What’s going on with the price of bitcoin?
Experts, speaking at Coins2Day’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Wednesday afternoon, said don’t bother overthinking the cryptocurrency’s 80% drop in value this year.
“Price is by and large a distraction,” said Kathleen Breitman, CEO of Dynamic Ledger Solutions and co-founder of blockchain start-up Tezos, which raised $232 million in its much watched “initial coin offering” in July 2017. “I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs. I have a lot of conviction in the technology’s long-term promise,” she said, adding “I never check prices…I think it’s kind of a distraction for people – for smaller minds.” (Tezos’ current market value is roughly $252 million.)
Christine Moy, the blockchain program lead at JP Morgan Chase, agreed. “What’s really important to note is we’re talking about the next generation of financial infrastructure. Technological progress takes time,” said Moy. “To look at a daily price of crypto is kind of a red herring. In reality, the value is what the technology rails can provide over time.”
Moy explained that companies like JP Morgan are still figuring out best use cases for the technology—she pointed to blockchain’s potential to automate and replace a bank’s escrow services.
“It’s a great opportunity,” she said of the technology, while conceding, “No one knows what’s going on in the market.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Kathleen Breitman is the CEO of Dynamic Ledger Solutions, not the CEO of Tezos.
