The ProtonMail founder is unsure whether his firm will continue to hold Bitcoin. Speaking about this, Proton CEO Andy Yen expressed his concerns about the state of the leading cryptocurrency.
Proton is on the agenda to remove Bitcoin from its reserves!
Proton CEO and co-founder Andy Yen, who includes Bitcoin in his portfolio, gave an interview to Forbes. In the interview, Yen said he wasn’t sure if his company would continue to hold Bitcoin. ProtonMail offers encrypted email application and various other services. The company has held the leading crypto Bitcoin for at least five years. Meanwhile, after years of limited integration, Proton officially started accepting Bitcoin payments in 2017. The company has confirmed that it holds the Bitcoin it received from customers in 2019.
Yen confirmed in the interview that Proton ‘always keeps some of its reserves in Bitcoin. But he suggested that he could not guarantee that the firm would continue to do so. In this context, Proton CEO made the following statement:
There is an internal debate. However, I don’t have an answer to that yet. I am not sure if we will continue to hold Bitcoin.
“Crypto has an 80% crash cycle and that is a problem!”
Meanwhile, Yen also revealed his thoughts on cryptocurrencies. He first expressed concern about scams, fraud and short-term fads like the recent NFT bubble and the ‘ICO craze’ of 2017. He further argued that the cyclical, short-term interest in crypto leads to regular price spikes and crashes that ‘ruin’ the crypto market every three to four years. During the interview, Yen said:
People will not believe and trust an asset class that has a frequent 80% crash cycle. We need cycles of collapse to be less and less severe over time. However, this never happens.
To confront this issue, Yen advocated stronger moderation and self-regulation within the crypto industry. However, he stated that he was against the regulation to be made by the deputies.
Proton continues to accept Bitcoin transactions
On the other hand, Yen’s skepticism towards Bitcoin as a held asset does not mean that the company will stop accepting Bitcoin transactions. Proton currently accepts Bitcoin as payment for its services. Also, news from Forbes indicates that the company is in the process of adding Lightning Network payments.
Meanwhile, due to Proton’s ongoing work with the cryptocurrency, rumors have surfaced that the company will issue its token in 2018 by conducting an initial cryptocurrency offering (ICO). However, cryptocoin.comAs we reported, the company flatly denied these rumors at the time.
