Crypto mania is in full swing. Some people just can’t get their heads around it, and others can’t get enough of it.
Watching the testimony last week of six innovative leaders of crypto-asset firms before the House Financial Services Committee was an educational experience. They explained the crypto phenomena like astrophysicists talking about the dark matter in the universe that we don’t yet understand. But I found myself wondering about the questions that went unasked, particularly what long-term risks crypto assets may pose to national and global economies.
There is already about $3 trillion of cryptocurrency trading throughout the world. Those crypto products are being used and sliced and diced into another $2.7 trillion of derivative crypto-securities traded on traditional markets and crypto exchanges.
Assuming that some of these financial instruments are purchased on margin or otherwise leveraged, we are talking about a potential crypto global footprint approaching $10 trillion. Except for stablecoins, those are financial instruments supported by little if any intrinsic value beyond the decentralized networks that create and transmit them.
Continue reading: https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/585895-crypto-and-the-insecure-internet
Watching the testimony last week of six innovative leaders of crypto-asset firms before the House Financial Services Committee was an educational experience. They explained the crypto phenomena like astrophysicists talking about the dark matter in the universe that we don’t yet understand. But I found myself wondering about the questions that went unasked, particularly what long-term risks crypto assets may pose to national and global economies.
There is already about $3 trillion of cryptocurrency trading throughout the world. Those crypto products are being used and sliced and diced into another $2.7 trillion of derivative crypto-securities traded on traditional markets and crypto exchanges.
Assuming that some of these financial instruments are purchased on margin or otherwise leveraged, we are talking about a potential crypto global footprint approaching $10 trillion. Except for stablecoins, those are financial instruments supported by little if any intrinsic value beyond the decentralized networks that create and transmit them.
Continue reading: https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/585895-crypto-and-the-insecure-internet
