Billionaire investor Ben Horowitz recently compared the dot-com era to the ongoing development, growth, and adoption of cryptocurrencies.
A lesson from the dot-com era for all crypto believers…
“It turned out, the dumb thing wasn't to invest in the scam, the dumb thing was to give up on the internet because there were some stupid people in it”
– @bhorowitz dropping knowledge bombs at #TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/A0EZmpuleY
— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) September 15, 2018
Horowitz said:
somebody at the office said the other day that not all [initial coin offerings] ICOs are bad but all bad companies have an ICO. That reminds me of the dot-com era of when…those of you who’re old enough probably remember this…you know every old, weird, bad company renamed themselves [or associated their firm’s name] with dot-com.
The co-founder of giant venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz continued:
Then they’re like an ‘internet company’ and their price goes up, and then everybody says that’s idiotic. That whole thing is stupid. The internet is stupid. It turned out that the dumb thing was it wasn’t to invest in the scam. The dumb thing was to give up on the internet because there were some stupid people in it. That I think is a big lesson from that era.
Responding to Horowitz’s comments, Brazilian computer science professor, Jorge Stolfi remarked “The crypto scam is great BECAUSE there are so many stupid people in it. Who else would pay $10 million to the miners every day, to run the worst payment service ever built? Without them, the price would be $0.”
Although it’s true there are various scams being carried out using cryptocurrencies, it appears the crypto community is trying to clean up the ecosystem. On August 20, ICOAlert, NewEconomies, Ecoinmerce, and several other participants in the blockchain industry launched a Crypto Community Watch Program that aims to reward people (in bitcoin) who anonymously provide tip-offs on any suspicious activity they may come across in the crypto space.
“You’re A Fool” If You Don’t Invest In Crypto
Despite many serious challenges the crypto industry is currently facing, highly influential billionaire venture capitalist, Tim Draper, recently noted the vast potential of digital currencies. Draper predicted the cryptocurrency market capitalization will hit $80 trillion within the next 15 years.
According to Draper, cryptocurrencies are functionally superior to fiat , which is why they will account for the majority of monetary transactions in the future. Interestingly, financial market analysts and tech entrepreneurs are not the only ones who’ve recently commented on the future impact of crypto assets and their underlying blockchain technology.
Well-known and critically acclaimed rapper Akon has said:
If you don’t invest in that (cryptocurrencies) now, if you don’t see that coming, you’re a fool.
While Akon has also launched his own cryptocurrency called Akoin, he has admitted there’s a lot he still needs to learn about digital assets.
