ICOs will “ripple out like a tsunami” and disrupt the entire financial industry in 15 years, Andreas Antonopoulos has said. He also described “99.999 percent” of ICOs currently on the market as “shit.”
Speaking at the Advanced Digital Innovation Summit in Vancouver earlier this month, the celebrated educator said that the current climate of knee-jerk regulation was ultimately a “futile” attempt at controlling participation in the “revolutionary” new investment model.
“It is unstoppable, it is enormous and it is going to shake the world,” he said.
“…99.999 perent of ICOs right now are shit. They are complete junk; they will return nothing.”
Antonopoulos made the comments Sept. 12 amid fresh revelations from China, which had just issued a blanket ban on ICOs and required completed sales to return funds to investors.
The knock-on effect saw South Korea also voice strong concerns about digital token offerings, while other international regulators reiterated the need for offerings to undergo vetting on a case-by-case basis.
Taking in the longer-term picture, however, Antonopoulos remained convinced the phenomenon was only getting started, and that regulators “do not have the means” either to keep up with it or enforce their requirements.
“The rules as they exist cannot possibly keep up with the volume, liquidity and movement of innovation in this space,” he said.
“… Regulators are being disrupted more than anything else; they are rapidly being ‘obsoleted.’ They have the desire, they have the authority; they do not have the means.”