Yes, the crypto winter seems never-ending, and, yes, the industry has been marred by the FTX debacle and the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried.
Crypto on the GO: See All of the Latest
Learn: 5 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000
Despite this gloom and doom, though, numerous experts still strongly believe in crypto and its value and won’t be deterred by naysayers’ opinions.
Mark Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, said he is still bullish on the space and has invested in crypto, despite the collapse of FTX, mostly because he believes in smart contracts.
“The value of a token is derived from the applications that run on its platform and the utility they create,” he tweeted Nov. 13.
Take Our Poll: Do You Think People Should Invest In Crypto?
According to a new Bakkt survey, consumers seem to be shrugging off the 2022 market volatility and the FTX collapse: Before the FTX failure, 89% of crypto owners said they were likely to purchase crypto in the future, but the sentiment declined by just 7% after the FTX events. Meanwhile, crypto curious sentiments held steady, the survey found.
“Cryptocurrency — and Bitcoin specifically — has already shown it offers real value and has staying power,” said Dan O’Prey, chief product officer of Bitcoin and crypto at Bakkt. “I believe Bitcoin is unique from crypto, as it is a truly decentralized leaderless digital cash and its utility is only poised to grow from here both in adoption and application.”
O’Prey added that while we are in a down market it is this type of volatility that has exposed some of the unsustainable and nefarious practices.
“It isn’t the first downturn and it won’t be the last, but everything that has happened recently is helping to rid the market of bad actors,” he said, adding that what happened with FTX was an institutional failure due to fraud, not a failure of cryptocurrency technology.
He added, “The players that will last for the long haul will be open to transparency about their practices and welcome thoughtful regulation.”
Others supporting the space include Tim Draper, venture capitalist and founder of Draper Associates who said in November that Bitcoin would top $250,000 in June 2023.
Just like several other crypto supporters, he noted that one of Bitcoin’s core strengths is that it’s decentralized.
“FTX was centralized around one person,” Draper tweeted on Dec. 3. “Decentralized currency is the great opportunity we have for economic evolution. Governments need to design software to tax businesses operating in a Bitcoin-walled garden so they have more trust in Bitcoin.”
The consensus among Bitcoin maximalists and crypto believers seems to be that FTX was not a “crypto event” and that, despite the massive pain it has inflicted on thousands of customers, one positive outcome is that it’s weeding out bad actors and is helping the industry return to the basics of what crypto and blockchain truly are.
“Saying you are not bullish on crypto because of FTX is like saying you are not bullish on stocks because of Bernie Madoff,” said Ric Edelman, a former financial advisor and founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals. “FTX has nothing to do with blockchain or digital assets, any more than Madoff had anything to do with the stock market. Madoff was just another con artist who led a massive fraud. And it certainly appears that Sam Bankman-Fried is also a con artist who led a massive fraud. Madoff used the stock market to perpetrate his con; SBF used crypto.”
Edelman emphasized that the underlying benefits of blockchain and digital assets are unaffected by FTX and SBF, as blockchain technology allows businesses to operate faster, safer and cheaper, with greater transparency and inclusion.
“Which is why 90% of all banks worldwide are developing the technology, with more than 70,000 software engineers engaged,” he said. “More than $35 billion has been invested in this technology in the past two years alone; PwC says it will add nearly $2 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and McKinsey says 70% of global GDP will be digital by 2030. BIS says every government will deploy CBDCs by then — China and The Bahamas already have — and there is broad bipartisan support in almost every country.”
In the aftermath of FTX, Edelman said, several positive developments happened in the space. To name a couple: Warner Music announced that fans can buy and listen to music NFTs through the Polygon blockchain, and Goldman Sachs announced it plans to spend “tens of millions of dollars” to buy or invest in crypto companies.
Indeed, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Dec. 6, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon wrote: “The swift collapse [of FTX] raised doubts about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the software behind crypto assets.”
But, he added, unlike other waves of innovation, blockchain technology came in and disrupted heavily regulated industries.
“The invention of email didn’t make FedEx or UPS obsolete. But blockchain technologies such as peer-to-peer payments and the tokenization of traditional assets are changing corporations, from how they raise money to how investors trade stocks. This has far-reaching implications for the global economy.”
