If only a small percentage of people own most of the cryptocurrency, and they're out to get more, is it really an economy worth getting behind? In this video clip from "The Morning Show" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on Feb. 15, Fool.com analysts Maria Gallagher and Sanmeet Deo, as well as Director of Small Cap Research Bill Mann, share their thoughts on crypto's place in the world.
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Maria Gallagher: I think the other thing I find fascinating about crypto is that it started from this idea about decentralization, and no government, and all of these cyberpunk ideals. I think it's a fascinating experiment on wealth concentration because the top 5% of crypto owners; the Winklevoss twins own I think 80%, something bananas. It's just honestly an incredible experiment on how wealth concentration happens even in the face of this idea.
Bill Mann: That element gets so much worse if you actually do manage to solve one of the primary ways that you would solve the energy output would be to move from proof of work where the point is the energy waste to proof of stake which means we're going to start with the people who already have the most and they're going to get more.
Gallagher: Exactly.
Mann: That's like an Oliver Twist market, may I have some more gruel? On what planet is that the basis of an economy where you've got money with a very few landed gentry flowing down to everyone else? It exists. I'm not sure it's better for that exact reason, but at least it's not killing pandas.
Sanmeet Deo: It's kind of like the things that are done in the name of equality, fairness, or financial equity for the masses. Sometimes it backfires and doesn't become that, and it becomes what it vows to fight against. The whole GameStop (GME 0.10%) saga and all that stuff with the Reddit, and the Robinhood (HOOD) traders, we're going to go after these hedge fund guys that make millions of money.
Mann: It makes me so sad.
Deo: We are going to take down Melvin Capital or whoever, anyone that's shorting GameStop which is fine. You took them down, but then you actually made a whole lot of hedge funds rich off that too. [laughs]
Mann: Exactly.
Deo: You did fight one battle here, but then you did make a whole ton of big-time hedge funds rich in the process. Did you make your point? Did it work, or did you just become what you hate so much?
Mann: It makes me so sad. It's a base misunderstanding of how the markets work which is not to say that the markets are pure, but you can't fight an impure entity through gross misunderstanding of how things work.
