In the future we’ll share full videos of our market update webinars, but today we’re excited to share detailed notes from the chat between our Co-founder, Nic Cary, and Head of Research, Dr. Garrick Hileman.
What we’re seeing with Covid-19, now officially classified as a pandemic, is something that maybe no one alive has seen.
It’s clear that crypto is not immune to what’s been going on with the significant price correction last week. So we wanted to bring our community together to talk about what’s been happening in the market, what we’re looking out for, and what our focus is at Blockchain.com.
On Blockchain.com’s priorities:
Blockchain.com has always been crypto-first, and we’ve been building technology and tools fit-to-purpose for moments like this. We are here for this exact moment, to help users and our broader community secure and protect their financial futures.
To empower everyone in the world to be their own bank, we have teams working 24/7 to ensure:
- Users’ funds are safe
- Our systems are secure and operational
- Our industry-leading liquidity is maintained and advanced
In the last few months, we’ve been expanding the tools at your disposal to manage risk and continue to support the growth of our ecosystem, with new products for borrowing USD against your crypto, and the continued work of our venture team to support entrepreneurs and innovation in crypto.
It’s going to get better, and together we’re going to prove that it is possible to build a more resilient financial system that works for everyone.
On volatility in crypto:
Uncertainty around the virus and its exponential growth is fairly clear to anyone who has been tracking it, and we should expect that to continue to negatively impact the markets.
Price movement in bitcoin last week was unusual — as we haven’t seen a 50% drop in price since 2013 — but not unprecedented or unexpected in the face of a massive liquidity crunch where there’s a flight to cash from investors around the world. To put it into context, last week’s drop doesn’t even crack the top five price shocks in bitcoin’s history.
And, unlike traditional markets, there aren’t circuit breakers or off-time, so it’s natural to see it react and adapt more aggressively than other markets.
That’s a good thing.
For those of us who have been in space for a long-time, we aren’t shocked by the movement, are gearing up for more growth. Volatility attracts liquidity, and is a net positive for crypto today and for sustained growth tomorrow.
On the outlook for digital payments and blockchain technology:
The attributes that brought people to crypto haven’t changed, and even more valuable over medium-long term as crisis plays out.
Viruses like COVID-19 will provide a boost to broader uses of blockchain technology, where we can accelerate payments and make contactless, increase transparency, and can take on challenges like healthcare record keeping and fake news.
On fiscal policy response to financial crisis, and impact on crypto:
Unlimited. Unprecedented. Radical. Those are all words uttered by policy-makers as they gearing up for historic fiscal stimulus.
Significant and precipitous downturns across the global economy have shocked policy-makers and individual investors around the world, while reinforcing how uncertain the conditions around Covid-19 remain.
On Monday, the question was “are we really in a recession?” By Friday, it was “are we on the brink of depression?”
There’s an old saying that In a crisis, if all central banks hold hands and jump together, we’ll all be fine. But that raises the question of whether people want their money in that system, when there’s a strong alternative.
In the 80s, when there was discussion around the US Dollar being overvalued, Central Banks and the U.S. negotiated to balance the currency scales, empowering the Yen and Deutsche Mark.
The Real question now is whether it’s every country for themself, or all together.
Interested in getting started in crypto? Sign up for a free Blockchain.com Wallet or trade on the Blockchain.com Exchange; we’re here for you.
For more insights from our research team, go to our Research page and follow our Head of Research, Garrick Hileman on Twitter.
