Crypto ‘facing mass extinction event’, Xapo

Cryptocurrency could be facing a mass “extinction level” event, the President of Bitcoin wallet provider Xapo has warned.

Ted Rogers reckons 90% of the crypto assets listed on CoinMarketCap could eventually be wiped out.

“We could be in the midst of the extinction-level event for ‘cryptoassets’ that many maximalists have predicted,” he wrote in a Tweet. “90%+ of @CoinMarketCap list will disappear eventually – might as well happen now.”

In contrast, Rogers believes there is an “incredible opportunity” to buy more Bitcoin because of its lower price (it is currently trading at around £5,000).

The price of Bitcoin is well below the highs seen at the end of last year, but in comparison with other altcoins, whose value has crashed, it is relatively resilient. Coins such as ETH, XLM and BCH recently posted losses of around 10%.

One user tweeted that instead of falling alts being an extinction event and Bitcoin a buying opportunity, the trend perhaps shows alts are more speculative and so rise faster in bull markets and fall faster in bear markets.

Another stated: “A 90% extinction is what the market needs. This is the oil bubble, the dotcom bubble, the railroad bubble. This is par for course with new tech & immature markets. The Alt Wash will have no lasting effect on Bitcoin.”

Rogers’ previous tweets suggest he is a bit of a “Bitcoin maximalist”, who favours the leading digital currency above all others.