Ehrsam: Bitcoin Still Facing Bright Future

Despite major setbacks of late, many are still optimistic that a bright future awaits the controversial virtual currency.

Bitcoin has come under fire recently, with major exchanges MtGox and Flexcoin filing for bankruptcy and a third, Poloniex, losing 12 percent of its assets in a hack. Many have come to doubt the future of the virtual currency, which is now used as payment in online and mobile casinos, among other things.

To Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, this is much ado about nothing. He sees the recent hiccups are merely the inevitable creative destruction of new firms not yet ready to handle a groundbreaking innovation. In his view, Bitcoin is here to stay and will become more stable as the infrastructure around it improves.

Nothing to worry about

Like the internet and the automobile before it, Bitcoin has gone through a high degree of early volatility. Ehrsan sees this as completely normal:

“Bitcoin has this pattern where there’ll be booms and what one might consider a bust. But the reality is that you reach a plateau that’s higher than the one it was before it all started. And this has repeated itself three or four times and on and on and on.”

Considering that major online gambling site in Canada Bodog as well as Zynga and Bet365 still take Bitcoin there is reason to agree with Ehrsan. And, the exchange value is up to $580 per coin after falling much lowing in the wake of the MtGox collapse.