Differing Opinions on the Future of Cryptocurrencies: McAfee and Trichet

The debate over the future of cryptocurrencies continues to provoke strong opinions. Among the latest comments on the subject are vastly different opinions from John McAfee and Jean-Claude Trichet.

McAfee: Everyone Will Use Digital Money

Security mogul John McAfee has long been renowned as a crypto enthusiast. Recently he launched his own McAfee DEX exchange for users who want complete freedom and privacy in their transactions.

He has now spoken out again about the future price of Bitcoin. McAfee repeated his claim that it will hit $1 million by the end of 2020. This is similar to the prediction made recently by Bobby Lee. However, the ex-CEO of BTCC didn’t suggest an exact date for this milestone.

McAfee went further, by saying that he believes that “everybody in the world will be using crypto”. The timescale he put on this happening is ten years. In addition, he thinks that “eventually fiat will be viewed as useless”.

Trichet: Strongly Against Bitcoin

Jean-Claude Trichet is the former president of the European Central Bank. He spoke out on the subject of digital currencies lately. This happened when he joined a discussion at the 10^th annual Caixin conference in Beijing, China.

On the future of cryptocurrencies, Trichet said that he is “strongly against Bitcoin”. He went on to say that the “currency itself is not real”. This is because he believes that BTC lacks some of the characteristics that a currency needs to have.

In further comments, he described the purchasing of cryptocurrencies as “pure speculation”. He said that this is the case even with currencies that are “supposed to be based on underlying assets”. Trichet spoke out against Facebook’s Libra too.

He believes that we are moving away from using physical money like notes and coins. However, he doubts that cryptocurrencies will replace them. Instead, the French economist favours Special Drawing Rights backed by the International Monetary Fund.

Which One of Them Is Right About the Future of Cryptocurrencies?

One of these well-known figures is wrong about the future of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, it is possible that they are both wrong. The true fate of digital currencies may lie somewhere in the middle of their predictions.

For example: they may remain popular without completely replacing fiat currencies. Equally, Bitcoin may continue to be successful and valuable without reaching the $1 million mark.

What do wildly differing opinions like this tell us? Above all, they confirm that no-one can say for certain what will happen next. It is clear that cryptocurrencies have gained a huge level of popularity but the future remains incredibly difficult to predict.