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Cryptocurrencies May Drive Innovation in Global Payments Systems
(Note: companies that
could be impacted by the content of this article are listed at the base of the
story [desktop version]. This article uses third-party references to provide a
bullish, bearish, and balanced point of view; sources are listed after the
Balanced section.)
While Bitcoin was released in 2009 and is considered by many to be the first decentralized cryptocurrency, others have followed including Tether, Ethereum, Litecoin and others. Mass-market adoption has been hindered, in part, by their volatility which has made them poor stores of value and mediums of exchange. Further, cryptocurrencies have been met with skepticism by various governmental bodies that see risk to existing monetary and central banking institutions. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, recently testified in front of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services to discuss Libra, a blockchain digital currency proposed by Facebook and the Libra Association, an independent, not-for-profit membership organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, of which Facebook is a founding member. Reaction to his testimony has been mixed. Do the risks of global cryptocurrencies outweigh the benefits? While concepts are evolving, we look at the bull and bear arguments related to cryptocurrency.