BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes participated in the debate with renowned economist and crypto-skeptic Nouriel Roubini during the Asian Blockchain Summit this Wednesday, writes The Block.
Was the debate focused on the topic of what cryptocurrencies are - benches or the future? Two of the participants are expected to have diametrically opposed views on this issue.
The cryptocurrency industry is filled with scammers and other criminal elements from which to expect "shitty behavior," Rubini said, adding that Bitcoin "is not different security or decentralization, and is not even able to scale up.
In response, Hayes said the $220 billion Bitcoin market is an attractive target for finding bugs in the protocol, but so far no successful attacks have been carried out on it. As an additional security measure, he recommended that cryptocurrency assets should not be stored on stock exchanges, but on user-controlled wallets.
Speaking of scalability, Hayes noted that such processes take decades, citing credit cards and the traditional banking system as an example. The progress that Bitcoin has made in 10 years of his existence, BitMEX CEO considers "impressive".
Rubini said that the world doesn't need cryptocurrencies, because there is already a revolution going on in the finteh space, and artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things successfully solve actual problems. He also mentioned a variety of payment initiatives, including Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India and Alipay in China, which can meet the need for digital payments. "We don't need a lagoon with stinking shitcoins," he added.
Hayes believes that consumers should have an alternative when the world is giving up cash, and payment initiatives such as WeChat Pay are "very convenient," but allow Tencent and Chinese authorities to control transactions. "Privacy is important," said Hayes.
He agreed that cryptocurrencies are not yet extremely popular and are held by less than 1% of the world's population, but "they cost more than zero" and people appreciate the benefits of private transactions they provide.
"If in 50 years Alibaba, Facebook and Google control everything, people will choose an alternative that will not be controlled by large companies. Bitcoin will no longer be a niche market," added BitMEX CEO.
Rubini returned to the previously voiced view that cryptocurrencies are not characterized by privacy, scalability, decentralization or security. "Most shitcoins fell 95-99% last year, including some of the top ten. Bitcoin fell 30% in one week," he said.
Hayes replied: "The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market is the only free market in the world. According to his forecasts, in 5 years the capitalization of the cryptographic market will exceed a trillion dollars, "and it is still very little.
Ruby repeated himself, saying that the market is waiting for the collapse to zero, and then it will turn into a "museum of failed coins".
Hayes and Rubini agreed that Facebook's Libra is not a cryptocurrency, but the economist called it "a symbol of the fall of the crypt", and BitMEX CEO - a tool for the general public to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of its new asset class.
In a conversation with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Hayes said that Libra "will destroy commercial and central banks.