Lloyd Blankfein says crypto has benefited from trillions of dollars in investment and that though he remains skeptical, he’s practical about crypto’s potential.
Crypto has matured to a point it’s attracting trillions of dollars from institutional investors, pushing the burgeoning sector towards greater adoption.
That certainly is the view of former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who was commenting on the current state of the crypto market during an interview with CNBC on Monday.
Blankfein says his view of cryptocurrencies might not have changed drastically since the early years of the pioneer crypto Bitcoin. However, he holds a pragmatic view and acknowledges the evolution that has happened across the space in the last couple of years.
This, even as the current market scenario leaves most digital assets badly battered.
The ex-Goldman executive t revisited the early days of mobile phone development and how skeptical people were of the technology. But he says the tech did work, noting:
“I can’t predict the future, but I think it’s a big thing to be able to predict the present. Like, ‘What is happening?’ And I look at the crypto, and it is happening,” he explained.
According to Blankfein, what he terms as “happening” relates to the staggering growth seen within the crypto ecosystem. He looks at the amounts of money coming into the ecosystem from mainstream investors, including major Wall Street banks, as an indicator of growth.
The banker noted that despite the crypto winter that has seen Bitcoin and other crypto assets decimated in the market; the “trillions of dollars of value” in the space should see the ecosystems around it continue to grow.
He also talked about blockchain technology benefits such as instantaneous transfer of value and reduction of credit risk as positives that contribute to the increased adoption of crypto.
About his personal take, Blankfein said he’s still skeptical but that doesn’t mean that he cannot be pragmatic about it.
“I may be skeptical, but I’m also pragmatic about it. And so guess what? I would certainly want to have an oar in that water,” he concluded.
Blankfein’s remarks come at a time crypto has seen billions of dollars worth of value wiped off the market amid a brutal correction.
Bitcoin slipped to lows of $33,064 earlier on Monday before recovering to trade above $35,000 at the time of writing. The cryptocurrency is down over 16% this week and more than 48% since its all-time high in December.