BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — A prominent United States-based economist has described cryptocurrency as a “bubble” and does not believe it will succeed.

“Many financial services and firms thereof, really have no idea what is going to emerge in cryptocurrency because there are so many competing firms, so many competing standards. It is not clear that any are going to succeed,” said Professor Andrew K Rose of the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

“Something associated with blockchain is going to succeed, but cryptocurrency at this point strikes me as a bubble, and it’s a bubble and is therefore very popular to discuss.”

Rose, a professor in Economic Analysis and Policy, was being interviewed Tuesday night by veteran regional journalist Julian Rogers on the topic ‘Looking Forward: How Caribbean Nations Can Respond to Global Developments.’

The event was the Central Bank of Barbados’ 5th Caribbean Economic Forum, and Rose said cryptocurrency “is far from being a currency.

“You can’t use it to buy coffee at the local Chefette (fast food restaurant) and I don’t see that changing anytime in the foreseeable future.”

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/economist-pours-cold-water-on-cryptocurrency_129262