The global strategist and portfolio manager at Allianz has reportedly said that he wouldn’t buy Bitcoin because it’s a ‘figment of everyone’s imagination.’ His position, however, is in contradiction with the opinion of other high-ranked officials at the company.
According to WSJ’s reporter Steven Russolillo, the global strategist and portfolio manager at Allianz, Neil Dwane, has said that he doesn’t believe in pretty much anything Bitcoin stands for.
I wouldn’t buy bitcoin. I believe Bitcoin is a figment of everyone’s imagination. There is no evidence that you can actually get your money back out of the system. To me, it’s not a rational place to invest.
There are plenty of things that are just wrong about this statement. First off, there are quite a few ways that you can actually get your money back out of the system. While it’s true that we are far from mass adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, we’ve also seen plenty of ways to spend your BTC. Overstock, for instance, is among the major ones to accept it. If that’s not enough, even Microsoft allows you to use Bitcoin to deposit funds into your Microsoft account. According to Coinatmradar, there are over 4900 cryptocurrency ATMs spread across 77 countries.
If that’s not enough, there are legitimate and approved ways of paying taxes with Bitcoin in certain states. For example, Overstock, the retailer we mentioned above, was the first major one to pay part of its state business tax using Bitcoin in the state of Ohio.
Also, while risky, Bitcoin has also managed to prove itself as one of the most lucrative long-term investments. Looking at its year-to-date performance alone is indicative of this, as the cryptocurrency is up more than 100 percent, regardless of the recent sharp decline.
Dwane’s statements also come as a serious contradiction to what other high-ranked officials from Allianz have said in the past.
The Chief Financial Advisor of the company, Mohamed El-Erian, said back in 2018 that cryptocurrencies will become more widespread. Moreover, El-Erian also said back then that bitcoin presents a great buying opportunity under $5,000.
I think cryptocurrencies will exist, they will become more and more widespread, but they will be part of an ecosystem. They will not be dominant as some of the early adopters believed them to be.
The article was first published on: Jun 5, 2019