefly the Congress and TMC, say that changing the name of the rural employment guarantee scheme is an insult to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi
  • Commerce secreatary Rajesh Agarwal said that the latest data shows that exporters are diversifying
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that if India were a 'dead economy' as claimed by opposition parties, India's rating would not have been upgraded
  • The Insurance Bill, to be tabled in Parliament, will give more teeth to the regulator and allow 100% FDI
  • Nitin Nabin took charge as the national working president of the BJP
  • Division in opposition ranks as J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah distances the INDIA bloc from vote chori and SIR pitch of the Congress
U19 World Cup - Pakistan thrash India by 192 runs ////// Shubman Gill dropped from T20 World Cup squad, Axar Patel replaces him as vice-captain
oppn parties
Is Bitcoin Headed For Zero?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2019-01-24 20:00:07

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
Is Bitcoin headed for zero? At least one expert, Jeff Schumacher, otherwise very upbeat on the blockchain technology, thinks so. He echoes the sentiments of billionaire investor Warren Buffet who had said that “you can’t value Bitcoin as it is not a value producing asset”. Schumacher also said that “I think it’s a great technology but I don’t believe it’s a currency. It's not based on anything."

While Schumacher and many other experts are totally taken in by the blockchain technology, they are not much enthused by its use to develop coins or currency units that are not backed by anything and are drawing the attention of financial regulatory authorities across the world. Most central banks believe that they cannot allow a parallel financial system to exist, even if backed by cutting edge technology.

Hence, while blockchain technology is taking giant strides and the next generation platform is already under an advanced stage of development – it will bring in “open decentralized systems” – the future of Bitcoins and other me-too products are under a cloud. Tidjane Thiam, CEO, Credit Suisse Group AG put it succinctly when he said that “from what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell Bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.” Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Alibaba also held similar views when he said that “blockchain technology could change our world more than people imagine. Bitcoin, however, could be a bubble.”

It is true that cryptocurrency does not meet the four basic requirements for it to be called or treated like other currencies – it is not backed by anything, it does not produce any value, it is not supported by any government or central bank and it is not widely accepted, either internationally or in any defined geographical area. It is also true that those who are making an investment in these so-called currencies are driven more by greed than any long term view of it gaining acceptance. Hence, the day is not far off when not even the complex algorithms that go into the making of a Bitcoin will be able to save it from extinction.