The founder of a prominent digital asset hedge fund said ongoing corrupt decision-making by high-profile operators in the financial services industry will only change more minds in favor of technology that tosses out banks as middle men.
Anthony Pompliano, the founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, a subsidiary of Morgan Creek Capital Management, said decentralized technology that abandons the so-called trusted third party has created a more robust financial ecosystem that puts decision-making in the hands of code.
That leaves bitcoin and other digital currencies in a position of strength even if it’s taking awhile to topple the traditional methods.
“What we are seeing in real time is people losing trust in the discipline of humans but growing in math and computers,” said Pompliano, who hosts popular cryptocurrency podcast “Off the Chain.”
Citing ongoing private-sector fines, most recently the combined $6.2 billion settlement with financial institutions including JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, -1.14% and Citigroup C, -0.78% in an antitrust lawsuit over fees that merchants pay when receiving payment via credit cards, Pompliano said he believes a move from humans to code will be the “trade of our generation.”
‘The trade of our generation may be long bitcoin, short bankers’ Anthony Pompliano, founder & partner at Morgan Creek Digital
Read: 10 years after Lehman Brothers collapse, people are ‘deeply distrustful’ of Wall Street
However, for long bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.67% to pay off, it will require widespread adoption (one thing most industry leaders can agree upon). While many argue endorsement for a digital currency will be a byproduct of utility and efficiency of blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies, Pompliano says adoption may be a result of a financial shock, possibly on the back of further nefarious behavior, which he says isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“As you read these negative stories, remember one thing — bad people do bad things, regardless of the industry. The decentralized financial system has captured the mental energy of so many talented people in direct response to the distrust they have with the legacy system,” Pompliano added. “It is easier for them to trust math and software, than greedy humans.”
Although a champion of the digital currency technology, Pompliano said he isn’t one to make price predictions, but did say if things pan out as he sees then the result is inevitable. “With true and known supply and an increase in demand, only one thing can move, and that’s price.”
Read: XRP surges 75%, overtakes Ether as world’s second-biggest digital currency
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