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Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne says he believes the modern financial system is a giant ponzi scheme that will collapse and trigger mass adoption of cryptocurrency.

In a new interview with crypto YouTuber Naomi Brockwell, Byrne says countries like Venezuela, where crypto adoption has already taken off, reveal a model of what’s to come.

“People turn to it where they collapse, like Venezuela or Cyprus or Syria, something like that. When people start getting into it is when their own financial systems collapse.

So yes, given that I think the entire modern financial system is a big Keynesian, magic money tree ponzi scheme, I do expect that the day will come when people turn to crypto. Now, whether Bitcoin is the one, whether Bitcoin has solved its speed problems or it’s another cryptocurrency, only time will tell.”

On the subject of government regulation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, Byrne says know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements are important tools to keep criminals from thriving on blockchain technology.

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“I guess I must confess, as revolutionary as I am – I’m what you could call a national security libertarian. So I worry about threats to our country. And that means that KYC and AML are not just things to be scoffed at.“

Overstock is one of the first major retailers in the US to accept Bitcoin. It began accepting Bitcoin as a payment option in 2014.