The blockchain/crypto week in quotes

“If we have a way to reduce the cost of payments internationally, through technology, I am all for it. But you can’t sacrifice basic principles of securities law, and other law, to allow it to happen.’’ United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton

“It takes the energy of a home, half-a-home a day, to do a single entry into a Bitcoin ledger…It is climate intolerant, it is so extreme, it is bad design.” Pat Gelsinger, CEO, VMWare

“Roughly about 90% of Bitcoin usage I would put into the category of investments slash speculations, so it could be people who have a long-term view on it, people who like to trade it and about 10% would be transactions.” Marcus Swanepoel, CEO, Luno

“Mark Carney’s comments about the rising need in a global currency to replace the dollar stem from the fact that trying to manage a global economy based on national structures is no longer sustainable. How can a currency that responds to an America-first policy remain the reserve currency that impacts the global economy? We at Saga echo Carney’s thoughts on the need for an alternative, based on a basket of currencies rather than a single national currency.

The alternative, however, can only be external; one that maintains accountability and relies on the representation of the people that are using the currency. Such a solution must be accountable to the holders of the currency and reflect the core fundamentals Carney suggests.

The question is, therefore, not ‘the what’ but ‘the who’: who will be the issuer of such a currency? We agree with Carney that Libra is not the solution as we will be losing even more accountability with an unelected corporate being in charge. What Carney is suggesting is for an alternative to be central-bank-issued, but this is just not going to happen. In the 50 years since the IMF issued the SDR, there have been many calls for the monetisation of this basket of currencies, but we don’t see the US accepting this from a political perspective. Why would the Federal Reserve agree to participate in an SDR currency which has a purpose to diminish the power of the dollar?

When we established Saga two years ago, it seemed absurd that a central bank would believe that the reserve currency of the world would not be issued by a nation-state. This assumption was reinforced by Jacob Frankel, a member of Saga’s Advisory Council and former Governor of the Bank of Israel, as well as Saga’s Chief Economist, ex-central banker at the Bank of Israel and member of the Bank’s Monetary Committee. Two years later, we have witnessed the ever-growing distrust and misalignment of the equilibrium between the central bank and their respective governments. With the next financial recession looking increasingly imminent, now is the time to take measures before it’s too late. We need to rectify the way our financial and governmental institutions are working, or else we’re in trouble when the next crisis arrives.” Saga Foundation Founder Ido Sadeh Man

“Looking at its performance this year, I believe that the new normal bottom price for Bitcoin is $10,000. It bounces at this price. If it fluctuates below this level, it shoots back up again. We have seen this in action on Monday when Bitcoin hit $10,500 in a matter of minutes.” Nigel Green, Chief Executive and Founder, deVere Group