Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk says that crypto will “effectively” become a replacement for cash.
Musk made his comments during a Third Row Tesla podcast, where he explained he was “neither here nor there on Bitcoin.” However, he did refer to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original white paper for bitcoin as “pretty clever,” before focusing on the utility of crypto.
Musk prefaced his comments by saying he “gets the crypto people angry” when talking about bitcoin. Tesla’s founder then delved into how crypto would evolve into a replacement for cash, particularly in the context of illegal transactions.
There are transactions that are not within the bounds of the law — there are obviously many laws in different countries — and normally cash is used for these transactions. But in order for illegal transactions to occur, the cash must also be used for legal transactions. You need an illegal-to-legal bridge. That's where crypto comes in.
He continued,
You must have a legal to illegal bridge. So where I see crypto is effectively as a replacement for cash. I do not see crypto being the primary database [for transactions].
Musk reiterated that his association between bitcoin and illegal transactions was not to be “judgemental about crypto.” He also claimed that traditional banks “are in trouble,” with the rise of online payment processors such as Stripe.
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