Bitcoin has been jumping like mad as of late. Despite a recent dip, the currency reached a new all-time high during the beginning of the week that saw the asset trading for well over $33,000. In addition, blockchain is reaching record levels when it comes to industry adoption, and according to Vitalik Buterin – the legendary co-founder of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world and the primary competitor to BTC – the case for blockchain is “underrated,” and likely to go even further than many industry experts have claimed.
Vitalik Buterin Is Extremely Bullish on Blockchain
In a recent blog post summarizing all the major crypto events of 2020, Buterin commented that blockchain is, at the time of writing, undergoing serious change and is now headed into mainstream territory. He says it has already been adopted by many major companies and industries, and that this is just the tip of the iceberg for the world’s newest form of digital technology.
He explains:
One of the more underrated bull cases for cryptocurrency that I have always believed is simply the fact that gold is lame, the younger generations realize it’s lame, and that $9 trillion has to go somewhere… Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are well poised to play an important part, though for reasons much more complex than many people think and having as much to do with cultural forces as anything financial. Public blockchain solutions [will] keep quietly moving forward and gaining actual adoption.
For the most part, Buterin appears to have a reasonable point when he mentions gold, though to call it “lame” might be a bit of an overstatement. Gold, like BTC, has had a strong year in 2020, reaching new highs and largely still being considered a store of value and a hedge tool against economic strife.
However, where things are really changing is that now bitcoin is sharing this reputation. With the introduction of the coronavirus pandemic last March, many people began to see bitcoin not just as a speculative asset, but one that could potentially protect their wealth as standard financial markets took hits from all corners.
The asset remains volatile and has yet to replace fiat (and it probably will never go that far), but bitcoin is far more than something that could make you rich overnight. Now, it’s something of a safety blanket, and as a result, more wallets were opened this year than during any other time in the past three years.
Many Seem to Agree
In addition, many others appear to be echoing Buterin’s words, claiming that blockchain is becoming the wave of the future. Writing in a separate blog, Fred Wilson – a venture capitalist – explained:
I believe that governments will respond to all these economic challenges by continuing to print fiat money without restraint… This will lead investors to continue to allocate capital to new forms of money (crypto) and new ways of creating and financing innovation.