Is Bitcoin a pot of gold or bubble waiting to burst?
Everyone in SA wants a piece of it, having seen the cryptocurrency’s 746% rise over the past year. But can cryptocurrencies be trusted, given that the rise in value has all the hallmarks of perhaps the biggest investment bubble in history?
In 2011, Gareth Grobler, a former Investec banker who was working in London building up his own software company EyeDesk, was tipped off about this payment system that went by the innocuous name of bitcoin. "I thought it had to be a scam," says Grobler from London, where he spends most of his time. "I spent three days looking at it from top to bottom, trying to figure out where the flaw was." At the time, bitcoin was a fledgling experiment in digital or "cryptocurrencies", created only three years earlier by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for what may or may not be one individual. But the more Grobler learnt about the philosophy underpinning bitcoin (the first truly independent peer-to-peer currency, premised on the cuddly libertarian ideals of markets free from government meddling), the more he grew entranced.So in 2012, Grobler sold his company to Britain’s National Health Service and began trading bitcoin. The next year, he launched ICE³X, a Joburg-based bitcoin exc...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.