Vitalik Buterin is one of the most successful and important players in the entire cryptocurrency industry. He is the co-founder of Ethereum, the world’s largest altcoin and 2nd biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization right after Bitcoin, and he made headlines recently after he donated a sizable chunk to help India fight against the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and he was also the subject of interest when the creator(s) of Shiba Inu (SHIB) anonymously donated half of the overall SHIB token supply to him (which he has since burned).
So, Buterin’s actions and words carry a lot of weightage in this industry, and he has now commented on the current market situation as well as the cryptocurrency industry’s general state following the recent crash. Right now, ETH is trading at $ 2,737, which is a 4.3% in price since yesterday.
Buterin is not worried but advises caution
Buterin informed CNN that the current market crash is not necessarily a big concern for him, as, according to him, market crashes are not all that uncommon, and we have observed quite a few of them beforehand. Also, despite the fact that Buterin’s own wealth had been considerably diminished, he remains optimistic yet wishes to remind everyone that caution should be exercised as much as possible.
He further compared the current predicament to that of a bubble, claiming that it is extremely difficult to predict when the bubble will pop with pinpoint accuracy. “It could all end within the span of a few months from right now, or it could have all ended already, and we might not even be aware of it,” he added.
Moreover, when asked about the reasons as to why bubbles do pop, Buterin stated that as far as cryptocurrency, in particular, is concerned, we have had three bubbles thus far, at the very least. The reason that they pop, he went to explain, was because a couple of specific events happen, which clearly show that technology behind the subject of interest at that time may ‘just not be there yet, regardless of mainstream support and interest.
‘Crypto is no longer a toy
Buterin claimed that, compared to 4 years ago, cryptocurrency as a concept has certainly developed more than anyone could have foreseen and is getting close to being ready for total mainstream adoption. In this way, he stated that cryptocurrencies have evolved and can no longer be thought of as a ‘toy’ to be played around with for simple short- or long-term profits only.
Regarding Elon Musk’s influence, Buterin commented that we had had situations like this before where one man seemingly holds all the power, and so he believes that the Tesla CEO’s grasp on cryptocurrency will ultimately dissolve over time.