Digital currency hedge fund BlockTower Capital cofounder Matthew Goetz claimed that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are like the Internet in the 1990s. He said that bets during the early days of the Internet were risky just like the investments in the digital currency market as of October 2017.
According to Goetz, the claims that the virtual currencies are one of the disruptive technologies of today are correct. He also compared the cryptocurrencies to the Internet in the 1990s.
“You could be right on the thesis that cryptocurrencies are transformative and you could make what you think is the right bet at the time, but remember one time you had Yahoo and then this thing called Google came along.”
Goetz’s other comments and predictions
The digital currency market worldwide has registered a meteoric rise in 2017, with more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies already in circulation. Bitcoin, the leading virtual currency, posted a significant price increase as it rose by over 450 percent to almost $4,400 per token.
Goetz, however, argued that Bitcoin will not remain as the top-dog digital currency forever despite its phenomenal rise. He added that Bitcoin and the other virtual currencies can be toppled by a cryptocurrency with superior technology.
“Bitcoin is the most entrenched, it has very stable protocol, it doesn’t change a lot, and it has a very strong developer base, but at the end of the day, it is still software. There is some chance that something an order of magnitude better than Bitcoin, technologically, could come along.”
Goetz, however, claimed that in order for a rival cryptocurrency to replace Bitcoin, it should have significantly better capabilities than the crypto top dog. He cited as an example how Facebook has toppled MySpace as the favored social media site.
“It’s something like Facebook. If someone creates a new Facebook that has slightly better features, say 10 percent better. That’s great, but network effects are strong. So, that new thing isn’t going to kill Facebook.”