Bitcoin Is “Only Speculative,” According to Tim Berners-Lee

The World Wide Web creator called cryptocurrencies “just speculative.”

CNBC reported Sunday (Feb. 19) that Tim Berners-Lee compared cryptocurrencies to dot-com bubble internet companies that collapsed due to a lack of activity.

According to CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast on Friday (Feb. 17), Berners-Lee added, “It’s only speculative.” “Obviously, that’s really dangerous. [It’s] if you want to have a kick out of gambling, basically.”

Berners-Lee suggested using digital currencies for remittances if they were quickly transformed into fiat currency.

This claim comes a week after Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller stated crypto-assets are speculative “like a baseball card.”

In a Feb. 10 presentation, Waller claimed blockchain, smart contracts, and tokenization had wider uses.

Waller said that consumers and institutional investors with the means to undertake due diligence have been affected by the decrease in crypto-asset valuations and the bankruptcy of crypto-related enterprises.

“As with any customer in any industry, a bank engaging with crypto customers would have to be very clear about the customers’ business models, risk-management systems and corporate governance structures to ensure that the bank is not left holding the bag if there is a crypto meltdown,” Waller said.

A week earlier, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger declared cryptocurrencies “not a currency, not a commodity and not a security.”

“Instead, it’s a gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house, entered into in a country where gambling contracts are traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity,” Munger wrote in a Feb. 1 opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Warren Buffet, Munger’s business partner, called bitcoin “rat poison squared” since it costs money to purchase nothing and does nothing.