Tag: STEVE HANKE

This Is Hilarious: Bitcoin Denier Steve Hanke Is Into Ethereum Now

by NEWSBTC

Did Steve Hanke find a way out of the hole he’s been digging himself into for all these years? The economist holds the world record for the person with the highest number of terrible Bitcoin takes, with almost 13 years of failed predictions. And now, out of nowhere, he seems to like the world’s second cryptocurrency by market capitalization. What does he like about Ethereum, though? The “560% price surge this year,” of course. But there’s more… 

Wait… is Steve Hanke into NFTs? The man said, “Ethereum has become increasingly popular amongst DeFi and NFTs” without a hint of irony. He also said, “Ethereum is giving Bitcoin a run for its money,” which is the most positive thing Steve Hanke has said about Bitcoin in over a decade. And, in the end there, he leaves space for possible deniability, “Has the look of a bubble. But, is it?”

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The economist also links to an extremely basic and clumsy CNN article. Is Steve Hanke warming up to cryptocurrencies? Or is there some other dynamic at play here?

The Article Steve Hanke Linked To

This run-of-the-mill article doesn’t really say much. Its main message is the price action anyone reading NewsBTC is probably already familiar with.

“Ethereum, or ether for short, is also trading at record levels. It’s now hovering around $4,850, having soared more than 560% this year, compared to the “mere” 135% pop for bitcoin. Crypto investors are betting that ether will continue to be used as the backbone for even more non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, as well as so-called smart contracts.”

Ok, what else do you got for us? Not much. It’s all over the place. It breaks down the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, introduces the concept of the mythical “flippening,” and tries to keep people away from meme coins. To accomplish this, CNN quotes Paxfull’s Ray Youssef saying, “Ether and bitcoin versus meme coins are like the difference between blue chips and penny stocks you get a call about from a guy in a boiler room.” The article also talks about inflation, how could it not?, and introduces ETFs into the picture.

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“The rise of bitcoin ETFs also could be good news for ethereum, because experts predict that similar ether ETFs could soon launch. That will make it even easier for average investors and big money management firms to buy into the crypto.”

So, all in all, it doesn’t say much and the only clear fact it presents is that Ethereum had a better year than Bitcoin. Why did Steve Hanke link to it, then?

ETHUSD price chart for 11/13/2021 - TradingView

ETH price chart for 11/13/2021 on Bitfinex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com

Is Hanke Trying To Find A Lifeboat?

Here at NewsBTC, we constantly argue with Steve Hanke. Just in the last year, we responded to him calling Bitcoin not legitimate, not a currency, and the concept of it being legal tender “stupid.” And now, he seems to like Ethereum. Why? Is it because Ethereum’s internal policies are more akin to the traditional banking system he’s accustomed to? Or did Hanke realize that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and is too afraid to admit he was so wrong about Bitcoin for all these years?

In any case, the main reaction in his replies so far is mockery. Even notorious Ethereum defender Udi Wertheimer said, “this is the most bearish ethereum signal i’ve seen in my entire life.” Let’s keep an eye on his Twitter feed and see what the economist says about Ethereum in the next few days. This is going to be interesting.

Featured Image: RobinHiggins at Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

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Steve Hanke warns BTC could ‘completely collapse the economy’ of El Salvador

by Cointelegraph

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, has warned that El Salvador’s recent adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender has the potential to “completely collapse the economy.”

Steve Hanke served as a senior economist under President Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 to 1982. Hanke has previously described BTC as a speculative asset “with a fundamental value of zero,” and in April the 78-year-old tweeted “cryptocurrencies are the future of money. Bitcoin is not.”

Speaking with streaming financial news provider Kitco News on June 15, the university professor noted that BTC hodlers from regions such as Russia and China could now target El Salvador to cash out their holdings — essentially draining the country of its U.S. dollars:

“It has the potential to completely collapse the economy because all the dollars in El Salvador could be vacuumed up and there’d be no money in the country. They don’t have a domestic currency. ”

During the interview, the economist described the elected representatives in El Salvador who voted in favor of president Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin law as “in a word, stupid,” and questioned how BTC could function as a legal tender in day to day transactions, in a country where most citizens rely on cash.

“You’re not going to pay for your taxi ride with a Bitcoin. It’s ridiculous […] You’ve got 70 percent of the people in El Salvador don’t even have bank accounts,” he said.

On June 11, JPMorgan echoed similar sentiments but in more measured language, with the firm stating in a client note that it was difficult to see any “tangible economic benefits associated with adopting Bitcoin as a second form of legal tender, and it may imperil negotiations with the IMF. ”

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) doesn’t share this view however and stated yesterday that El Salvador’s adoption of BTC is innovative and “creates many spaces and opportunities. ”

The multinational bank also revealed that it will be forming a technical advisory group to aid El Salvador in its transition to using Bitcoin as legal tender.

Professor Hanke speculated that “dark forces are clearly behind this” in El Salvador, who want to use Bitcoin to get their hands on U.S. dollars.

Related: El Salvador reportedly weighing paying employees in Bitcoin

The economist also described remittances across borders in Bitcoin as “nonsensical,” as he thinks the asset will need to be converted instantly to dollars to be able to use it.

“If grandma is down in El Salvador is waiting for her remittances and you want to send Bitcoin like that it’s fine, but what does she do? She has to go to the ATM to get dollars because that’s the only way you can buy something,” Hanke said. However, businesses in El Salvador will be mandated to accept Bitcoin.

An article in Foreign Policy by trenchant Bitcoin critic David Gerard, author of the book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain speculated that as El Salvador can’t print U.S. dollars, its adoption of BTC may be part of a move to source U.S. dollar liquidity from its citizens to pay back foreign debts.