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CoinShares chairman Danny Masters said his predictions on cryptocurrencies draw parallel to his first thoughts on oil – forecasting a rally but insisting it could take up to ten years before there is a surge in value of Bitcoin. Mr Masters, a former JPMorgan trader, told CNBC: “I think my first ever thoughts in crypto, were sort of parallel to my first thought in oil. “We started my company way back and it was commodities focussed and I thought the depletion that was pervasive and the emergence of China in the early 2000s would lead to a scenario that would rally commodities. “I didn’t think that we’d find the answer and the proof for many years to come. I think that’s a parallel to cryptocurrency.

Getty•CNBC Bitcoin price: Danny Masters said his prediction on bitcoin are parallel to oil

The use cases for crypto is that bitcoin is disrupting money and gold Danny Masters

“I think that the set up is there and I think that the story is convincing, the technology is convincing but we may not know the proof for another ten years.” He added: “The use cases for crypto is that bitcoin is disrupting money and gold. Ethereum is disrupting the formation of capital. “There are other protocols that are disrupting, you know, identity, provenance and so on. These things are really unproven yet but quite promising.” Mr Masters said bitcoin has a “special and unique position in crypto”. He added: “Its early emergence when we started, bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency in existence.

“So I think it will always have that special space.” Bitcoin price was at $7,662.77 at 13:00 (GMT) on Thursday, according to CoinDesk. It saw its highest value before Christmas when it reached the monumental price of just under $20,000. The digital currency has faced criticism by banks and finance experts, with Banking giant Morgan Stanley likening the current market climate of bitcoin to the dot-com bubble that, during its most “exuberant” period rose by 250 to 280 percent. Australia central bank governor Philip Lowe also said the fascination surrounding cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin felt more like “speculative mania”.

Cryptocurrency price: A year in charts Mon, March 12, 2018 Compare crypto currencies (Ripple, Bitcoin, Ethereum, LiteCoin) on value, market cap and supply for the past year Play slideshow coindesk.com 1 of 10 LiteCoin is going down with the market dip