Bitcoin was born as a technological phenomenon that sought to create a value transmission system through the use of technology. Its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto promoted it through a cryptography mailing list cryptography mailing list, causing interest and curiosity among some enthusiasts. [1]
After its adoption, with the passage of time, its vertiginous growth surpassed the behavior of any other possible investment in the financial world, turning bitcoin into an economic phenomenon that left no one without an opinion to express.
The constant reports, fast-paced news, and media coverage made it a topic of interest for a good part of the world (including people who are not interested in traditional investments). This level of expansion and the massive adoption of cryptocurrencies made this economic phenomenon quickly become a social phenomenon.
In this sense, the opinions and analysis in this regard are never lacking, and this week two great personalities from the world of finance made news by sharing their views on the matter.
However, to have an objective opinion on this subject is never advisable to be based on just one single idea, and the sharp contradictions between both assessments are perfect to be compared in order to build an unbiased view about Bitcoin. While Vasant Prabhu, CFO or VISA Inc was extremely critical to the point of being offensive, PayPal cofounder Pether Thiel is quite confident in the potential of Bitcoin as a means to store value:
Vasant Prabhu has a bad opinion: Bitcoin is used by “every crook and every dirty politician in the world.”
Vasant Prabhu told the Financial Times[3] in an interview on March 16, 2018 he thinks bitcoin is a bubble.
His arrogant opinions show that according to his way of thinking, the massive adoption of cryptocurrencies is a clear sign of the problem:
“This is the ultimate thing that you hear about when you have a bubble, when the guy shining your shoes tells you what stock to buy.”
The well-known expert in financial material mentioned that he feels scared when he sees that misguided casual investors like “the limo driver to the airport” are those who ask for his advice:
“The people asking me are the ones who scare the hell out of me. You know, guys like the limo driver to the airport … They have no idea what they are doing,” Prabhu told the FT.
Likewise, beyond criticizing the fact that bitcoin is a bubble that has massively interested people (perhaps at a higher level than the interest they could have in acquiring a VISA card), another of the factors that concern the well-known investor is the Privacy aspect:
“It’s very hard to get dirty money through a banking system. Cryptocurrency is phenomenal for all that stuff (…) Every crook and every dirty politician in the world, I bet, is in cryptocurrency,”
