“Bitcoin Is Neither Currency Nor Can It Replace US Dollar”, Says Steve Forbes

Steve Forbes takes into task Bitcoin and criticizes Bitcoin’s limited number of coin supply to support his attack. Says that due to high volatility, Bitcoin could never find a place as an alternate to the US dollar. Adds that Bitcoin can never cater to the increasing demands of an ever-growing economy.

 Steve Forbes is regarded as one of the most influential people in the US who is the top publisher of the US as well. Forbes had also run for the US Presidential Candidate twice in 1996 and 2000 from Republicans.

In his recent statement, Forbes has attacked Bitcoin and offended the feelings of Bitcoin fans all across the globe.

Forbes was found stating that none of cryptocurrencies can challenge current fiat currencies because their value is not attached to gold. He categorically taken into criticism the idea wherein it was suggested that in the long-run, Bitcoin will outdo US Dollar. He stated that to him Bitcoin had emerged as an asset class that is different from traditional assets. However, he cannot co-relate Bitcoin with US Dollar and can never replace US Dollar as an alternate currency.

Forbes explained that the current Bitcoin investment drive is because investors had lost faith in fiat backed by governments. The cause of losing faith he described to be the initiative of worldwide governments of providing Covid-19 relief packages. He pointed out that the printing of countless currency notes and higher interest rates by banks had severely wounded investors’ interests. Resultantly, economies deteriorated and the public was made to suffer, he added. For these reasons, he stated that Bitcoin became investors’ darling during 2020.

As regards Bitcoin being money, Forbes also denied this and stated that the money is used to buy things and acquire services. However, the use of Bitcoin as payment against purchase or acquiring services is only limited. There are only a handful of vendors who accept Bitcoin as payment, he stated. So far there is this issue of high volatility, the number of vendors accepting digital assets as payment will remain to a certain limit. But since volatility is inherited and something which cannot be taken out therefore Bitcoin cannot be regarded as currency at all, said Forbes.

While speaking about the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in contracts, Forbes also denied the concept. He stated that because there is a high amount of volatility in Bitcoin and alike, therefore, they couldn’t be suitable for the contract system. He said for instance a man took a loan of US$ 250,000 in March 2020 from a bank. However, as of today, the loan amount had become US$ 2 Million as of today. Does it make any sense of cryptocurrencies being used for long-term contracts, he asked.

Forbes argued that the demand of the ever-growing economy had been increasing and Bitcoin and others are not equipped to cater to such demands.