The president of the World Bank has praised blockchain technology while expressing skepticism of the current valuation of bitcoin price.
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim was speaking to CNBC in an interview when he talked up the potential of blockchain technology in the financial sector before adding that cryptocurrency blockchains should been treated with caution.
He stated:
The blockchain technology is something that everyone is excited about. Bu,t we have to remember that bitcoin is one of the very few instances and other times that blockchain was used – they were basically ponzi schemes. It’s very important that if we go forward with it, we’re sure that it’s not going to be used to exploit.
Curiously, Kim went on to plug existing centralized FinTech payment platforms, citing the example of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s hugely popular payments platform, Alipay.
Comparing Alipay to cryptocurrencies powered by blockchain, he stated:
Alibaba has a very different approach. They keep all the data. They’ve been able to move capital so quickly in China. It takes 3 seconds…3 seconds, to transfer as much $160,000 to anyone who is a part of the Alibaba network.
Kim didn’t say if he bought bitcoin at its recent price highs after scaling above $5,000.
The World Bank official did agree with IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s opinion on the current valuation of the cryptocurrency.
Yeah, it’s very expensive.
Washington-based World Bank provides capital loans to governments around the world with the motto of ‘Working for a World Free of Poverty.’ In late 2014, a researcher for the World Bank published a ‘working research paper’ commissioned by the financial entity to proclaim that bitcoin is not a ponzi scheme, at a time of early skepticism. The World Bank has also been working with blockchain startup Rootstock for micro-lending solutions for the unbanked in Latin America.