More From GOBankingRates
Zelle Scams on Facebook Marketplace: How To Recognize and Avoid Them
Take a Look Back: 2022 Year in Review
The 10 Best Cash Back Credit Cards for 2023
7 Ways To Know You’re Ready To Start Investing
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why Mark Cuban and Others Still Believe in Crypto
(Bloomberg) — Crypto exchange Binance.US is exploring more acquisition opportunities after agreeing to buy Voyager Digital’s assets out of bankruptcy in a deal valued $1.022 billion on Monday. Most Read from BloombergMusk Narrows Voting on Twitter Policy to Blue Members After PollMusk Polls Twitter to Quit as Chief, Voters Leaning Toward YesJustin Bieber Urges Fans Not to Buy His Own ‘Trash’ Merchandise at H&MYen Surges as Kuroda’s Yield Cap Shock Sparks Normalization BetsTwitter Users Vote for
It's been a really tough go for prospective home buyers since mid-2020. For the past two years and change, the real estate market has sorely lacked inventory. This year, mortgage rates are also higher than they've been in decades, adding another layer of difficulty to an already hard situation.
‘I’m even more curious what you think the implications of purchased blue checks and your verification processes are’
The split comes seven months after federal investigators issued a subpoena to the firm for its prescriptions of controlled substances
After all, the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has not kept its head above water for more than a week at a time, and is down about three-quarters from last November's $69,000 peak. "It’s wrong to say this thing is going to curl up and die completely because there are elements of it which can be useful in other areas, and there is probably a modest cryptocurrency market which will continue to thrive on the margin of financial markets," he says.
The text of the so-called Omnibus spending bill didn't include any provisions for crypto. That's a bad omen for token investors and for crypto companies such as Coinbase.
Bitcoin and Ether gained in Asian trading on Tuesday afternoon, with Dogecoin leading declines across the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos
Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre joins the Live show to discuss the best and worst crypto stocks of 2022.
Former FIFA World cup player and current Nottingham Forest midfielder Jesse Lingard, along with Jawad Ashraf, CEO of metaverse platform Virtua, share insights into their partnership that aims to bring the world of soccer into Web3.
Catcher Austin Hedges and the Pittsdurgh Pirates completed their agreement Tuesday on a $5 million, one-year contract. Hedges helped the Guardians win the AL Central. Hedges was selected by San Diego in the second round of the 2011 amateur draft.
As the sporting year fades, Andy Murray has found inspiration in the sight of Lionel Messi – an all-time great just six weeks younger than him – defying Father Time to drive Argentina to the World Cup.
The number one U.S. cryptocurrency exchange went public in April 2021.
Big Four auditor EY said in a statement that it was "aware" of the bitcoin transactions moving out of Quadriga's cold wallets.
The voices issuing warnings of an impending recession have been growing louder. The feeling on Wall Street is that one is all but inevitable right now. One prominent name to wade in on the matter is billionaire David Rubenstein. The Carlyle Group co-founder believes that due to the current economic environment of "jacked up" interest rates, gross domestic product growth is set to decelerate, bringing in to play a recession. Not only that, but he also thinks the Fed is unlikely to put the brakes
Yahoo Finance Live anchor Dave Briggs looks to Carnival Cruise Line's stock ahead of its latest earnings report due out before tomorrow's closing bell.
As much as we'd like the stock market to increase in value every year, corrections, crashes, and bear markets are a more common occurrence than most people probably realize. In 2022, investors have dealt with all three major U.S. stock indexes plunging into respective bear markets. On the bright side, bear markets have a reputation for allowing investors to buy high-quality stocks at a discount.
These rock-solid income stocks, with inflation-fighting yields ranging from 4.6% to 8%, provide plenty of reward with minimal risk for investors.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives is celebrating the likely end of Elon Musk’s reign as Twitter CEO, arguing it was a “nightmare” for Tesla investors.
Corporate earnings are set to take a hit and Wall Street isn't properly anticipating it, Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson warns. And when earnings fall, so will stocks.
The big market headline this year – all year – has been the steady fall in stocks. The S&P 500 is down 20% for 2022, and the NASDAQ has fallen a disastrous 33%. And while recent data shows that there may be some hope on the inflation front, there may still be storm clouds massing for next year’s stock market. That’s the view of Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley's chief equity strategist. He’s been a leading voice among the bears this year, and he’s not changing that tune as we head into the New Year.
Author
Administraroot
Related Posts
