- Niall Ferguson, former Harvard history professor, has stated that Bitcoin and China are “winning” the monetary revolution brought on by the coronavirus
- Ferguson says that the cryptocurrency is being taken up by institutions on an unprecedented scale
- This process of adoption has “much further to run” according to Ferguson
Niall Ferguson, Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has said that Bitcoin and China are “winning” the COVID-induced “monetary revolution”. Writing for Bloomberg over the weekend, Ferguson, a former professor of history at Harvard, stated that “Covid-19 has been good for Bitcoin and for cryptocurrency generally”, forcing governments to consider digital alternatives to cash as well as increasing the “exposure to financial surveillance” by swathes of the population.
Roubini About-Turn Sums Up Changing View
Ferugson begins his piece by noting that Bitcoin’s performance this year has taken “many smart people by surprise” and caused them to reevaluate Bitcoin’s value proposition. Most notably this has included uber-skeptic Nouriel Roubini who, after years of mercilessly bashing Bitcoin, finally admitted this month that Bitcoin was “maybe a partial store of value”.
Roubini’s surprising about-turn has come on the heels of the likes of Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckenmiller, and George Ball adding their voices to the increasing number of influential individuals and institutions who have come to recognize Bitcoin’s unique position as a hedge to failing fiat currencies.
World Should “Not be Surprised” by Bitcoin’s Performance
Ferguson says that “we should not be surprised” that the coronavirus pandemic has forced governments and central banks to look at digital alternatives to cash in the form of CBDCs, with China far and away the most advanced on this front. As Ferguson says, “What might have taken 10 years has been achieved in 10 months”.
Ferguson confirms what many others have said already, that Bitcoin has seen its use case solidified by the coronavirus and that “Bitcoin is gradually being adopted not so much as means of payment but as a store of value.”
Happily for holders, Ferguson says that the process of adoption “has much further to run”, with 2021 set to be the year that the world’s central banks can finally assess the financial damage done to their fiat currencies by the coronavirus.
