LinkedIn co-founder, early Facebook investor and Greylock Partners partner Reid Hoffman has declared his enthusiasm for bitcoin in a new interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Alley’.
The interview aimed to assess Hoffman’s current opinion of opportunities in the market given his experience and success in early social media.
Notably, despite the suggestions by show hosts that such industries as wearable technology, healthcare and home automation were areas that investors should be considering for investment over the next three-to-five years, Hoffman suggested he is increasingly focused on bitcoin.
Indicating that the ecosystem has piqued his interest in the last six to 12 months, Hoffman lauded bitcoin, saying:
“I think it’s an incredible system that’s created a ledger that is across – a distributed ledger across the whole world for it can be money but it can also be other things.”
Hoffman recently joined the board of directors at secure bitcoin wallet startup Xapo, an announcement that was made when the company reported $20m in new financing from firms including Greylock Parnters.
Bitcoin ownership
In the interview, Hoffman discussed his personal experience with bitcoin, confirming that he has purchased “a few bitcoins” to date in addition to his investment in Xapo.
Hoffman also dismissed suggestions that he may be worried about the price of bitcoin given the volatility that this indicator has experienced so far in 2014.
He added:
“I don’t check [the price] every day. It’s more a question of a three- to five-year horizon, not a daily horizon.”
Despite this, Hoffman cautioned investors, echoing the familiar refrain that investors shouldn’t put any money into bitcoin directly unless they are “willing to lose the money”.
Platform for innovation
Hoffman further stressed that bitcoin’s true innovation will be its platform, which he called its “most interesting layer”.
Citing smart contracts as one such example of the innovation bitcoin entrepreneurs have yet to fully unlock, Hoffman said:
“You can have bitcoin stand for something that isn’t just a bitcoin. […] It could mean your car. So then your car could be accounted for on a general ledger that is then – you know, can let you do electronic contracts. you could put liens against it, moving it all into the electronic age.”
For more on bitcoin and its potential applications in the field of smart property, read our report here.
Image via Wired