Gary Cohn, a former chief economic advisor to President Donal Trump, who was also the ex-president and COO of investment bank Goldman Sachs, said that bitcoin could fail because it had integrity flaws.
According to Bloomberg on Dec.1, Cohn stated that Bitcoin’s “integrity flaw” could lead to the failure of the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The former Goldman Sachs chief made the statement during an interview on Bloomberg Television.
When asked his bullish stance on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and the effect of the nascent technology on the economy, Cohn responded by saying that he was not a bitcoin proponent. The ex-Trump economic adviser also described BTC as lacking transparency and some of the basic integrity of a real market.
Cohn further buttressed his point, stating:
“Part of the integrity of a system is knowing who owns it and knowing who has it and knowing why it’s being transferred. The Bitcoin system today has no transparency to it. So there are a lot of people that question, why would you need a system that does not have an audit trail.”
Meanwhile, Cohn’s statement was met with surprise by members of the crypto community on Twitter. Most commenters stated that Cohn’s remarks showed a lack of research and a basic understanding of how Bitcoin functioned.
Pierre Rochard, bitcoin maximalist and co-founder of the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, replied via Twitter, saying:
“I formally challenge Gary Cohn to a televised debate on Bitcoin’s auditability. Bring him to me.”
Furthermore, Cohn’s statement comes amid BTC’s price rally. The number one cryptocurrency set a new all-time high (ATH) on Nov. 30, surging past the record set in December 2017.
Cohn’s anti-bitcoin stance, however, is not surprising. In May 2018, the former Goldman Sachs president stated that there could be a global cryptocurrency, but it would not be bitcoin. Cohn also revealed that he favored blockchain over bitcoin.
Meanwhile, in a Financial Times article back in April, the one-time Goldman Sachs president wrote favorably about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). According to Cohn, CBDCs would give individuals easy access to financial services.
Featured image courtesy of Fortune