Bitcoin Price Aside, It’s Still Mainstream
As Bitcoin price has suffered, mainstream media outlets, like CNBC and Bloomberg, have ramped up their coverage of this space. In a bid to provide viewers with insight, Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang recently hosted Sonny Singh, the chief commercial officer at Bitpay.
Singh, an experienced savant in the technology industry, briefly disregarded BTC’s poor market performance, which saw the asset fall under $4,500 after an influx of selling pressure, to note that Bitcoin has gained status as a mainstream hot topic and “brand.”
Touching on the market, he alluded to the sentiment that price movement isn’t truly indicative of fundamental factors. So, Singh went on to explain that true price action is unlikely to occur until a direction is set for Bitcoin, which may arrive with the impending launch of Bakkt and Fidelity Digital Asset Services, Blackrock’s potential foray into Bitcoin, and Square’s doubling-down on crypto products.
Emily Chang, who anchored the sentiment, then queried Singh on his thoughts on how Jamie Dimon’s comments against Bitcoin have been somewhat “vindicated.” For those who are unaware, JP Morgan’s Dimon, a key player in the centralized financial world, went on-air multiple times to bash Bitcoin, calling the asset a fraud. Although his comments were cast aside at the time, as they were conveyed in the midst of a crypto bull run, as covered by Ethereum World News recently, some say that he got the ‘last laugh’.
The Bitpay COO noted that he “totally disagrees with Dimon on the fraud comment,” subsequently touching on the fact that the Bitcoin price can go up and down, but as Bitcoin continues to gain traction, JP Morgan itself may look into launching a crypto-related platform, product, or service to capitalize on a legitimate industry.
He then drew attention to Silvergate’s recent IPO announcement, the rise in cryptocurrency mining, and Coinbase’s IPO prospects to specifically discredit Dimon’s “fraud” comment, as the aforementioned developments indicate that this industry is bonafide — no questions asked.
“Bitcoin Is The 800 Pound Gorilla”
Chang, referencing the age-old Bitcoin v.s. altcoin debate, asked Singh about his thoughts about other crypto assets. Singh, who seems to be a Bitcoin maximalist, explained that there’s a “night and day” difference between the world’s first blockchain network and “everything else.”
Echoing sentiment held by Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital, Singh, calling Bitcoin an “800-pound gorilla,” noted that the world’s first cryptocurrency has access to the most notable “network effect” of all decentralized networks.
To back his claim, Singh noted that institutional incumbents are focusing their efforts on Bitcoin, not altcoins, before adding that he “doesn’t know what is going to happen to the other ones.” Still, he noted that the ICO market is likely dead, unless “Bitcoin survives first.”
Looking into the future, the Bitpay executive concluded his segment on Bloomberg by explaining that by Thanksgiving 2019, a crypto ETF, Fidelity’s platform, and an influx of funding for startups will likely have arrived for this nascent industry. So, keeping these positive developments at the forefront, and considering that adoption is just getting started, he concluded that $15,000 to $20,000 per BTC wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.
Title Image Courtesy of Marco Verch via Flickr
