The volatile ascent of Bitcoin has transformed it into a significant topic of debate.
Yet the consensus in Davos, Switzerland, is that bitcoin
"won't ever be as useful as the dollar or yen in the real world."
The central banks have been nurturing the financial system for centuries.
"We have got a great thing going on."
Nobel laureate Robert Shiller said in a debate about the cryptocurrency.
" I have no issue with people using bitcoin as an asset to put money into, but it's too volatile to be applied as money,"
"I don't think it's a currency, it's disrupting gold,"
"At best it is a store of value"
"A cryptocurrency can't do what gold is doing much better."
Jennifer Zhu Scott, an entrepreneur, and cryptocurrency investor
Government officials in Davos also signaled that digital currencies have a ways to go.
The comments reflect growing anxiety over the actual world applications for bitcoin, which can be accepted in a smattering of merchants but has failed to find widespread acceptance.
A leading online payments firm Stripe said this week it will stop processing bitcoin transactions in April.
It said:
"The volatility of bitcoin costs has made it impractical for making and receiving payments."
"We encourage fintech, we encourage innovation, but we want to be certain that all of our financial markets are safe and are not being used for illegal activities,"
U.S. Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin
" We are taking a very serious look at cryptocurrencies because of the way they are used, particularly by criminals."
British Prime Minister Theresa May
Offering one of the most damning assessment,
Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock or BLK likened bitcoin to an
"indicator of money laundering."
It is safe to say, these comments show just how out of touch governments really are.
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