SUMMIT
Virtual money shifting global trading trends
Cryptocurrencies are ‘undervalued’, with a combined market capitalisation of only about $120bn
Cryptocurrencies are the most undervalued asset class in the world, says Farzam Ehsani, leader of Rand Merchant Bank’s blockchain initiative. The combined market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies was only about $120bn, Ehsani said on Thursday at the Business Day/Financial Mail Investment Summit, held in partnership with Old Mutual Wealth. By comparison, the market capitalisation of all stock markets is about $68.5-trillion, according to figures from the World Federation of Exchanges. Bitcoin, the most popular of the more than 800 cryptocurrencies in circulation, has garnered considerable media attention in 2017, not least because of its colossal increase in value. The price of a single bitcoin has surged from $605 to $3,487 over the past year, leading sceptics to label it a "bubble". This week, The Guardian newspaper reported JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon as saying that bitcoin was "a fraud that will ultimately blow up". Bitcoin enables users to bypass banks and pay for goods and s...
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