In a recent interview with Business Insider, legendary investor and analyst, Gary Shilling, explained why he won’t be investing in Bitcoin anytime soon, calling it a “Black Box.”
Shilling’s comments are the latest in a long string of negative commentary from traditional investors regarding Bitcoin’s status as both a currency and an investment, with prominent investors like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger all echoing similar sentiments.
The 2018 crypto market crash and persisting bear market certainly haven’t helped prove these nay-sayers wrong.
Shilling: Bitcoin is a “Black Box”
One of Shilling’s greatest complaints regarding Bitcoin is that the creator of it – Satoshi Nakamoto – is an anonymous figure, which Shilling feels creates a lack of transparency for the technology.
“I’m just very suspicious of things that are not very transparent… And if I can’t understand it, I don’t want to invest in it,” Shilling explained.
Furthermore, he also drew parallels between Bitcoin’s recent price performance and that of the South Sea Bubble, an infamous stock scam in the early 18th century where the South Sea Company’s stock skyrocketed on false claims, rumors, and speculative investments before crashing to zero.
According to Shilling, one such event that could send Bitcoin spiraling downwards would be the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who reportedly owns 980,000 Bitcoins, selling his holdings.
Other Traditional Analysts Disagree with Shilling’s Assessment of Bitcoin
Although many traditional analysts are quick to dismiss Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as being a scam, many traditional market analysts who are more open to emerging technologies hold opinions about crypto that oppose Shilling’s.
Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic advisor at Allianz, discussed the future of cryptocurrencies at a conference last November, and bullishly explained that increased adoption and the entrance of more institutional investors into the markets are a couple reasons why cryptocurrencies are here to stay in the long-run.
“I think cryptocurrencies will exist, they will become more and more widespread, but they will be part of an ecosystem. They will not be dominant as some of the early adopters believed them to be,” he said, adding that it is highly unlikely that they will replace fiat currency any time soon.
El-Erian, who was formerly the co-chief investment officer at PIMCO, disclosed that he owns $400 worth of Bitcoin purely as an experiment to test the process of buying and transacting with the cryptocurrency.
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