The boss of blockchain firm Ripple, whose digital currency XRP is the fourth-largest by market value, is skeptical about the use of bitcoin for payments and transfers.
“I don’t think bitcoin is well-positioned to solve the payments problem,” Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC earlier this year.
Garlinghouse said that his firm’s cryptocurrency was “enabling transactions in seconds,” adding that the cost of transactions were “a fraction of pennie.”
“Two years ago people thought bitcoin would solve all transactions, and I think what we’re seeing is that that’s not the way it’s going to play out,” he said.
With unprecedented interest in bitcoin, experts have said that this is clogging up the blockchain network, with people resorting to other virtual currencies — known as altcoins — instead.
“Ultimately the lowest fees for a transaction wins and as cryptocurrencies attempt to unclog congestion in their blockchains the ones with the most innovative means and lower fees have an advantage in terms of speed and cost,” Charles Hayter, chief executive of the cryptocurrency comparison site Crypto Compare, told CNBC in an email.
“The problem in switching for actual payment now is a bit of a bet — the more established the crypto the more likely someone will accept it due to the lower volatility and conversion risk. A year ago low percentage of people would accept Ethereum but now a lot more would.”
