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Bitcoin is not going away but it is facing major competition from other cryptocurrencies like Ripple and Monero, Spencer Bogart from Blockchain Capital said. Speaking to CNBC, he said: “I think now in 2018 we have a lot of people that recognise that bitcoin is not going away. “But we have to go back and if we rewind to 2014 when bitcoin came off its highs of $1000 and started declining back to 300, we had the bust of the Silk Road and Mt. Gox. “People felt like this was the end of bitcoin. That was the sentiment even for a lot of hardcore believers.”

CNBC•GETTY Bitcoin will stick around but face competition form Zcash and Monero, Bogart said

Now in 2018 we have a lot of people that recognise that bitcoin is not going away Spencer Bogart

“I would say today when I talk to a lot of people out in the marketplace, everyone recognises that bitcoin is not going away. “So there’s a legion of people out there, an increasingly growing segment of people, that see this as a great buying opportunity and I definitely think that’s the case with bitcoin.” Bogart said that though Ripple in competition for bitcoin, it is other coins like Zcash and Monero that are the real risk to bitcoin. He said: “I think the Zcash’s and the Monero’s of the world have a real place in this.

“We’re getting a little bit deep in the tech here but privacy is the other side of the coin to fungibility so when I use my $20 bill at the local grocery store, they don’t differentiate one $20 bill from another $20 bill right? “That’s an important feature of Monero and Zcash and these privacy coins is that they’re all treated equally. “Potentially with bitcoin, each of them has their own unique set of history and its own unique set of owners that could be an asset or it could be a liability longer-term.” Bitcoin rose 4.35 percent to £11,205.75 at 20:15pm in London and Ripple gained 3.88 percent to $1.53 at 20:15pm in London, according to coindesk.com and coinmarketcap.com.