Just to be clear, I do not particularly enjoy commenting on Bitcoin. It isn’t real, it’s going to zero, and it has legions of fanatical adherents that are prone to losing their minds when anyone endeavors to explain the folly of betting on something that is highly susceptible to government intervention.
But over the past week, it’s been difficult to stand idly by as the likes of Jamie Dimon (in characteristically abrasive fashion), Mohamed El-Erian (in a characteristically diplomatic fashion), and Marko Kolanovic (in characteristically Gandlaf-ish fashion) explained why cryptocurrencies aren’t likely to conquer the planet as so many of those riding the digital wave seem to believe they will.
The cacophony of derision comes as China steps up efforts to clamp down on the crypto-verse. Those efforts will likely show up in other countries in the not-so-distant future although they probably won’t be as overtly draconian as what Beijing is attempting to do.
Meanwhile, the B.I.S. was out over the weekend telegraphing the next move for central banks in a world gone crypto-crazy. Simply put: the world’s monetary authorities will simply adopt their own versions.
All of this has been met with a furious backlash from the crypto crowd and somewhat ironically given all the chatter about Bitcoin supplanting gold as a safe haven, their protestations sound a lot like what you often hear from the folks who keep physical gold stored next to their tinfoil hats in the basement. I penned an amusing piece on the similarities between Bitcoin proponents and gold hoarders on Monday which I can summarize with the following visual:
Well with all of that as the backdrop, consider the following piece by James Mackintosh for the Wall Street Journal and do spare a moment to keep James in your thoughts, because you can bet he’s gotten a lot of angry e-mail…
