The former chief economist of the World Bank, Lawrence Summers, says Bitcoin and crypto have staying power.
In an interview with Bloomberg’s Wall Street Week, Summers shares his views regarding crypto’s evolving role in the global markets.
Summers points out that historically, investors appreciate the opportunity to invest in assets that appear separate from the traditional investing route. For a long time, Summers notes, people have sought out gold as an investment that exists outside of the hands of a central authority. Now, he predicts, investors will continue to utilize Bitcoin and other crypto assets in the same manner.
“Is there a desire and is there a long-standing human desire to hold an asset that feels separate and apart from the day-to-day workings of government? I think the answer to that question, history shows, is yes.
I think gold has been the primary asset of that kind for a long time. And I think that crypto has a chance of becoming an agreed form, that people who are looking for safety, hold wealth in. So my guess is that crypto is here to stay and probably here to stay as a kind of digital gold and if you imagine that crypto became half or even a third of the total value of the none-use value of gold, that would be a substantial appreciation from current levels and that’s why I think there’s a good prospect that crypto will be part of the system for quite a while to come.”
While Summers does not believe that crypto or Bitcoin will evolve into our primary units of exchange, he does anticipate that cryto assets could play a large role in the world of internet commerce.
“But is crypto going to usher in some kind of libertarian paradise? Are most of us going to be making most of our payments using Bitcoin or some other crypto asset? I rather doubt it. Is this going to be something fundamental for commerce on the internet? It may be an important part of commerce on the internet. That’s how I would think about it.”
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