Vinny Lingham & Ronnie Moas Bet Over Bitcoin
World Crypto Con, which calls itself the “first experiential conference for the cryptocurrency and blockchain space,” saw some of this industry’s foremost commentators, insiders, investors, long-time Bitcoin bulls and consumers attend its multi-day event in Las Vegas,
Among the pundits in attendance was Vinny Lingham, Ronnie Moas, Maxine Ryan, and Charlie Lee, the latter of which is the creator of the Litecoin Project. During the event, which reportedly drew thousands of attendees, 100+ exhibitors, and over 75 influential speakers, the aforementioned quartet took to the main stage to participate in a live episode of the Bad Crypto Podcast.
While on-air, Moas, the founder and director of Standpoint Research, chimed in, discussing his predictions for the performance of Bitcoin (BTC) in upcoming years — a widely contested and controversial topic/point of discussion in the community. Moas, who hasn’t shirked away from consulting with his crypto crystal ball in the past, stated:
“$50,000 is for 2020. $100,000 would be in the next halving, which may be in 2023 or 2024… And $28,000 is my target for the end of next year (2019).”
Responding to Moas’ unbridled bullish sentiment, Vinny Lingham responded with skepticism by first claiming that he “tried to prevent this bubble.” clearly highlighting his sentiment that crypto’s run-up and the subsequent crash may have been detrimental for this nascent industry. Bringing credence to his more-bearish-than-bullish claim, which may have irked a few event attendees, Civic CEO Lingham noted:
“People actually thought that there was a paradigm shift. I was sarcastically tweeting in December — “oh guys
this is a paradigm shift.” What do you expect people to think?… I think that this is going to be a long and cold winter… The bigger the party, the bigger the hangover.”
The representative of Civic added that 2018’s bear market “isn’t even winter… it’s fall,” subsequently noting that it is unlikely for BTC to surpass $28,000 because “it doesn’t work that way.” Moas, rebutting this anti-bull sentiment, first likened crypto to the Internet pre-Netscape before pointing out that there could be a “watershed moment” for this industry that will drive adoption through the work.
After some further light banter, which hopefully didn’t create any bad blood, the two were prompted to make a friendly bet. As revealed in a press release, if Bitcoin (BTC) doesn’t hit $28,000 on a “reputable exchange” come December 31st, 2019, Moas will need to donate $20,000 U.S. dollars to FreeRoss.org, a consortium working towards a stronger legal case for Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement with Silk Road.
If BTC hits $28,000 in the aforementioned time frame, however, Lingham will owe FreeRoss $20,000 out of his own pocket. Following his appearance on stage, Ronnie took to Twitter to express his excitement for the somewhat playful bet, restating the terms of the agreement in front of his 45,000 Twitter followers.
Live from #LasVegas … this was a blast … I bet Vinny Lingham $20,000 that $BTC will hit $28,000 by the end of 2019 | Money goes to charity … @badcrypto @MaxieRyan @VinnyLingham @SatoshiLite @teedubya @joelcomm @RonnieMoas @WorldCryptoCon https://t.co/xeIv0eQ2CP
— Ronnie Moas | Nomad | Stocks | BTC | Charity (@RonnieMoas) November 3, 2018
Tommy Mustache, a self-proclaimed “crypto addict,” responded to Moas’ tweet by noting that post-bubble markets take a minimum of 2.5 years to recover, with crypto reportedly being “no exception.” And as such, Mustache and Lingham, who corroborated his claim, explained that the crypto market is unlikely to see a resurgence until 2020, if not later.
Regardless, the aforementioned Standpoint Research founder remained steadfast, claiming that if a watershed moment occurs — think Bitcoin ETF approval, adoption of Bakkt physically-backed BTC futures, etc. — “the 2.5-year figure gets thrown out the window.”
Title Image Courtesy of Carl Raw on Unsplash
