In this clip from "The Future of Fintech" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on Feb. 10, Motley Fool contributors Jason Hall, Matt Frankel, and Will Healy discuss and dispel theories around cryptocurrency and explain why it wouldn't replace the world's economic system.
Jason Hall: I read some of these screeds that are like Bitcoin (BTC +0.55%) is going to bring around world peace and a stable global economy, and I'm just like what are you smoking? [laughs] They blow my mind. They really do. I see a lot of potential here and a lot of disruption.
Matt Frankel: It's not going to replace money.
Hall: No. They're not going to replace the entire world's economic system of money.
Will Healy: That's diminished by my excitement about Block (SQ +0.17%), even though I still own some Block stock. Jack Dorsey saying that Bitcoin was going to replace world currencies. These world currencies are backed by very powerful governments and we haven't really seen them go to war. But if they go to war with crypto, I don't know if they could destroy them per se. They could make it much harder to invest in them.
Frankel: I wish I had the 40 or so Bitcoin I once owned back [laughs] that I sold a long time ago. I see it as more of a niche. Like Jason alluded to, until the IRS starts treating it as money and not as property, it doesn't make sense as a payment mechanism. I don't want to figure out my cost basis.
