Bitcoin was “just a bubble”, and 95% of cryptocurrencies will painfully die: Bitwise

The bitcoin bull market was a bubble that burst in 2018, but the “painful” event had a major upside: It attracted a lot of money and talent to the burgeoning industry. That’s the assessment of Matt Hougan, the global head of research at Bitwise, creator of the world’s first cryptocurrency index fund.

While financial “bubbles” understandably carry a negative connotation, Hougan says the bitcoin bubble fueled intense media interest in blockchain and the crypto market. Moreover, soaring crypto prices lured a tremendous talent pool to the industry that it otherwise might not have wooed but for the spectacular daily headlines in 2017. “It did the same thing that happened with the Internet, which is it attracted a huge amount of talent. It did bring a lot of capital and interest in development to the ecosystem.” “So, I do think interesting things will be born from that. But, yes, it was a difficult year in 2018.”

“I think [bitcoin] is the next dotcom. Remember, the dotcom bubble created Pets.com, but it also created Amazon.” Hougan also says that 95% of cryptocurrencies that exist today will crater into extinction ― and that’s a good thing for the market. “There are 2,000 cryptocurrencies out there; 95 percent of them are useless and will die a painful death. The sooner that happens, the better.” “But from those ‘ashes,’ will merge important things. Just like from the dotcom ashes emerged Amazon, Google, and Facebook, etc.”

Bitcoin Was ‘Total Bubble’ & 95% of Crypto ‘Will Die Painful Death’: Bitwise Exec., CCN, Feb 06