The co-founder of Wikipedia has once again publicly denounced cryptocurrency. James Wales told a European blockchain conference that the entire digital currency space was in a bubble that was certain to pop.
James Wales: “Right Now, We are in a Bubble”
The Wikipedia co-founder was speaking at a blockchain conference held in Berlin. During his ‘top secret’ presentation at the Blockshow event today, Wales slammed cryptocurrency, stating that it was in a bubble that would inevitably pop. According to MarketWatch, he said:
“Right now, we are in a bubble. The crypto world is absolutely, definitely in a bubble. I don’t think there’s many people who would deny that.”
The co-founder of the planet’s largest free reference site went on to state that the cryptocurrency industry was lacking ‘real journalism’ and that the entire sector should be prepared for a shock when the market eventually crashes.According to another report of the conference in tech publication SeekingAlpha, Wales went on to indicate that he had no idea when the bubble would burst:
“The thing about bubbles is that you never know when they’re going to end.”
Despite their co-founder’s pessimism, those behind the Wikipedia platform are still happy to accept donations in Bitcoin. The page dedicated to funding methods reads:
“As of late April 2018, our Bitcoin processor has deprecated their services, and we are searching for alternatives. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to have the Bitcoin option available again soon.”
Also today, Wales spoke to the U.K.’s Evening Standard about Brexit and the opportunity it presents the British Isles to attract technology startups to the nation.
He stated that it was important that government ministers did not turn London into a ‘hostile place’ for tech specialists to work in after the scheduled 2019 split with the EU.
He went on to express concerns that the likes of Berlin could offer a more welcoming environment for developers and startups alike.
However, the likes of CryptoUK are working towards ensuring that British regulators can create a framework that both protects investors whilst allowing the rapidly evolving industry to continue to innovate on their shores.
Wales joins the likes of Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger, and Jamie Dimon in his criticism of cryptocurrencies. However, unlike these household names of traditional finance, he has yet to resort to petty, baseless name calling to voice his scepticism of the digital currency space.
Meanwhile, there remains several prominent names in the crypto bulls camp. Tom Lee, the Fundstat co-founder believes that Bitcoin will reach $25,000 by the end of 2018 and once bullish momentum begins, it will only take a few days to get there.
However, such predictions look minuscule when compared to that of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Earlier this month, he stated that he thought $15,000 per Ether coin and a return to Bitcoin’s all-time highs of almost $20,000 were likely.
That would represent around a 27 times increase on today’s ETH prices.