Erik Voorhees, ShapeShift CEO and co-founder, is one of the crypto influencers who have amassed reputation in the crypto space. In a recent conversation with a crypto reporter, Voorhees declared his optimism for blockchain and cryptocurrency, despite the current red wave in the market. Voorhees, who is a successful entrepreneur and a transformer, spoke without mincing words about the past, the future, and why the current bearish trend is just a storm in a teacup.

“In the early days Bitcoin was 100 percent of what we all cared about. There was no blockchain movement. There were no other assets, except perhaps Namecoin.

The primary purpose everyone cared about was changing currency itself, and the focus was on getting merchant adoption.

Further, thecommunity was much more monocultured. It was almost entirely English-speaking,technical, 20- to 35-year-old males. Today, the ecosystem is far broader andmore diverse, in assets, purpose, and demographics. This is a tremendous signthat the ecosystem is growing.”

Encouraging remarks

The current prevailing downward trend in the crypto space has thrown many existing and would-be investors into confusion, with most people divided between selling off and holding. To this end, the ShapeShift CEO offers soothing remarks. Surprisingly, veteran crypto players such as Voorhees are not scared of the current bear market orthe previous ones.

“Nine months isn’t along bear market. After the 2013 bubble, there were three years before we hit new highs! These markets move in hype cycles, and as long as people pay attention to the technology and utility, rather than the price, they can get through bear markets, be they long or short…There will be many more bearand bull markets as crypto pulls in the world’s financial system and reformsit. One cannot change the world in a smooth, predictable curve,” Voorhees said.

The transition to a decentralized financial system

On transforming the way people handle and store money, the ShapeShift boss believes that it’s time to decentralize money and take it out of any government or central authority’s control. Asked why the current financial system is flawed, he said:

“Money is a protocol, like language. Money is how people interact with each other for the purpose of exchange, while language is how people interact with each other for the purpose of communication. Both are extremely important, far too important to be in the hands of any central party.

Governments should not have the ability or right to censor and control language, nor declare what language is or how people use it. Similarly, they should not have the ability or right to censor and control money, nor declare what money is or how people use it.”

Time for rotten apples to leave

Voorhees also blamed the establishment of cronyism. In an earlier interview with Bloomberg, he said:

“Cronyism occurs when people utilize political power for economic gain. We’ll never change the human instinct toward seeking this, but what we can change is to reduce the scope of political power (i.e.reduce the role of government in our lives). By reducing the role of government, the natural tendency toward cronyism is more contained and has a smaller effect and less damaging consequences.”

Do you agree with Voorhees’ opinion that crypto is taking over the world? Let’s hear you opinions on the comments section below.