Bill Gates & Al Gore have their say

Peter Thiel Thinks Bitcoin has succeeded on a new level

When people both inside and outside of the cryptosphere talk about Bitcoin, it makes an impact on the industry. On a small scale, people talking ‘badly’ about Bitcoin can have a huge impact on the future adoption of the cryptocurrency. On a larger scale, more prolific speakers can have an impact on regulation, laws and legislation, as well as impacting the government ‘feel’ towards crypto. Therefore, it’s important to sit back at times and observe what people are saying about Bitcoin, in order to understand the important quotes, and, the FUD. Doing this helps us become better investors and allows the entire community to become more rounded.

Let’s start with a big one by Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft:

“Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be. Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”

Why is this important? Well, that’s pretty clear. Bill Gates is one of the most prolific names within the technological world, therefore if he’s behind a product, the big guns and the policy makers will be too, especially if they can make money from it.

Next up, Al Gore:

“When bitcoin currency is converted from currency into cash, that interface has to remain under some regulatory safeguards. I think the fact that within the bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the function of the government, that is actually pretty cool.”

The former Vice President of the United States is an important figure and an important advocate of Bitcoin. As ex-government, he can see clear ways for Bitcoin to be regulated in the United States. One thing that is clear is that US regulation will no doubt provide a platform for the rest of the world to follow suit, so, whilst Gore is bigging up Bitcoin, we need to pay attention to what is going on within the likes of the SEC and at government level.

Last but not least, Peter Thiel, a Co-founder of PayPal:

“PayPal had these goals of creating a new currency. We failed at that, and we just created a new payment system. I think Bitcoin has succeeded on the level of a new currency, but the payment system is somewhat lacking. It’s very hard to use, and that’s the big challenge on the Bitcoin side.”

Here, Thiel recognises that Bitcoin has achieved some of what PayPal failed to do, though also points out some of Bitcoins more intrinsic issues. This is a very important thing to note because Thiel is a prominent figure within finance. If he has a way to combine the efficiency of PayPal with the technology behind Bitcoin, the result could be frankly outstanding.