People have debated the potential of cryptocurrencies since the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto released a nine-page paper explaining the technology in 2009. As we often hear that the financial establishment is anti-cryptos, below is a summary of views from opinion leaders, some negatives but also some positives on bitcoin which brings some perspective. In my opinion, the bitcoin price could significantly deflate when and if governments decide to take actions to restore full control to central banks of the monetary supply (see the quote from Ben Bernanke below).

Below is a summary of who is on which side of it. Steemians which one is your favourite quote?

THE VISIONNARY

Milton Friedman
NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST

“The internet is going to be one of the major forces for reducing the role of government. The one thing that’s missing, but that will soon be developed, is a reliable e-cash: a method whereby on the internet you can transfer funds from A to B without A knowing B or B knowing A -- the way in which I can take a $20 bill and hand it over to you, and there's no record of where it came from.”

21-Jun-99 BTC price on quote date $0.00

THE SUPPORTERS

Jeff Currie
GLOBAL HEAD OF COMMODITIES RESEARCH, GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC.

“I don’t see why there is all this hostility to it.” Bitcoin is “not much different than gold” because it doesn’t have liability attached to it, by definition, like a security.

29-Nov-17 BTC price on quote date $10,193.45

Mark Cuban
BILLIONAIRE VENTURE CAPITALIST

Bitcoin's “value is a function of supply and demand; it doesn't really do anything else … Blockchain is a great platform for future applications.”

03-Oct-17 BTC price on quote date $4,283.49

Christine Lagarde
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

“Not so long ago, some experts argued that personal computers would never be adopted and that tablets would only be used as expensive coffee trays. So I think it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.” Countries with “weak institutions and unstable national currencies” may see growing use.

29-Sep-17 BTC price on quote date $4,171.25

James Gorman
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MORGAN STANLEY

Bitcoin is “certainly something more than just a fad ... The concept of anonymous currency is a very interesting concept -- interesting for the privacy protections it gives people, interesting because what it says to the central-banking system about controlling that.”

27-Sep-17 BTC price on quote date $4,154.27

Haruhiko Kuroda
GOVERNOR, BANK OF JAPAN

“Given that the development of financial services has been supported by ledgers as the basic infrastructure for information, the dramatic changes in how ledgers are kept may have the potential of significantly changing the structure of financial services.”

23-Aug-16 BTC price on quote date $580.94

Mark Carney
GOVERNOR, BANK OF ENGLAND

“If distributed-ledger technology could provide a more efficient way for private-sector firms to deliver payments and settle securities, why not apply it to the core of the payments system itself? The great promise of distributed ledgers for central banks is their potential to enhance resilience.”

16-Jun-16 BTC price on quote date $762.67

Richard Branson
FOUNDER, VIRGIN GROUP

Bitcoin as a currency “is working. There may be other currencies like it that may be even better. But in the meantime, there’s a big industry around bitcoin. People have made fortunes off bitcoin; some have lost money. It is volatile, but people make money off of volatility, too.”

10-Sep-14 BTC price on quote date $483.24

Lloyd Blankfein
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC.

“I don’t have an investment in it, but I'm not willing to pooh-pooh it, and that’s why I say I'm open to it.”

02-Nov-17 BTC price on quote date $7,057.82

Bill Gates
CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT CORP.

“Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be. Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”

02-Oct-14 BTC price on quote date $376.86

THE CRITICS

Ben Bernanke
FORMER CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE

“Bitcoin is an attempt to replace fiat currency and evade regulation and government intervention. I don’t think that’s going to be a success.”

17-Oct-17 BTC price on quote date $5,577.30

Larry Fink
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BLACKROCK FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

“Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world.”

03-Oct-17 BTC price on quote date $4,283.49

Jamie Dimon
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.

“It’s a fraud.” If a JPMorgan trader began trading in bitcoin “I'd fire them in a second. For two reasons: It’s against our rules, and they’re stupid. And both are dangerous.”

12-Sep-17 BTC price on quote date $4,179.95

Howard Marks
CO-CHAIRMAN AND CO-FOUNDER, OAKTREE CAPITAL GROUP

“Digital currencies are nothing but an unfounded fad (or perhaps even a pyramid scheme), based on a willingness to ascribe value to something that has little or none beyond what people will pay for it." They are "not real!!!!! Nobody has been able to make sense to me of these currencies.”

26-Jul-17 BTC price on quote date $2,503.29

William Dudley
PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK

“In terms of bitcoin, I would be pretty cautionary about it. I think that it’s not a stable store of value ... I would be, at this point, pretty skeptical of bitcoin. I think it’s really more of a speculative activity.”

29-Nov-17 BTC price on quote date $10,193.45

Joseph Stiglitz
NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

“Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight, so it seems to me it ought to be outlawed. It doesn’t serve any socially useful function.”

29-Nov-17 BTC price on quote date $10,193.4

Warren Buffett
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. AND BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR

“People get excited from big price movements, and Wall Street accommodates … You can’t value bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset.” It's a “real bubble.”

29-Oct-17 BTC price on quote date $5,753.71

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
SAUDI ARABIA BILLIONAIRE

“I just don’t believe in this bitcoin thing. I think it’s just going to implode one day. I think this is Enron in the making ... It just doesn’t make sense. This thing is not regulated, it’s not under control, it’s not under the supervision” of any central bank.

23-Oct-17 BTC price on quote date $5,911.12

Tidjane Thiam
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CREDIT SUISSE

“From what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.”

02-Nov-17 BTC price on quote date $7,057.82

Source & read more @ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/bitcoin-bulls-bears/