Jeremy Allaire, CEO of payments startup Circle, recently appeared on CNBC with high praise of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general. When considering recent price moves, he reminded people to look at them in relation to the swings of 2013/14. The relative stability experienced in the wake of this recent bout of bad news from China for him is evidence of a market which is “less dramatic.” In a particularly bullish sentiment for the whole space, he referred to the “[cryptocurrency’s] underlying infrastructure [being] incredibly powerful.”
Allaire highlighted various factors to support the notion that today’s market is a “radically different place” from the days of the 2013 crash. He cited the existence of many more regulated exchanges, and an increasingly institutional market, as well as “robust retail participation”. Echoing many thought leaders in the space, he seemed almost flippant about the recent news out of China:
There was some news. That uncertainty led to some declines but there’s been a rally out of that now that I think people understand where China stands” “now the market is moving forward.
He also went on to remind analysts who criticise cryptocurrency’s lack of usage as a means of exchange, that coins and tokens should really be considered as commodities. Allaire claims that in Circle’s early days, they knew that customers wouldn’t want a completely new currency but rather to benefit from some of the advantages of a cryptocurrency infrastructure. The chief of these is the ability to “beam value around the internet” similar to how content and photos are now shared.
I don’t think anyone looks at these assets as currencies… there are attributes that behave like currencies. They really are digital commodities. They behave more like commodities.
Circle is an innovative payments startup which believes that sending money should be as easy as using social media. They use the blockchain to allow instant transfers of funds, and Allaire states they traded $2 billion in crypto assets in August alone.