The pandemic spread globally through interconnected supply chains and travel networks, destabilizing economies worldwide. Governments responded by flooding markets with newly printed currency. This ap
The pandemic spread globally through interconnected supply chains and travel networks, destabilizing economies worldwide. Governments responded by flooding markets with newly printed currency. This approach weakens existing money. We spoke with five prominent figures in cryptocurrency to understand how they view Bitcoin's role in reshaping finance after the crisis.
Yoni Assia founded and leads eToro, a trading platform where millions connect, share strategies, and invest across global markets. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and management, plus a master's degree in computer science. Financial News ranked him among the top 40 fintech leaders. City A.M. named him a top 100 fintech influencer. He sits on the board of the Young Presidents' Organization.
Simon Peters analyzes cryptocurrency for eToro and works with wealthy clients on digital asset investments. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Brunel University London and holds a CFA Level 4 certificate in investment management.
Ciara Sun oversees global expansion for Huobi Group across institutional clients and emerging markets. She spent years at Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young, advising 15 major banks on financial strategy and investment performance. Her clients included hedge funds, private equity firms, and investment managers controlling billions in assets. She earned an MBA in financial analysis.
Wayne Chen founded Coincurve and now runs Interlapse. He was an early Bitcoin investor and built one of Canada's first Bitcoin wallets and exchanges while working as head of product at nCrypt.
Jerry Chan spent 15 years developing technology on Wall Street. He leads TAAL, which provides blockchain infrastructure for Bitcoin SV. He believes blockchain will transform global finance and unlock new monetization models.
Crypto markets tanked alongside stocks when the lockdowns began. Then something shifted. Assia watched investors reposition as central banks announced stimulus. "Since measures were announced by the Federal Reserve to introduce unlimited quantitative easing in an attempt to stem the downward spiral of global economies, many investors have turned to Bitcoin as a hedge against a depreciating dollar."
The crisis elevated discussion of universal basic income. Assia's eToro backs GoodDollar, a blockchain project designed to deliver global UBI at scale. "eToro sponsors a project called GoodDollar whose goal is to produce a framework for delivering global, sustainable, and scalable universal basic income through blockchain technology." Assia has long viewed wealth inequality as the economy's central problem. The pandemic may finally force change.
Chan identified supply chain collapse as a critical challenge for mining operations. "The biggest impact is the shutdown of import and export and general freedom of movement of goods and people between countries. This has a severe impact on the ability of a global hashing data centre operation to be able to manage and grow its fleet."
Sun agreed with Assia on stimulus effects and added that the crisis filters out weak projects. "Beyond the validation for cryptocurrency projects, coronavirus has helped the best projects rise to the top as the weaker ones are weeded out. Mirroring the traditional startup ecosystem, the current economic environment is highlighting weaknesses in the business models of many crypto and blockchain projects. As a result, we will come out of this with a much more sustainable crypto ecosystem that's driven by a project's actual value and contribution to the ecosystem rather than market hype and speculation."
The pandemic separates viable ventures from the rest. Underfunded startups fail. Established projects attract investors hedging against recession.
Bitcoin's March crash proved temporary. eToro's user data show a remarkable shift. Peters said: "Interestingly, this is backed-up by eToro's platform data, which shows a 77% increase in new registrants whose first action was to invest in Bitcoin. As the price of Bitcoin is travelling in the same direction as gold, you could argue investors view it as a safe haven asset."
Bitcoin and gold share core properties: finite supply, no central issuer, inflation resistance. Bitcoin requires less storage and divides into smaller units. Peters explained: "Bitcoin requires vault-like storage to protect it from thieves, but it only ever takes up data. Therefore, it is unsurprising that Bitcoin is commonly referred to as digital gold."
Chan and Chen split on the safe-haven question. Chan said the pandemic destroyed Bitcoin's safe-haven case. "The coronavirus has certainly contributed to discrediting the idea of Bitcoin as a 'safe haven' asset in my view. While Bitcoin was expected to be a 'flight to quality' asset, much like gold, it declined in line with the stock markets, which has led to increased mistrust."
Chen took the opposite position. "The coronavirus has undoubtedly supported Bitcoin as a safe haven and a store-of-value asset. During any economic uncertainty, people immediately divert to alternative assets such as gold, and now Bitcoin to prevent currency erosion."
Sun sided with Peters, pointing to Bitcoin's outperformance versus the S&P 500 across various periods. She cited Paul Tudor Jones, who recently disclosed that "he has 1-2% of his portfolio invested in Bitcoin." Sun acknowledged Chan's observation about the initial drop but stressed recovery. "Shortly after the March crash, there was some doubt from the traditional finance sector, but the ensuing weeks have proven Bitcoin to be quite resilient."
Three forces will shape Bitcoin through 2021: pandemic economic damage, the halving event, and the November election. Peters saw halving dynamics ripple across mining. "Combining what's happening on the global financial stage, with the Bitcoin halving, and crypto asset education levels increasing among investors thanks to more media coverage, this could provide the perfect storm for Bitcoin prices to reach new highs in the next 12 to 18 months."
Chen cited record hash rates as a bullish signal. He reviewed history. "Historically, Bitcoin prices always surge significantly following a halving event. The increase may not be immediate but will likely be guaranteed until the next halving."
Chan predicted major mining shifts ahead. TAAL processed a record 309MB block on Bitcoin SV in the week before this interview, containing 1.1 million transactions. The platform has "seen a massive influx of miners shift to BSV."
Sun avoided price forecasts but expressed optimism about Bitcoin's prospects in the current environment.
Assia reflected on what the pandemic exposed about financial systems. Stimulus flowed through banking infrastructure. Blockchain could eliminate that middleman. Digital wallets could receive funds directly. Currency devaluation fears from unlimited stimulus drive demand for deflation-resistant money. Global furlough programs have renewed UBI discussions—the exact problem GoodDollar tackles. Assia stated: "worries over inflationary currencies like the USD dollar caused by unlimited quantitative easing measures have also provided impetus for using deflationary cryptocurrencies instead."
Chen saw the crisis as validation for Bitcoin's dual potential: inflation hedge and borderless currency. Fiat depreciation would lift altcoins along with Bitcoin.
Chan emphasized blockchain's broader potential beyond payments. Pharmaceutical firms see value in a scalable Bitcoin-like ledger for tracking COVID tests and vaccines across borders—creating verifiable records for global health bodies. "Pharmaceutical companies have realised the potential application of a scalable version of Bitcoin blockchain, which can be used to track COVID-19 testing and vaccination records, cross-state and cross-borders, in a way which could be used to corroborate or validate statistics submitted to global health organisations."
Sun agreed that fragmented systems hamper crisis response. "Healthcare organisations, governments, non-profit organisations and private enterprises struggle to efficiently collaborate on coronavirus response efforts." She noted that "cryptocurrencies are a vital part of the cashless economy that is being accelerated by the pandemic."
Peters emphasized a distinction in crypto assets. "It's important to distinguish that not all cryptos are cryptocurrencies, some [are used as a] different utility rather than used as a medium of value exchange." Established projects with clear utility and active development communities endure. Bitcoin and Ethereum qualify. Niche startups without adequate funding don't. Venture capital will pull back.
Chan advocated for Bitcoin SV as the only scalable Bitcoin variant. Chen disagreed, believing the original Bitcoin maintains its dominance. Sun declined to "speculate on the future of specific cryptocurrencies," but noted that "those which have the strongest community base, most robust blockchain infrastructure and scalable token economics" would likely perform well long-term.
Interviews were conducted in May 2020.
