Ex-Goldman Sachs CEO calls for tougher regulation of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is not a store of value or a medium of exchange. This was stated by the former CEO of Goldman Sachs’ investment bank, Lloyd Blankfein.

According to him, any currency should be a medium of exchange and store of value, but Bitcoin does not meet these criteria. Blankfein believes that this is hindered by the cryptocurrency’s high volatility and the risk of losing funds:

“If you lose the code or the paper wallet [with it], they will disappear forever.”

He also noted that the anonymity-centric focus of cryptocurrencies poses a problem for regulators seeking to curb money laundering and illicit activity.

“You don’t know whether you are paying North Korea or [simple_tooltip content=’a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation’]al-Qaeda[/simple_tooltip].”

He added that regulators would already have armed themselves to tackle Bitcoin.

Even if cryptocurrency becomes widely adopted, inevitable regulation would weaken its privacy, Blankfein believes. This could dampen Bitcoin’s popularity among users, as, in his view, it is the focus on anonymity that attracts cryptocurrency users.

As previously noted, during his tenure as CEO of Goldman Sachs, Blankfein said that Bitcoin did not deserve his attention.

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