A seven-minute interview of a wise old man we have so much to learn from
Image source: pixabay - Myriams-Fotos
After watching the 7-minute interview on Jeffrey Wernick on Business Insider was enlightening. Jeffrey Wernick, an early angel investor in Uber and AirBnb, believes that Bitcoin as a digital currency has the potential to replace fiat currency.
The 62-year-old's beliefs was well rooted back in the 1970s, when the US currency is no longer tagged to gold. He believed that the change would cause the debasement of the US currency, rising inflation as well as periods of deficit finance.
So initially my interest in it was not just economic, it was also an issue of the fact of what would foster a good relationship between citizens and the government. And if the government doesn't — and if the government debases its money, what should a citizen have the right to do to preserve itself when the government is acting not in the citizen's best interest? -- Wernick
Source: Business Insider
Image source: pixabay - typographyimages
Wernick also highlighted three main benefits of digital currencies:
- Decentralized, mining reward-based blockchain
- No double spending or counterfeit issue
- Fixed supply & inflation resistant
No fiat currencies are able to foolproof these criteria Bitcoin has created. With limited access to these information in 2009, Wernick was able to have sufficient foresight to see the potential of Bitcoin. That is what angel investors do, where independent portfolios and lending money to the right industries, companies and people. I am truly impressed.
Image source: pixabay - Monoar
We are not very late back in the game. Fast forwarding almost ten years to 2018, Bitcoin has gained quite a reputation. But do the people really own any Bitcoins? A Bitcoin survey done by Canadian Central Bank reveled that people in North America are aware but not using Bitcoin:
The Bank of Canada found, despite the large price increase throughout last year, the number of people in Canada who held bitcoin rose from 2.9 percent in late 2016, to five percent in late 2017 — a rise of just 2.1 percentage points.
Source: Forbes - Billy Bambrough.
Remember the value of Gold 200 years ago was $21, until mainstream recognition of Gold as an asset for investment. Today Gold stands at about $1000. Source: onlygold. Sometimes time and patience is all that is needed.