Is Bitcoin a game for desperadoes?
Is Bitcoin a game for desperadoes?
Bitcoin, one of the most talked-about phenomena in the financial services sector, has been ceaselessly brought into the limelight due to its ambiguity regarding the face value as well as the potential legal and regulatory risks challenging Bitcoin “whales.”
Over the course of 2017, the crypto-currency witnessed an escalation in price, reaching the shocking rate of $20,000 per bitcoin.
Speaking at a recent Bitcoin-themed talk show, Truong Thanh Duc, chairman of BASICO Law Firm, specified that, “No specific regulations or codes directly related to Bitcoin have been enacted. Therefore, Bitcoin cannot be regarded as an official payment method or a type of asset or legal document to effect payment.”
“However, selecting Bitcoin as a payment method does not constitute a crime. If anyone were to be accused, it should be the credit institutions accepting Bitcoin and the creators of the virtual currency,” he added.
Despite the heated debate, Bitcoin remained one of the most engrossing topics in finance throughout the year 2017, sparking up a brand new game of investment for hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin “miners” as well as growing into a market of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Talking about the nature of the digital currency, Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of Saigon Securities Company (SSI) and president of the Bboard of Directors (BOD) of PAN Group, asserted, “Bitcoin cannot be treated as an actual form of currency due to the lack of legal basis and exchange rate as well as the recognition as a legitimate currency by central and state banks. Besides, Bitcoin or any other form of crypto-currency based on the blockchain technology could barely replace the existing payment methods. Bitcoin is nothing more than an advanced technology which might be applied in the payment transactions.”
Apart from the potential risks of a “speculative bubble” bursting, Bitcoin traders are completely unprotected by the legal system and have no access to guarantees in case of losing their investment. To add, the virtual currency is wholly outside the scope of traditional methods of determining value and is sufficient to unpredictable price fluctuations.
Furthermore, Tran Huu Duc, director of FPT Ventures, noted that the virtual market has been heavily manipulated by the unrealistic price of Bitcoin and the short-run benefits for participants. The struggle between the anti-Bitcoin group (including several countries’ governments) and the pro-Bitcoin group will likely decide the fate of Bitcoin, either rocketing to millions of dollars per unit or crashing completely.
Dominik Weil, co-founder of Bitcoin Vietnam, shared his honest thoughts on the Bitcoin players: “The majority of Bitcoin players and subscribers, or crypto-market “bulls,” are flocking to create their own Bitcoin accounts simply to gain profit, expecting another surge in price to resell their Bitcoin.”
