Ethereum Founder, Vitalik Buterin: ‘We’re at the Tail End of a Crypto Bubble’

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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is undoubtedly an industry leader and blockchain pioneer. Following a multi-month downtrend, Buterin took to Twitter to share his outlook on the current cryptocurrency market conditions.

Buterin: ‘We’re at the Tail End of a Crypto Bubble’

Since its peak in December 2017, the recent cryptocurrency bear market has taken retail investor and public attention away from the burgeoning blockchain industry.

On July 31, 2018, Buterin replied to a tweet by Post Oak Labs Founder Tim Swanson, displaying the falling web traffic on Coinbase digital asset exchange’s main site.

The chart shows Coinbase’s total monthly visits at a peak of ~126 million in January 2018 and dropping to nearly 29 million in June 2018, according to data from SimilarWeb.

The decrease in Coinbase’s web traffic seems to correspond closely with the price trends of leading cryptocurrencies during the same period. Buterin’s response, stating that markets have reached the “tail end of a crypto bubble,” suggests that he may believe a market trend reversal is imminent.

Adoption Over Investment

A purist blockchain believer, Buterin has always prioritized preserving decentralization and supporting adoption above driving cryptocurrency price hype.

On July 9, Buterin took to Twitter to denounce the recent Bitcoin ETF fervor and emphasize cryptocurrency adoption over investment.

“I think there’s too much emphasis on BTC/ETH/whatever ETFs, and not enough emphasis on making it easier for people to buy $5 to $100 in cryptocurrency via cards at corner stores. The former is better for pumping price, but the latter is much better for actual adoption”.
Co-founder of CoinRoutes, David Weisberger gave a response telling Buterin that both aspects of institutional and public adoption are important. While agreeing, Buterin’s response denoted that the “current level of adoption is imbalanced” – signifying a media focus on cryptocurrency prices rather than actual usage.

“This is a false comparison. BTC and ETH are polymorphic, meaning they function BOTH as investments and a medium of exchange/commodity. ETFs simplify the INVESTMENT aspect, while cards/payment solutions would simplify the medium of exchange use case. BOTH are important.”..

In mid-June 2018, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a series of tweets delineating his perspective on crypto market cycles and conveyed a similar emphasis on adoption, as a true indicator of the industry’s condition and growth trends.

While in its early stages, it seems the developing digital economy will continue to garner adoption and find its place in everyday usage. With emerging regulations and institutional solutions on their way, it’s evident the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors are maturing towards legitimacy.

Read more at:  CryptoSlate

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