Reddit Co-founder Says Crypto Winter Erased Speculators, Gave Space to Real Builders

Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and known crypto bull, claimed that the crypto hype is gone, leaving space for true crypto believers. Ohanian spoke on the subject in an interview with Yahoo Finance released on Feb. 22.

When asked if he is still a big believer in crypto, Ohanian acknowledged that the current state of the market is undoubtedly still considered to be a crypto winter, which means crypto prices are depressed.

However, citing Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ohanian emphasized that the bear market has contributed to the elimination of speculators, while true crypto believers have stayed to build real crypto infrastructure.

Ohanian elaborated that in his opinion, the extinction of the hype around the crypto and blockchain space is actually a good thing for industry development. He said:

“Now, it's still to be seen. But what's a strong signal to me is still some of the smartest people I know in tech are working on solving these problems. They're building companies that are built on blockchain. The hype is gone. The fervor is gone. But I think that's a good thing.”

Ohanian was also asked about the announcement from banking giant JPMorgan Chase concerning the launch of its own cryptocurrency JPM Coin, a blockchain-powered asset that is expected to increase settlement efficiency within the bank’s operations.

Answering the question, Ohanian stressed that the recent move by JPMorgan is just another indication that there is real innovation happening since the wild speculation is gone. Considering the upcoming release of the coin to be a good thing, Ohanian still noted that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon had previously called major cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) a scam.

Recently, Dimon has since clarified his stance towards Bitcoin, claiming that he had not intended to become the spokesperson against the biggest cryptocurrency.

Born in 1983, Alexis Ohanian became a 23-year-old multi-millionaire in 2006 after selling Reddit along with the second co-founder Steve Huffman back in 2016. The internet entrepreneur and investor is also a co-founder of early-stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital.

In July 2018, Ohanian maintained his prediction that Bitcoin and top altcoin Ethereum (ETH) will hit $20,000 and $1,500 respectively in 2018. However, since July 2018, the highest price points of the two cryptos have been maximum thresholds of around $7,200 and $400 respectively, according to CoinMarketCap.