Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a Citigroup Strategic Advisor since 2008 has published a lengthy piece on his personal blog with his reflections on bitcoin. Wladawsky-Berger does acknowledge he “doesn’t know what to think of bitcoin”, but makes some opinions based on a number of articles out there on the topic.
He comes to the following conclusions (bold emphasis ours):
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The cryptographic advances and technologies underlying Bitcoin will likely play a major role in the development of the Internet of Money, that is, an Internet era, digital money ecosystem. But, as is the case with all complex platforms, its architecture, protocols and governance will have to evolve. It remains to be seen whether the resulting platform will still be called Bitcoin or something else will have taken its place.
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For the foreseeable future, the bulk of the money flowing through such a digital money ecosystem will continue to be based on existing currencies. Digital currencies may play important niche roles. It’s not clear at this point whether Bitcoin itself will be one of the surviving digital currencies.
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Given the central role played by money in all aspects of the economy, society and our personal lives, governments will continue to regulate its use, whether based on existing or new digital currencies.
Why are we publishing this? Because we think it’s newsworthy that bitcoin and digital currency as a whole has gotten the attention of tradition financial multinationals, and it’s interesting to get a point of view from the other side, so to speak.
If you’ve got a bit, check out his post for yourself. Let us know what you think.