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Leaders throughout the Blockchain space came together to share their views on the future of the industry at Virtual Blockchain Week.
Over the past week, Cointelegraph has participated in Virtual Blockchain Week â a pandemic-proof crypto conference that invited participants from all over the world to join talks with some of Blockchainâs greatest luminaries.
At the start of the week, famed venture capitalist, Tim Draper, doubled down on his prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach $250K per coin by 2023. âThat's my prediction. Sticking with it. I'm very confident that that is going to happen.â said Draper, when pressed on the topic. He believes that massive commercial adoption around the world will send Bitcoinâs price into the stratosphere.
This gels well with insights shared by crypto analyst, Mati Greenspan, who noted that Bitcoinâs correlation with the S&P 500 is currently at an all-time-high. Greenspan did note, however, that ânothing has emerged thatâs said âcrypto is going to be our savior.ââ, while also pointing out that Bitcoin is still considered a risk asset.
Taking a more technical approach, GIVE Nation CEO, Alyze Sam, explained why stablecoins are the âgateway to decentralizationâ for companies like Facebook and JP Morgan. She believes that major corporations adopting stablecoins will ultimately lead to the acceptance of Bitcoin and other blockchain assets.
Meanwhile, Caitlin Long â the founder of the first crypto-native bank, Avanti â is seeking greater transparency across the industry. She opined that âthere is really very little disclosure about how much indebtedness the various exchanges and custodians have provided.â Long is reasonably bullish on Bitcoin, which she believes is a safe haven asset
Roger Ver, Bitcoin Cash advocate and CEO of Bitcoin.com, used his platform at Virtual Blockchain Week to call for an immediate end to the Coronavirus lockdown. âIt's absolutely related not just to economic freedom, but to personal freedom in general.â Ver argued. He went on to define economic freedom as âa measure of how easy it is for members of a society to participate in the economyâ.
Vesa Kivinen, the creator of Art For Crypto, feels strongly that crypto art is as valuable as any digital asset. He stated firmly that â[Digital art] has many similarities to, letâs say, the very, very early Bitcoin.â All of Kivinenâs art pieces sell for a pegged rate of 1 BTC each, and he believes the value of each painting has âthe potential of going parabolicâ.Â
Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of popular crypto exchange, Binance, made the argument that crypto adoption can be driven by stablecoins and strong charity initiatives. âThat type of adoption is a positive first-contact for a lot of people.â he explained. On the topic of Binanceâs rapidly increasing power in the space, Zhao scoffed at the idea that his exchange was growing too large. âWe are quite big, but the reason we're growing is not because we are abusing a monopolistic power.â he stated, adding âThe competition is very fierce.â
Charlie Shrem, founder of early Bitcoin-for-cash platform, Bitinstant, underlined his bullishness with regards to Bitcoinâs upcoming block halving, but notes that he doesnât see a 2017-esque bull run occuring in the short term. âIt looks like around last halving it wasn't that the price doubled instantlyâ said Shrem, elaborating that the price really didnât go wild until âa year and a half later.â Charlie also gave us an update on a mysterious letter he received back in 2014, emphasizing that âthis letter was odd, it was weirdâ.
Justin Sun, the oft controversial founder of Tron, recounted his side of the recent Steem/Hive hard fork. He referred to his role in Steemit Inc as more of a âpartnershipâ than an acquisition, while still noting that âSteemit Inc definitely has some influence on the Steem blockchain.â
Towards the end of the conference, an AK-47 wielding John McAfee discussed a plethora of topics, from UFOs to illegal taxation. McAfee is an eccentrically vocal crypto advocate who is best known for the anti-virus software which bears his name. He openly admitted that he is 99% certain he knows the identity of Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Though he claims that he promised to never let the name escape his lips, he paid the white paper author a compliment, referring to him as a âVery smart motherf*****â.
The eventâs closing keynote came from acclaimed author, Don Tapscott, who believes that blockchain has enabled person-to-person trust for the first time in history. His bullish position included the belief that Blockchain will underpin âthe second era of the digital age.â Closing on the challenges still left to our nascent industry, Tapscott stated âJust because it's decentralized, doesnât mean it has to be disorganized.â
Check out the audio recap here:
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.