Joaquin Casasus: «The Risks Of Cryptocurrency Are Infinite»

Last Thursday, Abante Manager Partner and CEO, Joaquin Casasus, gave a conference call at the entity’s headquarters titled: “Bitcoin, Digital Assets, Metaverse… What Am I Missing?” It was revealed that cryptocurrencies are one of the most relevant assets in the current scenario, although their actual operation may raise doubts.

,Are cryptocurrencies really currencies?

“Actually it is not. They are simply computer code that is placed on a blockchain distributed among many computers.

-What is your opinion about the fact that the world’s largest computer network is dedicated to bitcoin mining?

I think it’s a waste of computing power like that. In addition, it generates a significant carbon footprint. Using all this to crack or guess a number to make bitcoin or any other currency secure and untraceable seems like a waste to me. All of this can be used in aspects that will contribute more valuable things to humanity.

Investing in cryptocurrency is like investing in a ‘startup’ that promises many things in the future but is not yet a reality

-How do you explain that the value of bitcoin has increased 1 million times from 2009 to 2021?

Man has these things. When we see something moving, we all want to join the bandwagon. However, it has no fundamental value, for better or worse. Finally, the value of a publicly traded company is related to the profits it generates. Bitcoin, since it does not make profits, gives no returns. That is, there is nothing to anchor in it.

Wrapped in a very powerful narrative, a dynamic is stirred up where an anarchic-capitalist-technological movement has assumed that this should be the money of the future, thus avoiding the regulation of central banks, institutions, and thus the wealth of the village. . The ball started rolling and did not stop. Everyone buys them simply in the hope that there will be someone who will buy them more expensive than what they paid for, and there are many stories of people who have become millionaires doing so. But well, we’ve all seen this in history with things that ended badly. We’ll see where it ends.

– What do you think are the risks of cryptocurrencies?

-I believe that cryptocurrencies have many dangers. On the one hand – and perhaps the main one – what exactly are they, which cryptocurrencies are good. It is clear that as a means of payment, in the way they were originally born, there are much cheaper and much more efficient technologies that work perfectly today. Part of the usefulness of cryptocurrencies today is for those who wish to carry out illegal activities with them, and this may not be their function in the future. They have to find a real utility, because – although many people are working on it and many hopes are placed on it – it cannot be proven that what they are really useful and better than what already exists. Huh. Furthermore, what is essentially there is the risk of regulation being logistically over them.

There are many people in the ecosystem who, as a result of their experiences, have lost a lot of money; Victims of deceptive advertising and overly aggressive marketing. So, regulators – as they have done in many other activities – are going to come and regulate them. There is no point in being out of regulation for them. What the regulation will end in is not yet known, but it clearly poses a risk. Hacking itself is a world that is immutable and not centralized, so it has no rights. In the end, the law of the West prevails because there is no one who can be claimed if you made a mistake or been scammed, or if someone hacked your wallet and took your cryptocurrency. The truth is that the risks are endless.

-Would you recommend investing in cryptocurrencies?

-Finally, investing in cryptocurrencies is like investing in a start up Which promises a range of things in the future, but it is not yet a reality. I see such a bitcoin. It is a technology in search of a utility, the future may give value to it. as in any start upIn any case, I would be very cautious about what I would invest in bitcoin. Those who invest in the heat of speculation get into the game of the match, in which the match comes to a pass, and we’ve already seen how at least the last one has burned out. I don’t know if it’s going to burn for sure, but in any case they’ve already lost more than 50% of those who entered the heat of excitement at the end of last year. In bitcoin, losses have been more significant than in other cryptocurrencies.

In any case, I would be very careful as the value of bitcoin is unclear. Can be as good or as bad as 100, 500, 2,000, 5,000, 20,000, or 60,000 euros. In other words, there’s no reason bitcoin should be worth anything in particular. People buy cryptocurrencies simply because they have seen that the party has made a fortune and they want to make a fortune as well. When you think you are the smartest and you are going to make money at the expense of others, many times you are the one who is making money at someone else’s expense. Therefore, I will be cautious.

-What does it say about us as a society that there are people who spend three million dollars on the famous NFT, while its digital identical copy is available to all?

Well, here we are already in a subjective zone. I’m not one to judge whether one likes collecting matches, tickets or boring apes in a digital series. If anyone is happy to find that ape in the belief that it has a real one, that’s it. I don’t share that hobby or that taste. I will not pay the data that has been paid for multiple NFTs. But hey, I’m not going to judge someone who hasn’t, because their taste is blue and logically different from mine.

The next step is a digital euro issued directly by a central bank, not by current financial institutions.

Will there ever be a digital dollar or a euro and what will happen in them?

“We will definitely see it. Today we have things like the euro and the digital dollar. In fact, we currently do mobile payments, which have practically replaced credit cards. We don’t go to our banks, but we Let’s see everything online, and we have at least physical money in our hands.

The next step is a digital euro that is issued directly by a central bank and not by current financial institutions. For a very high percentage of users, the experience will be very similar to what we have today. I believe that central banks watching what is happening in the crypto world are certainly working on this in their versions of central and digital currencies. Above all, micro-payments and a range of other things will probably improve the current experience of going with coins or smaller bills. We’ll see, I guess it’s not too late.