[2018-03-16] Bitcoin Investors ‘Have No Clue’ Thinks Visa’s Chief Fin. Officer

[ivanpoldark]

Visa’s chief financial officer told mainstream media he thinks Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are used by “every crook and dirty politician” March 16.

In an interview, Vasant Prabhu directly linked the assets to crime, saying that other people talking about buying and selling Bitcoin “have no clue” and are “a real shock” to him.

“With a currency issued by the Federal Reserve, I know who stands behind it,” he said. With cryptocurrency, conversely, “Who’s good for the money? Who the hell knows?”

Prabhu joins a seemingly diminishing number of major legacy finance figures decrying the merits of cryptocurrency.

Once-infamous naysayers such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have toned down their criticism, with only Berkshire Hathaway vice-president Charlie Munger and UK Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott launching a fresh offensive against Bitcoin in the past month.

This week also saw a broadly constructive view taken by US regulators in a Congress hearing dedicated to cryptocurrency regulation. One senator, however, described Bitcoin as “harmful” and similarly suggested its main use was in criminal circles, while appearing to stop himself saying it reduced “control” of the government over the US dollar.

“It’s very hard to get dirty money through a banking system. Cryptocurrency is phenomenal for all that stuff… Every crook and every dirty politician in the world, I bet, is in cryptocurrency,” Prabhu meanwhile continued.

Visa has drawn scorn from businesses in the crypto space in recent months, being blamed by the biggest US exchange and wallet provider Coinbase for causing considerable disruption to customer payments.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-investors-have-no-clue-thinks-visas-chief-financial-officer
http://uk.businessinsider.com/visa-cfo-vasant-prabhu-on-cryptocurrency-bubble-2018-3?r=US&IR=T

[Carlton Banks]

Strange how Visa only have something to say when Bitcoin looks like it can challenge them in the near term (i.e. once Lightning matures).

[Lieldoryn]

I didn't expect a different reaction for free from the owner of a visa. Thanks to cryptocurrency, it loses profits. Again, we hear accusations towards cryptocurrencies but no one gives us specific examples of the use of cryptocurrencies for criminal purposes. You can transfer cryptocurrencies to a visa card only after you submit documents on the exchange. Is there a problem? There's no anonymity.

[richardsNY]

I am a crook? If that helps me in avoiding shitty centralized services, and allows my wealth to keep increasing instead of decreasing, then let me be one. I rather be a crook than being a sheeple making use of corporations who are only trying to dictate our lives. If they think a certain party shouldn't be able to receive payments, they'll block us from conducting fair and honest transactions. If I want to sent value in Bitcoin from one place to another, no one will ask me anything, and no one will potentially block anything. I choose for freedom, if that's something you guys don't like, then it's your poblem, not mine.

“With a currency issued by the Federal Reserve, I know who stands behind it,” he said.

I know that too. It's called a debt, poverty, war, etc, stimulating entity.

Every crook and every dirty politician in the world, I bet, is in cryptocurrency,” Prabhu meanwhile continued.

Visa will at some point become a crook as well. 

[darkangel11]

Strange how Visa only have something to say when Bitcoin looks like it can challenge them in the near term (i.e. once Lightning matures).

First they ignore you...

As for his words, weren't they supposed to teach him in school not to generalize? How does he know that every dirty politician uses cryptocurrencies? And what about those clean ones that do? What about those well known faces of crypto, is he calling them all dirty crooks? It sure looks like it. The only thing that he's showing with such attitude is that he's unfit for any discussion.

[IconFirm]

Every crook and every dirty politician in the world, I bet, is in cryptocurrency,” Prabhu meanwhile continued.

In a way, he's kinda confirming what we've been saying all along - Goldman Sachs & Barclays (both involved with Poloniex) are indeed crooks...