Abu Dhabi: When Cameron Winklevoss looks at the volatility in Bitcoin prices, he doesn’t sense the same panic that most investors do. He sees an opportunity for reward.
Cameron, one-half of the Winklevoss twins who founded Gemini Exchange and are cryptocurrency bulls, said he still expects more people to come into the Bitcoin market as it matures. He also believes Bitcoin is the new gold, and will rival the precious metal in terms of market capitalisation.
“In the early days, when things are new, they tend to be more volatile and there tends to be more risk, but a greater return and a greater reward. As it (the market) matures, it will probably hit a steady state and be less volatile. but there’s probably less upside,” he told Gulf News in an interview.
He described Bitcoin as “a better gold,” and said that Bitcoin prices at 30 to 40 times where they currently stand would be “totally reasonable.” Bitcoin is currently trading at around $8,450 (Dh31,036), having plunged from around $20,000 in late December and having seesawed over the past few weeks.
“If you look at the properties of gold, such as scarcity, fungibility, portability, durability, and visibility, Bitcoin equals better gold across the board. So at a $100 billion market cap, with gold being at around $7 trillion, we think that in the next five to 10 years, it may rival gold and maybe surpass it in market cap,” Winklevoss said, speaking on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Summit in Abu Dhabi.
Winklevoss added that regulations will help the cryptocurrency market. He said that the futures product that was launched by the Cboe Global Markets in December 2017 will reduce price volatility on the long-term. The futures contracts will also reduce speculative upside, which is healthy for the market, he said. The fact that the product is regulated will also get more people involved in the trade.
He pointed that it was too early to gauge the benefits of the launch of the futures contracts, though, as the product is still in its infancy. “There’s definitely going to be lots of regions around the world that haven’t regulated Bitcoin looking at it and trying to learn how to regulate it. I think there’s going to be a lot of thoughtful regulation, which will be positive,” Winklevoss said.
“There may very well be countries that don’t understand, don’t like it, and may try to regulate it in a negative way. But I think a lot of major countries around the world that have very important financial centres are taking a positive view towards the innovation.”
