A former top economic advisor to President Donald Trump and president of Goldman Sachs has shared his view about bitcoin. He claims that the cryptocurrency “lacks some of the basic integrity of a real market,” warning that it “may fail.”

Gary Cohn Thinks Bitcoin May Fail

Former White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, published Monday, that bitcoin “may fail.”

Cohn served as president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs for 26 years. He left the firm in 2016 to become President Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor, the position which he resigned from in 2018.

During the interview, Cohn was asked: “how bullish are you on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and how much do you believe they will fundamentally transform our economy?” Admitting that he does not have a strong opinion about bitcoin, he said: “I’m not a strong believer in bitcoin.” The former Goldman Sachs executive elaborated:

It is a developing asset class, potentially. And for all the reasons it’s a strong developing asset class, it may fail.

The former top economic advisor to President Trump explained that “part of the integrity of an asset class or part of the integrity of a system is knowing who owns it, and knowing who has it, and knowing why it’s being transferred. And is it being used for legitimate causes, is it being used for good, or is it being used for illegitimate causes, is it being used in corrupt practices in corrupt ways?”

Claiming that “The bitcoin system today has no transparency to it,” the former Goldman Sachs president asserted: “So there are a lot of people that question why would you need a system that does not have an audit trail, does not have integrity, you don’t know who owns it, you don’t know exactly how much exists today, how much has been mined, how much has been lost, how much has been thrown away on hard drives because they don’t exist anymore.” Cohn concluded:

So it [bitcoin] lacks some of the basic integrity of a real market.

While pessimistic about bitcoin, Cohn said he is “very bullish” about blockchain technology, noting that they are the “highways and the pipes that are necessary for bitcoin” and “for many other applications.” He added, “they’re very useful.”

Bitcoiners React to Cohn’s Comments

Bitcoiners on social media were flabbergasted and amused by Cohn’s comments about bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto Institute co-founder Pierre Rochard tweeted in response: “I formally challenge Gary Cohn to a televised debate on Bitcoin’s auditability. Bring him to me.” Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter wrote that Cohn saying that “bitcoin comes up short on the domain of auditability” is “Mystifying.”

Bitcoin evangelist and chairman of Divvy Systems and Barefoot Mining Bob Burnett tweeted to Cohn: “Lots of errors here. We know exactly how many bitcoin are mined. We know exactly how many bitcoin are left to be mined and when they will be mined. It doesn’t lack transparency, it defines it. And that no one owns it, is the very point.”

What do you think about Gary Cohn’s view on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

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