Kenneth Rogoff is a former IMF Chief Economist and a current university professor at one of America's most prestigious schools, Harvard. Rogoff is a prime believer that Bitcoin and rest of the crypto market are nothing more than ‘lottery tickets’ in the current state of things. After writing an article in the British Newspaper, The Guardian earlier in the week, the professor says that even though some think that Bitcoin and the gang have had their five minutes of fame, there are others which believe that, in the current state of the market, they are in a downslide which can’t be undone and that eventually, Bitcoin and the altcoins will sink to zero.

According to Rogoff, there are numerous questions about the ability of large economies to full accept cryptocurrency for what it is. This means that outside of joint regulatory action, countrywide adoption of digital currencies will most likely be pushed only by smaller states such as Somalia, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. Rogoff believes that this makes it hard to predict the eventual fate of this asset class.

As reported by CCN, Rogoff believes that bigger economies won’t put up with cryptocurrencies as they currently are due to their ability to money launder. But if the anonymity of cryptocurrencies is taken away then they will lose their mass appeal along with it. Rogoff went onto raise questions on the future of the leading cryptocurrency saying:

“Regulators are gradually waking up to the fact that they cannot countenance large expensive-to-trace transaction technologies that facilitate tax evasion and criminal activity. At the same time, central banks from Sweden to China are realising that they, too, can issue digital currencies…When it comes to new forms of money, the private sector may innovate, but in due time the government regulates and appropriates.”

In addition to this, the former economist believes that all of this and more will lead to a lottery type scenario where Bitcoin’s long-term value is going to be closer to $100 but it could also be $100,000 for several reasons.

“Economists (including me) who have worked on this kind of problem for five decades have found that price bubbles surrounding intrinsically worthless assets must eventually burst. The prices of assets that do have real underlying value cannot deviate arbitrarily far from historical benchmarks. And government-issued money is hardly a pure social convention; governments pay employees and suppliers, and demand tax payments in fiat currency.”

In the end, Rogoff said that the government actions will determine whether Bitcoin and other digital currency assets will be able to gain general trade and retail adoption.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Rogoff? Let us know what you think down below in the comment!