<p dir="auto"><br />
<img src="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/528_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS9zdG9yYWdlL3VwbG9hZHMvdmlldy80NDMyYTE4MTI2NTA3YTRhZDMzYThiMjU5OWI4MTVlYi5qcGc=.jpg" srcset="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/528_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS9zdG9yYWdlL3VwbG9hZHMvdmlldy80NDMyYTE4MTI2NTA3YTRhZDMzYThiMjU5OWI4MTVlYi5qcGc=.jpg 1x, https://images.hive.blog/1536x0/https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/528_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS9zdG9yYWdlL3VwbG9hZHMvdmlldy80NDMyYTE4MTI2NTA3YTRhZDMzYThiMjU5OWI4MTVlYi5qcGc=.jpg 2x" /><br />
<pre><code> <p>Stephen Pair, the CEO of BitPay, declared that speculation is a substantial Bitcoin price driver, while “actual utility” is not.</p>
<p><p dir="ltr">The CEO of crypto merchant platform <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/tags/bitpay">BitPay</a> Stephen Pair stated that speculation on future adoption drives Bitcoin’s (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price-index">BTC</a>) price more than “actual utility,” in an interview on <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/12/13/big-component-of-bitcoins-price-is-speculation-bitpay.html" rel="nofollow,noopener" target="_blank">CNBC</a> Dec. 13.</p><p>Speaking on the reasons behind Bitcoin’s current value, compared to its <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-hits-20000-per-coin-capping-year-of-enormous-growth">historic price highs</a>, Pair told reporters:</p><blockquote><p>“A very big component of the [Bitcoin’s] price is certainly speculation. It’s investors that are speculating on the future usage and adoption of this technology. I’m sure a small component of that price is the actual utility.”</p>
<p dir="auto">When asked about a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/dont-hold-your-breath-waiting-for-bitcoin-etf-says-sec-crypto-mom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">Bitcoin ETF’s potential to stimulate a price rally, Pair argued that “not just ETF adoption or ETF launches” could be catalysts for price movement, but that “adoption will push the prices higher,” adding optimistically:<blockquote><p dir="auto">“I do think we’ll see those kinds of prices at some point in the future, if history is any guide.”
<p dir="auto">Answering a question about blockchain-based currencies’ use in daily transactions, the BitPay CEO told CNBC that he expects such adoption to occur on a mass scale in under half a decade, stating that:<blockquote><p dir="auto">“I used to say 10 years, but now I think it’s more like 3-5 years until you can go into a restaurant, a retail establishment, and just everybody’s going to expect that that store will be able to accept a blockchain payment.”
<p dir="auto">Pair then further noted that he was not just referring to “Bitcoin or the various tokens that we see today [but] also about issuing dollars on a blockchain or euros on a blockchain.”<p dir="auto">According to Hester Peirce, a commissioner for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/tags/sec" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">SEC), the approval of a Bitcoin ETF is not necessarily close at hand. As Cointelegraph recently <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/dont-hold-your-breath-waiting-for-bitcoin-etf-says-sec-crypto-mom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">reported earlier this month, Peirce said that an approval “could be 20 years from now” or “tomorrow,” urging the crypto community to not “ hold [its] breath.”<p dir="auto">A study published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance this week <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/number-of-crypto-users-nearly-doubled-in-2018-study-says" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">stated that the number of verified cryptocurrency users nearly doubled this year. A Bloomberg analysis of the study claims that the increase in crypto’s user base, despite prices declining, “could signal that an eventual recovery could be coming.”
<p>
<br /> <br /><center><hr /><em><span>Posted from my blog : <a href="https://cryptotodays.com/blockchain-payments-mass-adoption-is-3-5-years-away-says-bitpay-ceo/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">https://cryptotodays.com/blockchain-payments-mass-adoption-is-3-5-years-away-says-bitpay-ceo/ <hr />