{"id":227087,"date":"2017-09-01T12:02:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T10:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=227087"},"modified":"2017-09-01T12:06:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T10:06:01","slug":"bitcoin-is-a-false-truth-warns-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/227087-bitcoin-is-a-false-truth-warns-analyst.html","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin is a false truth, warns analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jean Pierre Verster, portfolio manager at Fairtree Capital, has warned that Bitcoin is in bubble territory and he will not invest in the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>Verster is known for predicting African Bank\u2019s collapse, shorting the stock, and making R100 million in profit for his clients through the deal.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessdaytv.co.za\/shows\/stockwatch\/2017\/08\/29\/stock-watch-part-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Speaking to BusinessDay TV<\/strong><\/a>, Verster warned that Bitcoin\u2019s high value is based on a \u201cfalse truth\u201d and that it may not be a wise investment at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>Verster said Bitcoin started with a \u201ctrue truth\u201d, the blockchain technology which underpins the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>The blockchain supports an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Wide acceptance<\/h3>\n<p>Bitcoin currently sports a wide acceptance as a form of payment, which provides it with benefits over many other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is particularly popular as an anonymous payment system, and is also used to bypass exchange controls in certain countries.<\/p>\n<p>This is seen by authorities as a potential issue, and Verster said central banks around the world are looking at Bitcoin &#8211; and that they may have to put checks and balances in place to control cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>Even with all the activity around Bitcoin, Verster still feels it is in bubble territory.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3nnJAD_yl4A?start=270\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Bitcoin is another form of gold<\/h3>\n<p>Wayne McCurrie, a senior portfolio manager at Ashburton Investments, recently said Bitcoin is a digital version of gold.<\/p>\n<p>Gold and Bitcoin are similar because they are independent currencies which no government can control, which you can carry around and get value for in any territory, he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, McCurrie said gold has been around for a long time, has been traded with extensively, and has had recognised value for 5,000 years.<\/p>\n<p>Gold has therefore established itself, while Bitcoin is yet to do so.<\/p>\n<p>McCurrie said if Bitcoin becomes truly successful, and becomes really big, it will be the victim of its own success &#8211; as it will become legislated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGovernments will never tolerate a separate monetary system outside of the formal banking system, so it will almost become illegal if it truly becomes big,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r1Qwwkyj9l8\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/217516-the-one-big-difference-between-bitcoin-and-gold.html\">The one big difference between Bitcoin and Gold<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An analyst warns that Bitcoin is in bubble territory and he will not invest in the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":224650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,44696],"tags":[40136,187,45711,35,5724,24394],"class_list":["post-227087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-cryptocurrency","tag-ashburton-investments","tag-bitcoin","tag-fairtree-capital","tag-headline","tag-jean-pierre-verster","tag-wayne-mccurrie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227163,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227087\/revisions\/227163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}