A survey on CFOs on CNBC’s Global CFO Council show a majority are still in bubble territory.
While the general talk of Bitcoin being in a bubble seems to be deflating among those who are in the market, there is still a strong feeling that it could pop with the institutionalized CFOs of a number of key companies.
CNBC surveyed 97 CFOs from companies that range from AT&T, Aviva, Levi and Mastercard, and within that group, 43 responded. Of those that did almost 30 percent of them said they believed that Bitcoin is ‘real’ but in a bubble.
This sounds like the typical gloom and doom from the major companies, who are either too arrogant to investigate further or simply don’t understand. In fact, the highest percentage of the CFOs, 30.2 percent, said they don’t know enough to offer an opinion.
However, there is a growing number of these traditional company finance heads who are starting to see the light.
In the survey, 14 percent of the CFOs stated they believe Bitcoin is “real and still going higher.”
Wall Street divide
When it comes to institutionalized money, as well as companies who operate in the traditional money market, there is still a great divide on the opinion of Bitcoin. However, the view on it has been softening as the digital currency continues to overcome hurdles.
Recent hurdles, such as the canceling of SegWit2x and Bitcoin Cash’s rally, have not slowed down Bitcoin’s rise and even on the altcoin space, huge steps are being made into traditional companies.
In fact, Ripple recently partnered with the likes of AMEX and Santander, which saw that digital currency’s value rise almost 25 percent.
The jury is out
Karim Hajjar, chief financial officer of Solvay, said, that the “jury is out on Bitcoin.”
“It’s not a currency we are using for a multibillion dollar business … it’s something we are curious about, we are very very open to, but we haven’t found a way to really integrate it into our business,” Hajjar said.
“If a hypothetical customer comes to us and says, ‘I have a bunch of Bitcoins to buy your products,’ first thing I’ll probably want to do is not turn them away but probably find a way to sell those Bitcoins before I commit to the order and then really make sure we meet the needs of that customer.”
It is still a view of fear and speculation over the rocketing digital currency; making sure there is a way to be rid of it as quick as possible, rather than collecting and embracing it.
Others, like Overstock.com, have taken the opposite approach and are benefiting hugely from being an early adopter in the retail of Bitcoin.
Broad spectrum of opinions
From Overstock.com, whose CEO, Patrick Byrne has said: “The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and Bitcoin’s rapid appreciation is striking,” to Mastercard CEO, Ajay Banga, who calls it ‘junk,’ the opinions vary.
What is certain though is that there is certainly a growth of interest from institutional investors and even companies. Microsoft has taken the plunge, and others are slowly following suit.
