Former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn has recently claimed the world will one day have a global cryptocurrency, but he asserted bitcoin won’t be said currency. While speaking to CNBC’s Bob Pisani in a “Squawk on the Street” segment, he revealed he is “not a big believer in bitcoin.”
Cohn, however, noted he is a believer in blockchain technology, and notably stated that he thinks “we will have a global cryptocurrency at some point.” This global cryptocurrency, he implied, will be more advanced than bitcoin.
Specifically, said currency won’t be “based on mining costs and costs of electricity and things like that,” presumably referring to the energy-consuming mechanism various cryptocurrencies utilize to secure their networks.
Describing his vision of a future global cryptocurrency, Cohn said:
“It will be a more easily understood cryptocurrency. It will probably have some blockchain technology behind it, but it will be much more easily understood how it's created, how it moves and how people can use it.”
As recently covered, Cohn’s former employer, Goldman Sachs, is set to launch a bitcoin trading desk “in the next few weeks.” While the financial institution plans on initially trading bitcoin futures with its own money, it hopes it will eventually be able to trade actual bitcoins.
During his interview with CNBC, Cohn was asked about Goldman Sachs’ decision to launch a bitcoin trading desk. He replied that they “can do whatever they want. They can do whatever’s in their shareholders’ best interest.”
Last month, the financial institution hired cryptocurrency trader Justin Schmidt to be its first head of digital asset markets, in Goldman’s securities division. Prominent institutional investors recently took an interest in bitcoin as last year the flagship cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of over $19,000.
As covered, bitcoin could be about to surge over 70 percent, according to Wall Street analyst Tom Lee, who recently argued historical data shows the cryptocurrency rises when the Consensus conference’s attendance rises as well. This year’s attendance hit a new high as 7,000 people are expected at the event.
