Dear Joseph,
Thank you for your comments on this subject. As always, it is a privilege and a pleasure to engage you in discussing a topic that I am very much personally invested in.
As you rightly point out, there is much manipulation in cryptocurrencies and we certainly do have our own “lobbies” which put out favorable press on the matter.
Thanks to the pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrencies, as you rightly point out, it’s near impossible to put a finger on the true volume and depth of cryptocurrency transactions.
A bit like trying to use a net to catch the ether I suppose (pun intended).
Nonetheless, I would suggest that the jury is still out on cryptocurrencies and it would be remiss of us to dismiss Bitcoin and its ilk altogether.
For starters, there are companies such as Starbucks, Nordstrom and Whole Foods which now accept Bitcoin — just don’t ask them about it.
Furthermore, our experience has been that more than a few family offices have been quietly stocking up on Bitcoin when it hit US$3,000 earlier this year.
But thanks to the relative opacity of the blockchain, it’s near impossible to be sure the volume and size of these transactions.
And perhaps that is the allure of the space, for not knowing sometimes allows people to dream up whatever outcome they so desire.
Whether those dreams ultimately come crashing down or result in some libertarian cryptocurrency utopia is beyond the scope of my capacity to predict.
Suffice to say that I would suggest if cryptocurrencies were truly valueless, they should have gone to zero by now.
But they haven’t.
That doesn’t make me right, it just keeps me hopeful.
As always, it’s a privilege to engage you in discussion. Stay safe.
Yours,
Patrick
