‘Greater Fools Are Watching’: Bitcoin Is Here to Stay, Elites Admit

The
Financial
Times,
perhaps
THE
arch-critic
of
cryptocurrencies
over
the
past
decade,
has
conceded
that
Bitcoin
might
just
have
a
purpose.
It’s
just
the
latest
data
point
that
there
is
a
great
shift
happening
in
how
people
view
crypto,
from
ex-President
Donald
Trump
to
Larry
Fink.
They
may
not
fully
grasp
what’s
going
on
(who
does?),
but
they
sense
it’s
important.

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“The
bitcoin
bulls
have
been
proved
mostly
right
about
its
prospects
as
a
long-term
investment,”
Rockefeller
International
Chair
Ruchir
Sharma

wrote
in
an
opinion
piece
titled
“Once
dismissed
as
fanatics,
the
bitcoin
bulls
must
be
feeling
vindicated.”
Noting
that
bitcoin

(BTC)
has
traditionally
behaved
like
penny
stocks
that
tend
to
pump
and
then
dump,
he
said
the
fact
that
its
bubble
burst
and
quickly
recovered
“suggests
that
something
real
and
sustainable
is
going
on.”

See
also:



Does
Anyone
Else
Feel
the
Crypto
Vibe
Shift?


|
Opinion

“There
is
an
old
Wall
Street
saying
for
moments
like
this:
only
the
fools
are
dancing,
but
the
bigger
fools
are
watching,”
Sharma
added.

True,
this
is
not
the
official
position
of
the
U.K.-based
paper
or
its
editorial
board,
just
a
contributing
writer.
But
it
still
stands
out
as
something
significant
for
the
FT
in
particular
to
publish.
For
years,
it
hasn’t
published
opinion
pieces
like
this.
Many
of
the
paper’s
reporters
and
editors
have
been
staunch
critics
of
crypto,
and
take
any
opportunity
to
write

negative
articles
or
post
self-satisfied
statements
when
things
go
awry
in
crypto,
which
is
often.

Nowhere
is
this
more
apparent
than
on
Alphaville,
the
FT’s
erudite
daily
markets
blog,
which
could
be
read
as
standing
for
the
general
(but
unofficial)
view
of
the
paper.
Here
is
a
sampling
of
headlines
Alphaville
published
over
the
past
four
years
pertaining
to
crypto:

Little
evidence
that
a
spot
bitcoin
ETF
would
expand
the
market

(Boy,
did
they
get
that
one
wrong.)

Let
crypto
burn

(Charming.)

How
stablecoins
are
destabilising
crypto

(A
Tether
crisis
think
piece.)

Why
bitcoin
is
worse
than
a
Madoff-style
Ponzi
scheme

(Madoff
was
pretty
bad.)

Oh
no,
now
Deloitte
with
the
crypto
nonsense

(Godforbid
companies
take
an
interest
in
ascendent
technology.)

The
crypto
Buffett
lunch
has
been
postponed.
Lucky
Warren
Buffett.

(They
may
have
gotten
this
one
right.)

Notably,
former
Alphaville
editor
Izabella
Kaminska
had
a
change
of
heart
on
Bitcoin
in
2020
and
ultimately
quit
the
FT
two
years
later
(for
a
number
of
reasons).
She
wrote

at
the
time
“part
of
me
has
always
thought
of
the
crypto
market
as
a
type
of
honeytrap
for
the
worst
irrational
exuberance
emerging
from
the
quantitative
easing
and
zirp
[Zero
Interest-Rate
Policy]
era.”

While
the
growing
appreciation
for
Bitcoin
among
the
tastemakers
and
power
brokers
of
the
world
doesn’t
necessarily
translate
to
support
for
crypto
across
the
board
(a
point-of-view
that
could
be
considered
as
Bitcoin
Maximalism
Light),
it
does
open
the
doors
to
more
people
thinking
more
seriously
about
blockchain
technology.

In
other
words,
crypto
is
becoming
destigmatized.
Time
will
tell
how
far
this
will
filter
up
within
elite
circles
—
it
likely
hangs
on
bitcoin’s
continued
success.
B
but
I
can
imagine
a
day
where
the
default
position
isn’t
to
sneer,
jeer
or
steer
clear
of
bitcoin
and
instead
view
it
as
part
of
the
financial
furniture.

Enter
Donald
Trump,
who
called
crypto
a
“scam”
in
2021
but
told
CNBC
this
weekend
he
has
been
having
“fun”
with
crypto
and
called
bitcoin
an
“additional
form
of
currency.”
These
are
not
the
first
positive
comments
Trump
has
made
as
his
presidential
campaign
ramps
up,
suggesting
he
no
longer
sees
crypto
as
a
threat
towards
his
“America
First”
agenda
or
considers
it
cut
from
the
same
populist
cloth.

Further,
even
if
people
aren’t
out-and-out
Bitcoin
or
crypto
supporters,
the
number
of
people
willing
to
criticize
the
industry
appears
to
be
dwindling.

There
are
a
number
of
factors
influencing
this
shift,
including
the
successful
launch
of
spot
bitcoin
exchange-traded
funds
in
the
U.S.
Not
only
did
this
prove
there
was
intense
pent
up
demand
for
bitcoin
exposure
but
also
that
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission’s
years
of
fear
mongering
about
potential
market
manipulation
was
misplaced.

More
importantly
perhaps,
as
Sharma’s
op-ed
suggests,
it
seems
like
these
elite
folks
are
tired
of
being
wrong.
There
are
only
so
many
supposed
Bitcoin
autopsies
that
can
be
written
before
critics
have
to
examine
their
own
heads.

Of
course,
whether
or
not
people
in
high
places
begrudgingly
accept
that
it’s
not
disappearing
doesn’t
matter
much.
Crypto
still
has
its
flaws.
The
hope
is
that,
with
fewer
people
trodding
out
the
same
tired
arguments
to
be
debunked,
the
quality
of
industry
criticism
will
rise.

Sharma
himself,
while
accepting
that
bitcoin
is
a
viable
investment,
still
has
his
reservations.
He
noted
that
bitcoin
isn’t
being
used
much
as
a
currency
and
that
the
idea
that
it’ll
become
“‘digital
gold’
[is]
still
a
dream.”
He’s
not
wrong
that
bitcoin
isn’t
commonly
being
used
to
buy
coffee
by
anyone
but
fanatics,
but
he
does
contradict
himself.

See
also:



The
European
Central
Bank
Is
Either
Lying
About
Bitcoin
or
to
Itself


|
Opinion

He
notes
70%
of
addresses
have
been
inactive
for
longer
than
a
year
because
people
buy
and
hold
bitcoin,
but
that’s
because
buyers
treat
it
as
a
store-of-value.
Bitcoin
may
not
have
gold’s
market
cap
today,
but
what
exactly
is
standing
in
its
way?
Just
today,
with

Bitcoin’s
market
cap
crossing
$1.4
trillion,
it
reached
parity
with
silver.

Nothing
is
off
the
table
for
Bitcoin.
It
can
continue
to
rally,
trade
sideways
for
months
or
ratchet
back
down.
It’s
likely
not
hitting
zero,
considering
there’s
a
growing
group
of
Bitcoiners
willing
to
buy
at
any
price
(people
who
perhaps
a
month
ago
Sharma
would
have
called
the
greater
fool.)

Whether
you
invest
or
not
in
Bitcoin,
it
pays
not
to
bet
against
it
surprising
you.