Why This Seasoned Investor Thinks Bitcoin Is “One Of The Worst Cryptocurrencies” Without Utility

Chief investment officer and co-founder of pioneering crypto VC fund Cyber Capital, Justin Bons, has joined the cadre of bitcoin sceptics, referring to it as “one of the worst cryptocurrencies”. Bons also portrayed the flagship cryptocurrency as a “purely speculative asset without utility”.

Bitcoin’s Lack Of Technological Progress Chokes Its Utility, Justin Bons Argues 

Justin Bons has denounced bitcoin.

In a Twitter thread, the Cyber Capital founder shared his thoughts on the leading cryptocurrency, specifically referring to bitcoin’s value proposition, which has long declined due to a broken long-term security model, comparatively weak economic qualities, and the lack of capacity, programmability, and composability.

Having launched one of the oldest crypto funds in Europe, Cyber Capital, back in 2016, Bons has emerged as one of the prominent figures in the crypto industry. Besides running nodes on the bitcoin and bitcoin cash networks, Bons also prides himself on being a full-time cryptocurrency researcher since 2014.

Justin claims to have been a staunch bitcoin supporter in 2014 but believes the top cryptocurrency has changed immensely since then. Contrary to what many believe, he says, “not increasing the blocksize limit represented a major departure from the original vision & purpose of Bitcoin.” In Bon’s opinion, this has led to bitcoin’s value proposition not being based on utility because of the curbs on capacity. 

“The world has also moved on and progressed. I remember it used to be said that BTC would just adopt the best technologies. This thesis has obviously completely failed as BTC has no smart contracts, privacy tech, or scaling breakthroughs,” the crypto fund manager wrote.

While using the bitcoin network can be somewhat slow and expensive, the Lightning Network has introduced great improvements to transaction times and costs — something Bons conveniently failed to mention.

He added that some rival networks such as ether post-Merge, Avalanche (AVAX), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), and Elrond (EGLD) could attain negative inflation due to fee-burning mechanisms and high capacities. Without any major technological advancements, Bons argues that bitcoin has become a “purely speculative asset” for many people.

Bitcoin Community Responds

Numerous bitcoin enthusiasts responded to the Cyber Capital CIO to criticize his takes. Some raised questions over how bitcoin has no utility, yet it’s being utilized by an entire country (the likes of El Salvador), and it has sent trillions of dollars in value fruitlessly across borders. Moreover, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is launching a private bitcoin trust for its institutional investors despite the steep drawdown in the crypto markets.

Nonetheless, in Justin’s eyes, the fact that bitcoin is still the most significant crypto by market cap is “a testament to our own immaturity & greed.”

Bitcoin, often called digital gold, has for the past couple of years been seen by many as a hedge against inflation, a lifeline, and a way out. In other words, most investors see the value in owning the programmatically scarce digital asset as a store of value.

Yet this is not the first time traditional finance experts, policymakers, and even industry pundits have told the world that bitcoin is merely a speculative tool. Last September, former U.S. Treasurer and Ripple board member Rosa Rios asserted that countries like China were clamping down on bitcoin as it provides nothing more than a tool for speculation compared to other cryptocurrencies like Ripple’s XRP, which is mainly used to facilitate international remittances.

Only time will tell, as is always the case with the crypto market.