Dieter Wermuth: Bitcoin Is a Complete Waste of Investor Funds

Dieter Wermuth – a noted economist and partner at Wermuth Asset Management – explained in a recent note that he thinks the overall economy would be better without bitcoin, and that people should try to forget about the currency for a little while.

Dieter Wermuth on Why Bitcoin is Pointless

Bitcoin has been traveling a meandering road over the past two years or so. In 2021, things were really rather solid for the world’s number one digital currency by market cap. It rose to a new all-time high of about $68,000 per unit in November of that year and it looked as though the currency was unstoppable.

However, things took a very ugly and drastic turn just a few months later when the asset lost more than $20,000 during the early portions of 2022. Throughout that year, the currency continued to lose value and ultimately fell into the mid-$16K range by the time the end of 2022 rolled along. This means that in just over a year, the asset lost over 70 percent of its value.

Now, the asset appears to be on a turnaround mission, though while there’s been plenty of progress for BTC to enjoy in just the last few months alone, the currency still has a way to go, and apparently, Wermuth doesn’t think this is a path worth taking. He commented that BTC was a wasteful investment that ultimately steals funds away from other things that could lead to valid, legitimate growth of the American economy. He said:

Bitcoin activities are a negative-sum game. Without crypto, the economy would be better off. There would be more money for consumption and investment… Bitcoin has been brought to market with the narrative that it would be a better, more stable currency than traditional money. This story has been a deception.

He says that at this time, bitcoin cannot be widely used as a method of payment, which ultimately works against the asset holding value. He also said that its volatility is a major problem not likely to lead to solid results in the coming future. Lastly, he doesn’t like that it’s not utilized to pay taxes. Wermuth said:

Back in November 2021, bitcoin’s market capitalization reached 1.27 trillion dollars. When Lehman Brothers went belly up in 2008, a smaller amount of money had triggered the largest financial crisis and the deepest recession of the post-World War period.

Too Much Environmental Damage

In his final comments, he issued the age-old argument that bitcoin mining is contributing heavily to climate change and to many other environmental problems. He said:

I wonder whether it will be enough to just up regulatory efforts, or to forbid the participation of banks and other financial institutions, or to get rid of these markets altogether (if this is still an option).

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