The former Chairman of Google’s Board of Directors and billionaire Eric Schmidt is a longtime supporter of the idea of bitcoin and blockchain. During an interview with economist Tyler Coven at an event organized by Village Global and held in San Francisco, he said that ethereum has great potential and can become a “powerful platform”.
The interview covered many different topics: the future of technology, corporate governance reform, Google's hiring methods, the fragmentation of the Internet, and many others.
When Schmidt was asked whether he considered the blockchain to be undervalued or overvalued, he replied: “In the public format, overrated. In its technical use, underrated.”
Schmidt thinks that currently, “blockchain is a great platform for bitcoin and other currencies.” Also the technology “is a great platform for private banking transactions where people don’t trust each other.”
According to Schmidt, the developments that are currently being conducted on ethereum can make revolutionary changes both in the business sphere and in society.
“I think the most interesting stuff that’s going on is the beginning of execution on top of blockchain, the most obvious example being the capability of ethereum,” said Schmidt.
He also thinks that if Ethereum can find a way to globally synchronize its activities, it will become “a pretty powerful platform.”
Some Reddit user has even proposed Schmidt to invest “a couple” of billions into technology to help faster unveil the potential of the blockchain.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin adheres to this optimistic opinion.
He recently denied rumors that he was abandoning the development of the ethereum platform, that rose after he tweeted that “ethereum can absolutely survive” him “spontaneously combusting tomorrow”. Buterin explained that he was not going to stop working on the platform any time soon, but "detaching" meant detaching from *needing* to participate.
It is noteworthy that Eric Schmidt is also one of the early supporters of bitcoin. Back in 2014, he called the unpopular cryptocurrency a unique technological breakthrough with great potential.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Schmidt about bitcoin in 2011. In a five-hour conversation, the transcript of which Assange published on Wikileaks, he urged Schmidt to get involved in the idea of bitcoin, because one day the cryptocurrency will become very valuable.
“You should get into the bitcoin system now. Early. You should be an early adopter. Because your bitcoins are going to be worth a lot of money one day,” Assange told Schmidt.
It is still unclear whether Assange has managed to convince Schmidt and invest in cryptocurrency at its early stages. However, he was clearly impressed with the new technology.
Other Google executives are also interested in cryptocurrency, including the co-founder Sergey Brin and the CEO Sundar Pichai. The sons of both IT billionaires mine ETH.
According to Pichai, his 11-year-old son mined ether on his home computer, which Pichai has built himself.
Earlier in July Sergey Brin has stated that he is involved in cryptocurrency mining along with his 10-year-old son.
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