“To become digital gold, bitcoin is not enough in real life”

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) CEO Jeffrey Sprecher believes that bitcoin can become a digital analogue of gold, but for this it needs to be used more often in real life.

According to Jeffrey Sprecher, in order for Bitcoin to gain the status of a long-term repository of wealth, it is necessary to use it for payments and transactions.

Sprecher said that the Bakkt platform is developing an application that will allow you to pay for various goods using bitcoin, and many company employees already perceive the first cryptocurrency as digital gold.

“Since I am old-fashioned, I think that gold has become a means of accumulation due to the fact that at some point in history it was currency. We had gold coins, they were in circulation and were always in value. They could be sold, and gold became a means of accumulation – in any crisis we accept it as a payment, ”he said.

According to Sprecher, bitcoin, of course, can be converted into fiat currency to pay for a product or service, but it takes time, and the user loses money on commissions. To avoid this, payments must be made in bitcoins and Bakkt is developing such a solution.

In December, the platform plans to launch bitcoin options. Sprecher noted that this should attract new institutional investors to the industry who are afraid to invest in bitcoin due to the lack of truly reliable and regulated platforms.

Recall that the launch of the Bakkt platform took place at the end of September this year. The volume of trading in futures on the platform was initially quite small, but recently it has begun to increase.