How Will The COVID-19 Economic Crisis Affect Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies | Andreas Antonopoulos
Welcome to this cryptocurrency video posted by BlockTV News. In this video you will view a interview with Andreas Antonopoulos regarding how the cryptocurrency space may suffer in the face of a global economic crisis such as the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
On Price Speculation
Antonopoulos mentions that he believes that education is the best thing one can learn. It is a very valuable asset to possess and timing is not as important as something such as timing price movements.
On Mass Adoption
When asked about adoption, Antonopoulos mentions that he see's this not as being a western movements where people can buy Starbucks, because this is not an urgent issue and is something that can already be done easily, it is not the primary market need. Adoption according to Andreas Antonopoulos is basically the opportunity to give people a choice to have an alternative online currency that cannot be debased, controlled, censored, taken away, and where you have a degree of transparency and predictability that is not currently offered by traditional financial systems.
There is a market of approximately 6 billion people who need this type of monetary system. Around 50% of the worlds population live under a dictatorship or totalitarian regimes. These people are the people who need this technology far more then citizens of Western more established countries.
Mass adoption according to Andreas Antonopoulos is not about retail purchases with cryptocurrencies because you can easily do that with the tools we already have. Yes there are still fee's for transactions that are to high, yes you need to ask permission in order to transact, yes certain systems are only open 9-5 in the traditional financial institutions. But the system works for the time being and is not in desperate need of advancements when compared to 3rd world countries and citizens who live under dictatorships.
Miss Use and Understanding of Blockchain Technology
There have been countless scams and ponzy schemes where billions upon billions of dollars have been taken from those who do not necessarily understand the technology behind blockchains and distributed ledgers and have been taken advantage of.
This is absolutely a concern and why Antonopoulos says that education is the most important aspect of this new industry. We should not be focusing on the investment aspects as much as education and making sure that the right tools are in place and people know how to use them correctly.
In a way this technology is a double edged sword. People need access to open financial products which can be accessible to the billions of people left out of the traditional financial industry. And at the same time, they need the education required for the use of this technology or they will suffer more from its existence.
Andreas Antonopoulos On Libra
It lacks all the characteristics to be what Bitcoin is. It is not borderless, it is not immutable, it is not neutral, it is under regulations, it requires permissions, you cannot bank the unbanked with this system. An open public blockchain cannot be controlled by anyone or any specific group.
Next Global Economic Crisis Such as Covid-19 Coronavirus and Cryptocurrency
This next crisis is already upon us with the Covid-19 Coronavirus. This is going to precipitate an economic crisis by damaging supply chains even if it doesn't turn into a pandemic.
Which we know by now is that it has created a global pandemic and many countries and regions around the world are in lockdown and in states of emergency.
The Covid-19 will be used as an excuse and be blamed for the reason of the economic crisis but a global economic crisis has been coming for 10 years as of recently and building over the last 100 years as well with long term debt cycles.
The affect this global crisis will have on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is that it may very well test cryptocurrencies as a lifeboat and safe haven against the traditional financial systems. At the same time this economic crisis and slowdown in economic activity especially in the tech sector will reduce the amount of investments in the crypto space. This will cut both ways and the crypto space is in its infancy and is not ready for mass adoption. In the future open and decentralized finance will be ready, but at this time it is not.
Watch the video above to hear all Andreas Antonopoulos answers regarding decentralized finance and how Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will fare in the coming economic slowdown and Covid-19 pandemic.
