What to Know:
- Tether’s co-founder, Reeve Collins, predicts all forms of money to be represented on the blockchain within the next five years.
- He believes traditional finance will embrace tokenized assets due to their substantial advantages.
- Despite potential risks, Collins sees the crypto market’s future as promising, with institutional adoption on the rise.
In a recent interview, Tether’s co-founder, Reeve Collins, made a bold prediction that all forms of currency, including traditional fiat such as dollars and euros, will be represented on the blockchain within the next five years.
Collins envisages a future where every form of currency becomes a stablecoin by 2030. This transformation will be part of a broader shift in the financial landscape where all forms of finance go on-chain. “All currency will be a stablecoin. So even fiat currency will be a stablecoin. It’ll just be called dollars, euros, or yen,” stated Collins during the Token2049 event in Singapore.
The co-founder of Tether, a pioneer in the stablecoin sector, argues that stablecoins will be the primary method for transferring money within the next five years. The advantages of tokenized assets are too compelling for traditional finance to ignore. “Probably before that, because you’re still going to use dollars. But it depends on what your definition of stablecoin is. The definition of stablecoin is essentially that you’re moving money on a blockchain,” he added.
Collins also praised the US government’s positive shift in stance towards the crypto market, stating it was the best thing to ever happen to the industry. This shift has alleviated fear amongst large traditional finance firms, who were previously hesitant to enter the crypto space due to the potential for government scrutiny.
The shift in regulatory stance has opened the floodgates for traditional finance, with many scrambling to enter the crypto sector. Blockchain-based stablecoins are a primary focus due to their inherent utility. “Every large institution, every bank, everyone wants to create their own stablecoin, because it’s lucrative and it’s just a better way to transact. And so those floodgates are open, and what it’s going to lead to is that soon, there won’t be CeFi and DeFi,” Collins said.
Tokenized assets, according to Collins, offer far greater transparency and efficiency than non-tokenized assets. They can be moved quickly across the globe without middlemen, offering more potential upside. “That is why the tokenization narrative is so big, because everyone realizes the increase in the utility that you get from a tokenized asset versus a non-tokenized asset is so significant that even the same two assets, just once they’re moved on-chain, since the utility increases, that means the return increases,” he explained.
However, Collins acknowledged that there are potential risks to this monumental shift in global finance. Security of blockchain bridges, smart contracts, and crypto wallets, as well as the threat of crypto hacks and social engineering, are key issues that need to be addressed. Despite these challenges, he remains optimistic, emphasizing that security levels are improving and that the trade-off between control and complexity is still present.
In conclusion, Collins’ prediction paints a future where the lines between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies blur, with blockchain technology at the helm. As we move towards this new era, the crypto market’s prospects look promising, with increased institutional adoption and more robust regulations in place.
