Yoni Assia: Cryptocurrency ETF Won't Be Around for a While

Despite long being the stuff of crypto fanboys' daydreams, a cryptocurrency exchange traded fund (ETF) is yet to come into fruition. And according to Yoni Assia, the CEO of social trading platform eToro, we are going to have to wait a while longer before one comes to market.

Speaking at the Israel Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term Summit, which was held at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, Assia said that both market conditions and the nature of the cryptocurrency industry itself made it unlikely that the US Securities and Exchange Commission would give a green like to a cryptocurrency ETF.

“The American capital markets, for the SEC, are already like a Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term,” said Assia. "They can monitor every single transaction that takes place. So when they look at crypto and all these exchanges spread across the world that don’t have control, and will probably never have control, they understand they can’t necessarily [prevent price manipulation] - and that’s a new paradigm for them.”

Following on from this, Assia also said that the recent plunge in the price of Bitcoin has lent credence to the view that the cryptocurrency market is destined to fail and, as a corollary of that, lose people money.

“The people that said 'crypto is a bubble, people are going to lose their money' are now the smart people in the room because they were ‘right,’” said the eToro CEO. “Those people get credit [and can] delay things a bit further. So I think it’s going to be a while before we seen an ETF but you never know.”

Bitcoin to Replace fiat

Perhaps more controversially, Assia claimed that we will see a whole country adopting cryptocurrency in the near future. That in turn, Assia argued, will destroy the country’s banking system.

“It is inevitable that in the next five years we’re going to see at least one country where people flock to Bitcoin,” said Assia. “All the banks in that country [will] go bankrupt and the government has zero chance of reviving the banking system because there is no need for a local currency or local bank.”

Where exactly will this place be? Well, according to Assia, it’s the continent home to some world-renowned bastions of economic freedom, including Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.

“You could argue that in some countries in Latin America, you are already starting to see this [cryptocurrency takeover] happen,” said Assia. “But it’s inevitable that it will lead some governments to bankruptcy - so the fact that some of them are blocking it does make sense. But the average lifespan of a fiat currency is 30 years, so could all live to see fiat currencies disappear.”