• Bitcoin may not last that much longer as its use of blockchain technology is not very efficient, a top academic from Cornell University has said.
• He, however, believes that blockchain technology has great promise and decentralized finance could reshape the future of the financial industry.

“Bitcoin itself may not last that much longer,” a top academic has claimed. Eswar Prasad, a senior professor at Cornell University and a prominent author claimed that Bitcoin’s use of blockchain technology is not very efficient and when the hype dies down, it may not have any intrinsic value. He, however, believes that it has set off a great revolution of money and emerging sectors like DeFi have a great future.

Prasad teaches international trade policy at Cornell, a New York-based Ivy League university. He is also the author of ’“The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance.” Speaking to CNBC, he criticized Bitcoin and most existing cryptocurrencies but claimed that the promise of blockchain technology is real and could be transformative.

Bitcoin’s use of blockchain technology is not very efficient. It uses a validation mechanism for transactions that is environmentally destructive and doesn’t scale up very well […] I think the promise of decentralized finance using blockchain technology is a real one, but Bitcoin itself may not last that much longer.

Blockchain, but not Bitcoin

The message is all too familiar. Several institutions and even governments have been quick to demonize Bitcoin but vouch for blockchain technology. Even in some strictly anti-Bitcoin nations like China, leaders like President XI Jinping are full of praise for the technology that underpins it.

“Blockchain technology is going to be fundamentally transformative in the way that finance is done and in the way that we conduct our day-to-day transactions like buying a house or a car – all this is going to be intermediated much better using blockchain technology,” Prasad, who was previously the head of China at the IMF, stated.

The famed economist also acknowledged that while Bitcoin itself may not last long, it has sparked a new wave of financial innovation that will change the future of finance. Stablecoins, for instance, are challenging central banks to become more innovative and are the key reason CBDCs have become ubiquitous globally.

Much as we might not like Bitcoin, I think it has really set off a revolution that ultimately might benefit all of us either directly or indirectly.