Ken Griffin – Founder and Chief Executive Officer at the multinational hedge fund Citadel LLC – remains skeptical on bitcoin and its use cases. He believes that another cryptocurrency project such as Ethereum will become the most dominant in the digital asset universe.
Despite its ups and downs throughout the year, bitcoin has more than doubled its value in the past eleven months. Institutional adoption and significant support from prominent investors and entrepreneurs, some of whom often describe it as a great store of value, are among the factors that propelled the asset towards its current heights.
Separately, BTC even became legal tender in El Salvador in September, pushing its way through on a national level.
However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and the primary cryptocurrency has its critics. One of them is Citadel’s CEO – Ken Griffin. In a recent interview with DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, he opined that bitcoin is too harmful to the environment, has low transaction speed, and is vulnerable to fraud activities.
Keeping these disadvantages in mind, Ethereum or another cryptocurrency based on its blockchain, which would have a smaller energy footprint and lower transaction costs, will steal BTC’s dominance, he added.
The billionaire investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks – Mark Cuban – also went in favor of Ethereum and its native token recently. According to him, beginners in the cryptocurrency industry should select ETH as an investment choice as it has the most upside potential.
Griffin also touched upon the rising inflation and financial crisis that started shaking most economies. He doubted that cryptocurrencies could solve those monetary issues, hinting that a digital dollar could be more beneficial in the initiative.
Still, he seems to support blockchain calling it a “really interesting technology and a powerful way to maintain a decentralized ledger around the world.”
In one of his previous appearances last month, Griffin once again bashed bitcoin and the alternative coins, claiming they could harm the American dollar. He further said it is a “Jihadist call” that some put their trust in digital assets instead of the national currency of the USA.
Even though Griffin does not fit as the biggest believer in the merits of cryptocurrencies, his organization would still offer its clients such exposure if there is “regulatory clarity” in the space:
“We don’t trade crypto because of the regulatory uncertainty. It will become a far more competitive market when there’s regulatory clarity and that would be good… I would trade it because it would meet the needs of our brokerage partners who want to have a tier-one firm making prices.”
