Billionaire investor and long-time Bitcoin bull Tim Draper sat down for an interview with The Street to discuss his thoughts on the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Draper Talks Security, Clarity, Utility
The conversation started right off on the issue of clarity with The Street asking Draper for his reaction to what former chairman of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler, said about the need for regulation on cryptocurrencies. Draper answered that all the governments in the world are now in a competition to attract crypto and blockchain based technology companies and in order to do that they would need to create “very clear and light-touch regulations for crypto.”
When asked what his approach would be if asked by President Donald Trump into the White House in order to draft crypto policy, Draper answered that the first thing he would do would be to make Bitcoin a national currency, as Japan has. Then continuing with his comment about creating a light touch he would suggest creating a new department – outside of the SEC and CFTC- to oversee cryptocurrency. Adding that cryptocurrencies are currency unless they are tethered to fiat. He said,
“I just spoke to people at the Federal Reserve recently. I felt like I should tell them they should start looking for a new job. Not immediately, but over the next 10 years, I suspect we will have less need for centralized currency.”
As the interview switched gears to security the investor said that banks are becoming less secure in contrast to a blockchain network which becomes more secure as the number of wallet holders, stakeholders, and miners increase and in that case, Bitcoin as the most popular, is the most secure of the cryptocurrencies. Draper made the prediction that;
“Price-wise, we’ll continue to see Bitcoin move higher. I’ve revised my estimate up to $250,000 four years out, so we’ll see Bitcoin trade around the $250,000 mark in 2022.”
Investor Calls Blockchain a Tectonic Shift in Technology
When The Street mentioned the number of hacks on exchanges including the recent Coinrail hack in South Korea Draper pointed out that these attacks were against the exchanges and hot wallets. Adding that “the underlying blockchain has never been hacked into. Knock on wood. And it is getting harder and harder to penetrate as it grows.”
In the end Draper conceded that utility of cryptocurrencies still leaves a lot to be desired. That Bitcoin remains inefficient for day to day transactions but says that with coins like Lightening and Bitcoin Cash developers are pushing towards a point of utility where using crypto coins becomes ubiquitous. In response to the performance of Bitcoin and the market overall in 2018 he said;
“I have no interest in selling my Bitcoin. What would I sell it into anyway? Moving from crypto to fiat is like trading shells for gold. It is reverting to the past. I’m thinking long term I’ll use it, spend it, invest it, or just keep it.”
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