I'm perplexed by people in this community who think Bitcoin would thrive in a time of chaos and collapse. I've lived in a country with a currency crisis (twice) and a lot of really good people get hurt; we shouldn't be wishing for that. Bitcoin is not ready to absorb a global economic crisis. Unfortunately the system is very fragile and there's a good chance it could happen. Just because Bitcoin can act as a safe-haven investment, as an exit valve, just because Bitcoin spikes during events like Brexit or the yuan devaluation -- there's a big leap between that and "I hope the world burns so I make more on my bitcoins."
Transcript
[AUDIENCE] I was curious, I love your analogy of the hole in the dam getting wider. What happens if... Obviously there is a lot propping up the stock market and everything else right now. Let's say we have a 'black swan' moment with, for example, Deutsche Bank going under...
and dragging down twenty times the hypothecation of the European economy. Does that dam just break? What does that mean for the average person in North America and Europe? [ANDREAS] That's a really good question.
First of all, I don't think that's a black swan moment. That's a white swan moment. [Laughter] We've seen it before, we know what it looks like, and we know it's coming. There would be nothing surprising about Deutsche Bank going belly-up at this point.
Once every newspaper you've ever read has predicted it, it's no longer a 'black swan.' It [will] probably come from somewhere we don't expect, like the third largest Italian bank you never heard of. I hope that doesn't happen; I hope it doesn't happen anytime soon. I'm actually perplexed by people in this community... who see bitcoin as thriving in a moment of chaos and collapse in traditional currencies.
I lived in a country that has had a currency crisis, twice. I've visited many countries that have a currency crisis. It is ugly. A lot of really good people get very hurt.
Generations lose their future overnight and don't recover in thirty years; we should not be wishing for that. If we do have a global economic crisis, at this point, bitcoin is not ready to absorb anything. Let's be realistic. There is no exit valve.
Even if everybody in Bitcoin gains an advantage from having some diversification, that's not going to make much of a difference to anybody else. All of the investment in Bitcoin, not just in companies but also individual entrepreneurs and start-ups, dries up instantly overnight and we're all set back, across the board, by a decade. I don't wish that on anyone. I hope that doesn't happen.
Unfortunately the system is very fragile, so there's a good chance it might happen. We'll see how it plays out. I certainly don't want people to think that just because bitcoin can act as a safe haven, as an exit valve... just because we see Brexit or yuan devaluation happen, and [the bitcoin price] spikes up...
There's a big leap between that and saying, "I hope the world burns so I can make money on my bitcoins." [Laughter] [AUDIENCE] Part two of that [question] is... The more likely scenario is, when it burns, the fire is put out by several trillion dollars of helicopter money. They talk about the IMF doing $100 trillion bailouts and things like that. Would that have a different effect, in terms of the size of the holes of the wall?
[ANDREAS] Not really. Again, I'm not an economist, which probably means I can speculate with complete immunity from criticism... [Laughter] If you consider that the world economy is on the floor and flat-lined, you've already delivered a hundred electro-shocks and three EpiPens in order to wake it up. A larger dose of adrenaline is not going to help at this point.
Helicopter money, how many times does that work? More happens when it doesn't. I'm not very optimistic for that particular one.