Ethereum Co-Founder Says Cryptocurrencies Are 'a Ticking Time Bomb' (bloomberg.com)

randomErr writes from a report via Business Insider (alternate source): Ethereum, the rival to bitcoin, has been on a tear. Its founders said the latest trend in the cryptocurrency space may not be as good for the cryptocurrency as some might think. Ethereum is up 1,700% over the last year, and that spike has occurred in tandem with the growth of the hottest new trend in fundraising: initial coin offerings. Approximately $1.2 billion has been raised by the new cryptocurrency-based capital raising method this year, according to Autonomous Next, a financial technology analytics service. It is a trend that has sparked excitement across Wall Street. But the cofounder of the company behind the cryptocurrency, Charles Hoskinson, told Bloomberg that initial coin offerings may not benefit Ethereum. "People say ICOs are great for ethereum because, look at the price, but it's a ticking time-bomb," said Hoskinson. "There's an over-tokenization of things as companies are issuing tokens when the same tasks can be achieved with existing blockchains. People are blinded by fast and easy money."

Comments

Not Quite

[Anonymous Coward]

He said ICOs are a problem, not cryptocurrency per se. Basically, he's saying there are too many cryptocurrencies.

The Headline is Incorrect

[Anonymous Coward]

He says ICOs are a ticking time-bomb, not cryptocurrencies directly.

Re:It's the same as the stock market

[Aaden42]

Owning a share of stock means you own a percentage of the corporation's assets.

You might want to read the fine print on the "normal people" stocks that you can actually buy on an exchange or have in your retirement portfolio. All but the most preferred of preferred stock offerings are subordinate to basically everything in any kind of bankruptcy or reorganization. Generally the employees pensions come before common stock. You don't realistically own even a paper clip's worth of assets from any company you hold stock in. In the event of the company collapsing, the amount of leverage held by most companies means common stock isn't much better than junk paper in terms of what investors will recover. Literal pennies on the dollar would be a exceptionally good outcome.