Crypto-Crash: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

It was a dark night. Lightnings and thunder storm was all over. My window was whistling from the wind. I came out of my cabin wondering what is going on. I opened the sliding door of the room to get to the balcony. I saw the sky lightening up in a midst of a strong thunder while our crypto cruise (organised by CoinsBank) was sailing from Monaco to Ibiza . The situation is no different if you look at the crypto market today.

MIAMI BEACH, FL - DECEMBER 13: John McAfee is sighted in South Beach on December 13, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Larry Marano/WireImage)

Pain is the word written all over the crypto markets. Speaking with Miko Matsumura, the founder of Evercoin who has helped ICOs to raise over $250 million, he said “Pain is good”. I looked at his face wondering what he means. “I am not saying that the phase of experiencing pain is good. It just connects things with the reality” he remarked. “Whatever dreamland you are in, it brings you to the reality”, he added. “Makes perfect sense”, I replied. The ICO market is insane. Fantasies are evaporating, and scammers are having tough time now at tricking innocent investors like before. His comment about pain providing a reality check was true. If there was smooth sailing, I would not have woken up at 3am to sit at my balcony upset.

What investors find difficult to understand is why projects like Ethereum, which is known as the enterprise solution, is facing such pressure. The fact is that the smart money is buying Ethereum on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market massively. After all, if you want to issue another ICO based on the ER20, you would need Ether. Right now, it is the biggest sale. So, I asked Miko his opinion on it.

“If investors bought Ethereum thinking they ae gaining supper control, then they are completely wrong. It is not even close to that. But if you have bought Ethereum thinking that this is the foundation on which others can build their platform, then the potential still hasn’t changed”, he explained. So, why panic now? Perhaps, greed and fear are the two most important factors investors need to pay close attention to.

Speaking of paying attention, I looked out to the sea and saw another cruise coming out of nowhere, sailing parallel to our cruise. The race is on, which one will win was the question lingering on my mind. A similarity can easily be drawn between Bitcoin cash and Bitcoin. During the conference there was a huge debate between Jimmy Song and Roger Var, founder of Bitcoin Cash. My view about such debates is that it is more of an entertainment than anything else. Nonetheless, it attracts many fun seekers, just like back in Roman days Gladiators used to attract large audience..

Roger’ argument is always the same. Look at the Bitcoin’s whitepaper, the first line is about peer to peer cash. Roger Var refers to Bitcoin’s whitepaper as if it is religion . I asked Miko why Satoshi is treated like God. “Roger is very clever. He is using believer’s belief against the religion”, he replied. The fact is that it is way too early to say who will win the race and at the same time, one cannot deny that Bitcoin Cash has become an important part of the crypto market. Which one is Satoshi’s vision and how much regulation we need, if any, is difficult to say.

Another crypto crash debate- entertainment sessionTwitter@ NaeemAslam23

One prominent person who doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind in this space is John McAfee, founder of McAfee associates. I sat with him and asked him a key question. “Given the current regulatory landscape, do you still hold your price prediction of one Bitcoin to touch 1 million dollars?”, I asked. “Absolutely”, he replied. “Seems difficult or nearly impossible under the current situation, especially if institutions are not going to get involved in this space”. A frustrated look appeared on his face. “We do not need them, we do not need any regulator or their permission. The whole concept is that we do not need a bank. If I want to send you money, I should be able to do it directly, just like with Bitcoin. We do not need third party here anymore, we do not need them (bank), their days are over . Tell me, why do I need my bank’s permission to withdraw my money out of my account? Sir, this is my money!”, he exclaimed.

Image drawn by an artist who was on board painter. FYI I do not look like this and I wasn't wearing Bitcoin sign.Twitter: @NaeemAslam 23

I took a long breath and decided to shift the conversation. “What else do you think is going on in the market? “, I asked. McAfee replied “There is a lot going on in the market. We have exchanges which are making millions of dollars like HitBTC. We do not know who they are, where their offices are. We know nothing about them and yet they are processing hundreds of millions of dollars every day. This is a very dangerous situation, as proven by many exchanges stealing money.”, McAfee replied. Well, that’s why we need regulations in this space, someone who can stop such processes, I thought to myself, but decided not to speak out for now.

Our cruise continued to cut through the big waves and making its way forward, with me having faith that there is enough power in this ship to fight the storm. Thus, having faith in your investment is important and facing difficult times will only make the crypto ecosystem more robust.

The current sell-off is good for the ecosystem as it will shake out all the scammers out of the system. Solid projects are here to stay and they will continue to penetrate in this market.

Disclosure: I hold bitcoin and Ethereum in my wallet

Let's block ads! (Why?)