Exclusive Interview: Tether Co-Founder Says Crypto Industry Will Bounce Back Despite Past Failures

In an exclusive interview with Crypto news, William Quigleyco-founder and CEO of decentralized blockchain WAX and co-founder of USDT issuer Tethershared his insights on the future of the crypto and blockchain industry amid recent challenges.

Quigley, who has over 30 years of experience in technology and finance, remains optimistic about the sector’s recovery, stressing the need for patience as the industry regains its footing.

Recent matches and a short-term memory

The crypto sector has faced several obstacles in 2022 and 2023, including market downturns, company collapses, scandals and regulatory scrutiny.

However, Quigley believes that recovery is possible because of a very human factor: people’s short-term memory.

He stated that global marketplace players tend to quickly forget world-famous news and events, which can play a significant role in the industry’s upturn.

Quigley compared the current crypto landscape to the early days of the Internet bubble.

From 1995 to 2000, he witnessed a frenzy that was “1,000 times more than what crypto was in 2021.”

According to Quigley, it was “just crazy” how people thought that if they weren’t involved in the internet, it would spell their doom.

However, a series of events, including the collapse of the Internet bubble, the telecom crash, 9/11 and financial fraud, led to a significant loss of interest in Internet-related businesses.

“And I tell a lot of younger people something that I think they kind of don’t believe me, but it’s true. I can prove to you that this is true. In 2001, 2002 and 2003, the one area on the planet that Wall Street venture capitalists thought was a toxic wasteland, any business connected to something called the Internet.”

However, as companies like Facebook and YouTube emerged and the landscape gradually changed, venture capitalists turned their attention back to the internet in late 2010.

Looking forward with confidence

Despite the setbacks experienced by the crypto and blockchain industry, Quigley argues that these challenges are relatively minor compared to the internet’s past struggles.

He remains confident in the sector’s ability to recover and develop over time, urging patience and optimism as the industry navigates current obstacles.

As the interview concluded, it became clear that Quigley’s extensive experience and knowledge lends credibility to his optimistic outlook.

While it is critical to acknowledge the obstacles facing the crypto and blockchain sector, the industry’s potential for a resurgence should not be underestimated.

Advice from the Internet to Blockchain: Hurry

Quigley noted a saying: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” When FTX exchange collapsed, causing significant damage to users, it provided a perfect opportunity for federal groups in the United States to argue, “Oh, look, this is what happens when it’s not regulated.”

Accordingly, they began to take aggressive action.

USA The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) at least prohibited third parties from marketing betting services to the retail market in the United States.

Quigley expressed his disagreement with this approach, saying, “I think it’s such a flawed idea.”

Ethereum stakes and the accredited investor problem

Quigley argued that Ethereum staking is complicated, but it is important to encourage people to distribute their assets in a way that strengthens the network. Since the average person often cannot do this themselves, it would make sense for an aggregator to do it for them for a nominal fee.

The problem lies in the fact that people with a lot of ETH can stake themselves, as can the “big institutional guys” who are registered with government agencies.

But in the United States, poor and modestly wealthy people are “prohibited from participating in a profitable enterprise.”

Quigley pointed to the concept of the “accredited investor,” which allows only wealthy individuals to participate in better investments.

“Literally, it’s a law. It’s like only wealthy people are allowed to participate in these attractive investments.”

Lessons from the Internet and the danger of new technology

Quigley noted that the example of the Internet is very instructive. He explained that during the early days of the Internet, powerful business and government interests were ignorant, apathetic and uninterested.

They didn’t foresee the huge impact web-based devices would have on various industries.

Quigley added: “And I look at it now, and I think that if all these business interests knew what the Internet was going to allow others to do, the Internet would either be banned or would be treated immediately as a regulated communications industry, like cable companies.”

Companies have since learned from the music, newspaper and retail industries. A generation of capitalists now sees new technology as dangerous.

Quigley said, “When you see a new technology, the first thing you do is go to the government and ban it.”

Importance of Stablecoins and NFTs

Quigley believes that one of the great inventions of the 21st century is the tokenization of fiat, with stablecoins being “so spectacularly valuable [and] there should be 1,000 of them.”

He emphasized the importance of speed in the industry, using Uber as an example. Had Uber taken off more slowly, it would have been regulated out of existence.

“The transportation industry was too slow to identify the effects of Uber. And it’s only because the people of the United States really started to see the value of it that Uber survived. But had it gone a little slower, Uber would have been regulated out of existence.”

To ensure the success of the blockchain industry, Quigley recommends two things:

• ensure that the industry takes off as quickly as possible and get as many people as possible to enjoy the benefits
• form a strong grassroots movement.

“The ability, the flexibility you give to a new class of entrepreneurs when they’ve introduced a new platform is overwhelming when it’s quickly introduced and appreciated by the people,”

Quigley said. “Once that happens, the tyrants and governments have an extraordinarily difficult time shutting it down.”

But there’s a caveat when it comes to blockchain: when a technology is introduced more slowly, when it’s harder for people to understand and use it, bad actors have more time to kill it. This is what blockchain struggles with because it is a very abstract concept.

This is where non-fungible tokens come in.

Quigley argued that the best thing that happened to blockchain from a mass market point of view is non-fungible tokens (NFT). Thanks to the “pretty pictures”, more people were able to understand and use it.

However, it did come with a few negatives, such as the question of NFT’s effect on the climate and people assuming blockchains are only useful for pretty pictures.

Adoption is ongoing progress.

Thematic investments

Quigley describes himself as “a thematic investor” who looks at either a market or a technology platform and how specifically it can be used. We’re at a point in blockchain where it’s not a good idea to be a generalist blockchain investor and it’s better to go “narrow,” he argued.

Some of the areas he is particularly interested in are infrastructure services (both from a demand point of view and the perspective of unrestricted access), as well as decentralized finance (DeFi) and “one of the three legs DeFi rests on” – stablecoins.

Quigley goes even further and focuses on the ways to distribute work in areas essential to the tech world, saying that what fundamentally made Bitcoin so powerful is this “wonderful way to distribute work by compensating people in a decentralized way to support a platform.”

Therefore he said,

“I’d rather be maintained by a decentralized workforce than a giant corporation that has all kinds of weird political views that it wants to impose on the rest.”

Quigley concluded that the best way to support a community is by highlighting a particular aspect or ability and “encouraging people to use their imaginations:.

When we just tell people what to do, we take away the opportunity to think deeply about a topic and come up with their own ideas or solutions.

____

Learn more:

– Cathie Wood’s Ark Launches Private Crypto Fund, Raises $16.3M – Another Bull Market Imminent?
– El Salvador Launches Bitcoin, Lightning Network Dev Course for University Students

– Visa reaffirms commitment to crypto technology despite recent reports – here’s the latest
– Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Says Crypto and Bitcoin Are ‘Here to Stay’ – What Does He Know?

– What is blockchain technology?
– Blockchain Tutorials, Tutorials