{"id":19576,"date":"2019-08-13T22:14:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T22:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe6b900b2697"},"modified":"2025-01-27T21:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T21:32:54","slug":"blockchain-research-institutes-alex-tapscott-doubles-down-on-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/blockchain-research-institutes-alex-tapscott-doubles-down-on-bitcoin","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain Research Institute\u2019s Alex Tapscott Doubles Down on Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s a sign of the times that Alex Tapscott, co-author of Blockchain Revolution<\/em> and co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute<\/a> (BRI), best known for his expertise on blockchain technology, has switched his focus from blockchain technology<\/a> at large to cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Tapscott is co-authoring a new report from BRI to be published in fall 2019 that will offer a futuristic look at the world of cryptocurrencies in 2030.<\/p>\n

The report speculates that the U.S. and China will have their own cryptocurrencies by then, bitcoin will be considered the new gold and corporate cryptocurrencies will be in wide use, destabilizing smaller governments who lose their power to corporate federations.<\/p>\n

“The banks, digital conglomerates like bitcoin, Facebook and, of course, governments are all heading inexorably for a collision of historic proportions,\u201d Tapscott explained in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine<\/em>. \u201cThe impact will be cataclysmic. Buckle up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many, Tapscott was impressed by the recent U.S. Congressional<\/a> and Senate Banking<\/a> hearings on cryptocurrencies. <\/p>\n

\u201c[During the hearings,] North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry said, \u2018The world that Satoshi Nakamoto, author of the Bitcoin white paper, envisioned is an unstoppable force. We should not attempt to deter this innovation … those who have tried have already failed,\u2019” Tapscott said. \u201cHe\u2019s right. To those who have been in this industry since the early days, this is a remarkable admission and demonstrates how fast things have evolved. We welcome the position that this is an innovation worth fostering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitcoin Is the Mother of All Cryptocurrencies<\/h3>\n

Will Bitcoin survive and prosper in a sea of rivals? Tapscott is sure that it will.<\/p>\n

\u201cBitcoin remains the most consequential computer science invention in a generation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt laid the rails for a new internet of value that could do for assets what the internet did for information industries. This unstoppable force is on a collision course with the heretofore immovable object of global finance.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, despite his interest in blockchain technology at large and belief that the world\u2019s largest governments will soon operate their own digital currencies, Tapscott emphasizes that everything started with bitcoin.<\/p>\n

\u201cBitcoin is the mother of all cryptocurrencies,\u201d he said. \u201cBitcoin is unique as a cryptocurrency \u2014 it is orders of magnitude bigger than any other and has proven to be a good store of value. It has also shown great resilience and anti-fragility, strengthening itself with every attack \u2026 Recent volatility and instability in global currency markets has exposed Bitcoin\u2019s value to a much broader investor audience. Bitcoin dominance is currently sitting at around 70 percent. That should tell you how the market feels about its value now and longer term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s Libra Launch \u201cIs a Watershed Moment\u201d<\/h3>\n

Tapscott believes that the introduction of Facebook\u2019s new digital currency, libra<\/a>, marked a watershed moment and, in his view, could prove to be the best on-ramp to bring billions into the digital financial industry.<\/p>\n

In the coming months and years, Tapscott thinks it likely that many big technology companies will launch their own cryptocurrencies. In an interview for his upcoming Blockchain Research Institute report, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini, told him that they \u201cexpect within 24 months that all the FANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) will have their own cryptocurrency.\u201d <\/p>\n

Altcoins Will Come and Go But Ether Will Stay<\/h3>\n

\u201cI think the vast majority of so-called altcoins will not succeed,\u201d Tapscott said. \u201cThat shouldn\u2019t be controversial or surprising. This is an emerging market with a lot of new ventures experimenting and pushing the envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

That being said, Tapscott did emphasize that at least one altcoin will make a lasting impact on the same level as bitcoin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Ethereum is here to stay,\u201d he said. \u201cMany of the most innovative ideas and projects in DeFi [decentralized finance] are being implemented on Ethereum. They have a large, creative and motivated community. Ethereum today is the dominant DeFi platform and I think it can preserve that lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Alex Tapscott owns bitcoin, ether, cosmos (ATOMs), zcash and Facebook stock.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Tapscott, co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, on his upcoming report, Facebook\u2019s libra and why bitcoin is an \u201cunstoppable force.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2916,"featured_media":12170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3319,1479,1482,3320],"class_list":{"0":"post-19576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alex-tapscott","9":"tag-facebook","10":"tag-libra","11":"tag-united-states-congress"},"author_data":{"id":2916,"name":"Jessie Willms","nicename":"jessie-willms","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34e39b2d2b80d0f1b4eaf183ca23eff71d1e903536d749658f27936a80197dee?s=96&d=robohash&r=g"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/alex-tapscott-doubles-down-on-bitcoin.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}