Roger Ver, a prominent bitcoin investor, on Monday said investors piling in to the No.1 virtual currency may be missing out on investing in a better crypto-asset — bitcoin cash.
Ver, referred to in industry circles sometimes as “Bitcoin Jesus”, told CNBC during a phone interview on “Fast Money” that high fees associated with conducting transactions in bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.40% make it prohibitive to use as a legitimate currency, compared with its newest rival Bitcoin Cash, which was the result of controversial split of core bitcoin back in August.
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Bitcoin cash was an attempt to solve scaling issues by allowing larger blocks and speedier digital transactions. Bitcoin cash is essentially identical to bitcoin, except its blockchain, or software protocol, enables miners, who solve complex computational problems in exchange for bitcoin, to process transactions in 8 megabyte blocks, rather than core bitcoin’s current 1MB transaction size. He said the mounting fees associated with day-to-day transactions, which can translate to hundreds of dollars, can eat away at the value in the currency.
“Today, bitcoin if you want to send money to somebody it cost tens or even hundreds of dollars per transaction,” he said. “I am really, really concerned about the future of bitcoin,” Ver told CNBC.
“Bitcoin cash actually has utility,” he continued.
Check out more of the CNBC interview below:
Ver’s comments come about 24 hours after core bitcoin made its debut on Cboe Global Markets Inc.’s CBOE, +0.86% futures exchange Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern, highlighting a stratospheric rise for the currency which has gained some 1,500% so far this year. The January contract for XBTF8, -2.51% rose 20% in Monday action settling at $18,850.
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However, electronic trading in bitcoin futures appeared to pull back after Ver’s comments.
Ver, who was an early investor in bitcoin in 2011 and has been a staunch advocate of digital currencies, which claim to offer currencies outside of the bounds of banks and governments, has championed bitcoin cash since it was first announced back in July.
His comments underscore a key issue with digital currencies amid the enthusiasm that has helped to take bitcoin prices on CoinDesk on Monday afternoon to all-time highs at $17,382.64: it isn’t clear which, if any digital currency, will become the dominant cyber-asset.
Monday’s trading action also saw Ether tokens trading on the Ethereum blockchain and Litecoins, viewed as another rival to bitcoin, hitting records above $500 and $200, respectively, according to digital-currency exchange Coinbase.
For Ver’s part, the longtime cryptobull cheers the fact that the industry is starting to garner increased attention but warned that investors could take a downside hit as buyers rush in.
“Well, I think lots of people are excited and they have this fear of missing out. Just don’t be the last one holding the bag,” he said.