THE BITCOIN bubble is not over yet according to Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, who said the claims the cryptocurrency bubble has “popped” are “shortsighted”.
Chief executive officer at Consensys and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said it is "hard to tell" whether bitcoin has lost its appeal but rejected claims that the bitcoin bubble has "burst".
Speaking on Bloomberg News, Mr Lubin said: "We are so focused on building decentralised applications on the ethereum platform where we are so much less focussed on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
“Consider ether to be a crypto fuel that powers applications on the decentralised worldwide web.
“But I would argue that we’ve seen a correction in our space but calling the bubble to have been popped is a little shortsighted.
“I think there’s tremendous foundational fundamental work being built on our ecosystem and it is very, very, early days for the ecosystem.”
The ethereum co-founder also said he is “extremely happy” about the global reaction to further regulation on the cryptocurrency platform.
He said: “We are extremely happy about how things are going globally with regulators. There are many different jurisdictions that are excited about tokenised securities or utility tokens.
“That would be considered securities and that’s actually true in this country as well.
Mr Lubin said there are many “good” projects but there are also many “bad” and “fraudulent” projects that are being built on the ethereum platform. He said it is “perfectly reasonable” for a “bit of a pause in our ecosystem”.
But Bank of England boss Mark Carney said digital currencies such as bitcoin are “not efficient” and do not do what they are supposed to do as he called for a crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
Mark Carney said cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin were a "failure” during a speech at the Inaugural Scottish Economics conference on Friday.
In his speech on the future of bitcoin, Mr Carney said: “The time has come to hold the crypto-asset ecosystem to the same standards as the rest of the financial system.”
The Bank of England Governor said it is a “privilege” to be part of the financial system and “responsibilities come with those privileges”.
Mr Carney added: “The best of the cryptocurrencies, I would suggest, will gravitate to the best of the exchanges if they were regulated. And others will fall by the wayside.
“In the end, it is not just about market regulation, part of this is about any money laundering, terrorism financing, other elicit activities.”
Bitcoin price at 12:30pm (GMT) on Tuesday was $9,025.12, according to coindesk.