What the governor doesn’t know about crypto

Cryptocurrency is too complicated for the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados to understand.

In fact, he told reporters recently: “When it’s complicated, I stay away from it.” Good old cash and some bank notes are what he favours and recommends. It’s the newest fashion and it does not mean we, whoever we are, should jump on board. Further, he is supportive of the commercial banks which disallow Barbadians from using their hard-earned money to invest in Bitcoin using credit cards provided by the banks.

Seven-year-old Hailey and her dad Charles beg to disagree. Charles has been educating his daughter since she was six. She knows how to set up a personal account on an exchange, fund that account, buy a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, set up an off-chain wallet, send the cryptocurrency she has bought to that wallet, and watch the price and valuation rise.

Bill Miller, a multi-billionaire and several of his generation disagree with Governor Greenidge. Bill is a legendary hedge fund manager who beat the Standard and Poor’s return on investment for 15 years before retiring to manage his own account. He holds 50 per cent of his net worth in Bitcoin, which was first minted in 2009 and traded initially at nine cents.

Michael Saylor, a multi-billionaire who is executive chairman of the American software firm MicroStrategy, also disagrees. Since investing an initial US$250 million (BDS$500 million) in Bitcoin, he has seen its valuation rise by more than 100 per cent. And he plans to hold Bitcoin for a very long time because it is anti-inflationary.

But Michael Saylor is not smiling all the way to the bank. He views the bank failures in the United States to be a cause of concern and in this case, he is holding his Bitcoin for perpetuity and buying more.

Under his leadership, MicroStrategy holds 214 400 Bitcoins. And none of this money is secured in a bank.

You see, Michael Saylor contends that Bitcoin is by far the Best Store of Value in town. His Bitcoin strategy has led to a rise in the firm’s stock market price and put money in shareholders’ pockets.

Truth be told, Americans are losing faith in the US dollar and are looking for safer harbours to invest their money – like 15-year-old St Lucy student Jovanni who is being educated and is getting involved in investing in cryptocurrency.

Truth be told, there are citizens globally who have substantially reduced their savings on commercial banks which earn them negative interest rates and are looking for friendlier harbours where their money becomes an investment as against a large cube of ice melting in the sun.

Lyn Alden, a well-known financial expert, explains the decline of the US dollar and Fiat currencies such as those held by central banks in her recent book Broken Money.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a recent report notes that in countries where inflation is rampant, holding cryptocurrencies serves as a safety net or safeguard for ordinary citizens.

Local research by Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill Professor Winston Moore suggested ten years ago the Central Bank of Barbados hold a small amount of its reserves in Bitcoin. If this advice was taken, scores of Barbadians who are unlikely to get cataract surgery in the near future might have been seeing clearly today.

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which counsels central banks around the world, has advised these institutions of a standard, suggesting they hold, if they care to, two per cent of their reserves in cryptocurrency as of 2025.

The BIS seems to agree with our teenagers in Barbados and the IMF that investing in cryptocurrency could be financially rewarding.

Hallam Hope