As anyone watching the cryptocurrency markets will know, 2018 was characterized by decidedly bearish market sentiment. However, observers are now hedging their hopes that 2019 will see a reversal of fortunes in market performance and adoption.



Max Keiser predicts Bitcoin will dethrone the USD



More specifically, the well-known American broadcaster Max Keiser has now started 2019 by predicting Bitcoin will dethrone the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Moreover, Keiser also argued that altcoins will continue to increase in importance as traditional currencies decrease.



First and foremost, Keiser noted that 2019 will likely be a year during which the US dollar will face its ”downfall.” According to Keiser, one of the main drivers behind this is the creation of financial alternatives to trading in USD.



For example, he proposes that cryptocurrencies will bring with them a replacement system to SWIFT – the dominant interbank communications protocol.



”A replacement to [SWIFT] begins the end of the US dollar hegemony. Bitcoin also emerged in 2009, and that is starting to take over and get bigger despite the price crash,” Keiser continued.



Despite acknowledging the significant price decreases witnessed by Bitcoin during 2018, Keiser remained bullish on the cryptocurrency’s future prospects.



Keiser: Engineers are not distracted by price increases



”But in terms of where Bitcoin is going, you and I have been involved with this space since 2011, we’ve seen it crash 94% in 2011, and it crashed something like 88% to 91% in 2013, 2014, 2015,” Keiser noted.



”So we’ve seen a few of these crashes, but what I do know from experience [is that] in the past, during these previous crashes, a lot of building took place during that time, robust companies were built. They were no longer distracted, engineers are not distracted by price increases of 10%, 20% or 30% a week.”



Keiser also argues that the economic downturn – which is widely presumed to commence soon – as well as the poor performance of the US stock market, are both factors deriving people towards digital currencies.



Interestingly, Keiser also suggests that cryptocurrencies are now increasingly being considered attractive ”long-term value storage” alternatives instead of stocks. In a continuation of this, Keiser also noted that Bitcoin will become a more attractive alternative to central bank-issued currencies.



”The emission schedule of coins coming on every ten minutes makes Bitcoin the central bank of the world with the most rock-solid monetary policy there is,” Keiser stated.



According to Keiser, this steady supply of tokens is more secure and less prone to manipulation than the monetary policies of central banks.

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