Nobel Laureate: Bitcoin could last for 100 years, but it also could collapse entirely

Bitcoin will probably "collapse entirely," said Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, stating that the fever caused by this virtual currency reminded her of the "tulip wrath" a few centuries ago in the Netherlands. Shiller, a professor at Yale University, explained that there are "bubbles everywhere", Bitcoin being just one of them. "Bitcoin is of no value unless there is consensus that it is worth something. Other things like gold would remain worthless even if people would not consider them investment" the economist said. He will speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"It reminds me of the madness of tulips in the Netherlands in the 1640s and the question is whether that bubble collapsed. And now we give money to the tulips, which are sometimes very expensive. Bitcoin may collapse completely and be forgotten, and I think this is a possible outcome, but it is also possible for the currency to resist here for a long time, maybe even 100 years.”

In the madness of Dutch tulips in the seventeenth century flower prices exploded. The market crashed in 1637. Other economists, including Paul Donovan of UBS, compared that bubble with Bitcoin's rise. But, let’s be realistic here and see the cryptocurrency for what it is. It is not just something that the world can work without as with the progress and increased complexity the power is in using blockchain and distributed workers. This is the value that it brings and is just a glimpse of the future and soon everybody will realize that there is no other path without it.