Sputnik: Bitcoin is a buzzword right now, it’s all over the news. With all of its volatility, with its ups and downs, do you think there is future in bitcoin?
Alexander Borodich: I perceive bitcoin as a kind of digital gold. And I think a lot of people also think more or less like that. So while millions of those who share this opinion with me are trying to get their portion of bitcoin, the demand will push the price point higher and higher every day. But due to stock volatility of bitcoin, we may see that each and every [piece] of negative news are actually dropping down the exchange rate quite seriously. So, currently, we may see that due to the news from China and Korea, the price went down to $10,000. And I think that due to a couple of negative bits of news from Europe, from the potential regulation of bitcoin in France in Germany we will also see an additional drop, I think, to about $8,000 per bitcoin. But long-term, I think, bitcoin will continue to grow.
World leaders gathered in Davos for the annual economic forum. Heavy snowfall+ VIP arrivals=congested roads near Forum venues. pic.twitter.com/gsxPio2MWC
— Denis Bolotsky (@BolotskySputnik) 23 января 2018 г.
Sputnik: You mentioned that media messages affect the rate of bitcoin. Can we measure this effect in numbers?
Alexander Borodich: Of course, it’s highly hypothetical – it’s difficult to forecast the impact of each and every [piece of] news on the exchange rate – but I will say that each negative [piece] of news may actually drop the exchange rate by 10-15%.
Sputnik: There are new cryptocurrencies appearing each year. What is the next big thing to watch out for?
Sputnik: You mentioned investors. But what about small-scale miners? Last time we spoke in Vladivostok last year, you mentioned industrial-scale blockchain technology becoming more widespread. What about private individuals who decided to buy a bunch of PC video cards and started mining – are they still able to succeed?
Alexander Borodich: Actually the miners, they at least have a mathematical–economical model to see that they will get their first net profit in a year. Despite the exchange rate, they will get more or less, but they will definitely earn something. In the long-term they will earn some significant amount of money. From this perspective, I would recommend mining over trading, but in terms of an amount, it’s quite difficult to achieve a significant amount of profits using your home electricity, or computers – the farm that you may have built at home. So, due to scale, it’s quite easy to achieve a lot of profits building up the mining factory at those places where the price of electricity is quite low, but not at home.
Universa CEO Alexander Borodich to Sputnik on future of cryptocurrencies: We are in the early days of cryptocurrencies. We will see probably 100 new coins this year, perhaps some in the top 10 of those are the ones to monitor pic.twitter.com/W7jeFCVMMX
— Denis Bolotsky (@BolotskySputnik) 23 января 2018 г.
Sputnik: Your company – Universa – is working with blockchain technology. What are you presenting here in Davos?
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Sputnik: You are meeting world leaders here at the Economic Forum. Over time, have you noticed any increase in their attention to bitcoin technology?
Alexander Borodich: Fortunately for us, governments and countries currently do understand the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency. And they do understand that blockchain might be the next technological wave, and a lot of processes will be switched from centralized to decentralized. And in that case, they would definitely need the solution to put their new processes at the infrastructural level. And Universa is one of the solutions on the market, and currently, there are not many such companies. So we are definitely in the top five in the world, [among those] who may deliver such solutions for large corporations and the governments.
The views and opinions expressed by Ivan Danilov are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.