The pace of the crypto industry’s acceleration in 2021 has surprised many, including Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Luno. Swanepoel recently remarked: “We knew it was coming, but just not that fast, particularly in certain subsectors like NFTs and some altcoins.”
Subsectors at ‘Top of Their Hype Cycle’
Some crypto players were shocked by the growth in crypto in 2021. This included Marcus Swanepoel who is co-founder of Luno and also the CEO. Swanepoel admits that this growth is expected. However, he also acknowledges that it was unexpected.
Commentaries published by Daily Maverick provide insight from the CEO into the reasons for the rapid acceleration.
“The industry accelerated a lot faster this year than we anticipated. We knew it was coming, but just not that fast, particularly in certain subsectors like NFTs and some altcoins,” Swanepoel is quoted explaining.
However, Swanepoel opines that some of the subsectors are probably at the “top of their hype cycle” and will likely cool off in the next cycle. The CEO also lamented that “less than 90% of what people see [in the crypto industry] is actually useful or legitimate.”
CBDCs Benefit Crypto
In addition to sharing his thoughts on the crypto industry’s growth, as well as Luno’s journey since its acquisition by Digital Currency Group, Swanepoel also offered his views on the perceived threat to cryptocurrencies posed by central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Although many governments seem interested in CBDCs and are testing them, the truth is that such digital currencies will be out of date for several years.
Swanepoel asserts that crypto will prosper if there are many countries who can roll out digital currencies.
They can be rescinded at any time. [governments]It is very possible that it can be done. This would benefit crypto greatly as it would allow for easier switching between different decentralised cryptos like bitcoin.
Swanepoel says that global progress towards the establishment of regulatory frameworks is slow. In the same interview, Swanepoel also quipped about how China’s crackdown on bitcoin mining has resulted in the shifting of this activity to North America.
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