U.Today – It’s not every day you see the CEO and vocal critic of a major cryptocurrency exchange front and back, but here we are. Brian Armstrong, head of Coinbase (NASDAQ:), recently pointed out a problem that is both a blessing and a curse for the crypto industry.
With around 1 million tokens popping up every week, Armstrong argued that the current system of valuing each one individually is no longer viable.
Instead, he proposed moving from an “allow list” to a “block list,” relying on automated scanning of customer reviews and on-chain data to help users sift through the noise. He also hinted at deeper integration with decentralized exchanges (DEXS), aiming to make the trading experience seamless, regardless of whether it happens on a centralized or decentralized platform.
Proof of work? It’s just a hole in the ground
Enter gold advocate and cryptocurrency Peter Schiff, a skeptic who never misses an opportunity to question the value of digital assets. Schiff’s response to Armstrong’s comments was characteristically blunt.
He focused on and questioned the idea of ”limited supply”, which is the basis of Bitcoin’s value proposition. With so many tokens flooding the market, Schiff claimed that the inflation rate for digital assets is effectively “off the charts.”
But he didn’t stop there and took aim at Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism. This is the process by which new coins are created and transactions are verified. To him, proof of work is a flawed concept.
Schiff compared digging a hole and spending $10,000 to back it up. Energy is consumed, but no value is created. Bitcoin enthusiasts often tout the energy-intensive process as a feature, but gold advocates consider it a bug.
Yes, energy is consumed, but it is not stored or converted into anything useful. Bitcoin, he argued, is not a battery. It does not hold energy that can be tapped later.
