Did Goldman Sachs’ CEO Just Pooh Pooh on Bitcoin?
The volatility that’s been rearing its head for Bitcoin since Wednesday has at least one Wall Street banker souring his tone about the cryptocurrency.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein reiterated previous statements that Bitcoin was not for him. However, his latest comments indicate that he may be falling in line with the “it’s a fraud” crowd.
In a joint interview with Michael Bloomberg Thursday, Blankfein spoke on several issues involving the crypto.
To be or not to be a currency
Bitcoin tumbled mightily Wednesday morning after a whale exited a hefty position. The ensuing panic from traders tanked the crypto 12% in four minutes. Over the course of the day, Bitcoin’s price fell to around $9,200, before beginning its climb back to its all-time high of $11,441.
While it’s managed to get slightly above $10,000 since Wednesday’s flash crash, Bitcoin’s price has not been able to get back to that record.
All this comes on the heels of the crypto surging significantly this year. At the beginning of 2017, Bitcoin’s price was around $1,000. Over the course of the year, the crypto has tanked by at least 25% at least three times.
That kind of volatility, especially Wednesday’s, doesn’t sit well for many, including Blankfein. He said Thursday:
“Something that moves up and down 20% in a day doesn’t feel like a currency, [it] doesn’t feel like a store of value.”
A fraud?
Blankfein shied away from calling Bitcoin a fraud. When drilled about how Bitcoin could be a fraud, Blankfein began his response by saying, “the whole concept…” He was interrupted by the interviewer, and then said:
“One of the main uses of Bitcoin is that it’s a vehicle to perpetuate fraud because you can’t trace it.”
Backtracking?
You may recall us telling you how in October, Blankfein said he was not willing to “pooh pooh” on Bitcoin. At that time, he used a fanciful analogy about how he was skeptical of mobile phones when they came on the scene. On Thursday, he kept to that train-of-thought about how he’s deliberate in deciding what new things to embrace.
“[Bitcoin’s] not for me. But there are a lot of things that were not for me in the past that worked out very well. If it was 20 years forward and it worked out, I could tell you why it worked out. But based on everything I know [about Bitcoin], I’m not guessing that it will work out. But I not going to stand there and be strident and say it’s a fraud it won’t [work out] because it might.”
Bloomberg, who is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, spoke about regulations as he agreed with much of what Blankfein said.
“Whether governments of world will lose control of monetary policy, I’m skeptical. They’re just not going to let that happen. They’re just not going to let that happen and they shouldn’t.”
Hurry up and wait
Bitcoin is all anyone is talking about. A question about its metamorphic rise was even raised at Thursday’s White House press briefing. A reporter asked if the administration was monitoring cryptos, and the spokesperson said yes, adding that the Homeland Security Department was watching the space.
For Blankfein, however, it’s not an urgent matter that deserves a strategy from his investment bank right now. He downplayed Bitcoin’s hype saying:
“Life must be really, really rosy if this is what we’re talking about.”
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