Venture Capitalist expert and investor Bill Gurley believes Bitcoin is an incredible store of value. In an interview with CNBC, the financier made it clear he believes that a bullish future for Bitcoin is a certainty given its utility in destabilized currency economies.
Gurley stated during the interview that he’s positive on Bitcoin’s future and sees a clear path forward, especially in places where other currencies are not an option, since it represents a stable store of value. His company owns a small position in the cryptocurrency. He said:
"I think of it as an incredible store of value in the rest of the world. I don't think it's irrational. Many people who live in those types of countries want to be paid in Bitcoin.”
Wall Street seeing the future?
The comments further reflect the divide that is fast forming in Wall Street, with those who are very positive about the coin’s future, and those who consider it a fraud or a tool for money laundering.
However, the reality that adoption continues to grow has made it impossible to ignore the cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, according to many industry insiders much still needs to be done as adoption growth continues. According to Ami Ben David, Co-Founder of SPiCE VC:
“Bitcoin is now rewriting the definition books. Historically people thought of a store of value as “an asset you can predictably hold or trade”, but Bitcoin is a DIGITAL store of value, and as such, it adds the exponential Network Effect - Bitcoin is the Facebook of money, used by millions today, but over the next 10 years, it’s real challenge will be to adapt and improve as it reaches billions of users.”
These challenges will continue as the cryptocurrency market continues to mature. However, the reality of the need for utility to create stores of value continues to plague the minds of some experts. Eyal Hertzog Co-Founder of Bancor:
"Store of value" is one of the ways a currency can be used. For anything to be used as SoV it has to be valuable otherwise. Money can be used as SoV since it’s useful for commerce. Gold can be used as SoV due to the market demand for that specific rare substance. For a digital currency to be useful as SoV it probably has to be useful for other purposes.”