Details

Several Georgian financiers have voiced a heavy critique of bitcoin and of those who invest in it, including the Co-Investment fund, created by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a prominent Georgian entrepreneur and the country’s former Prime Minister.

A number of Georgian financiers have been very critical of bitcoin as of late. Givi Korinteli of the First Credit Alliance said that the development of bitcoin in Georgia depends on global trends, which are far from being favourable to bitcoin. David Tsikaradze, director of the Georgian office of Admiral Markets, believes bitcoins have no future, either in Georgia or the world. “Eight or nine cryptocurrencies are in operation globally and if one of them has a chance to be successful, it is definitely not bitcoin”.

The criticism is aimed in particular at the private Georgian Co-Investment Fund created by Bidzina Ivanishvili, former Georgian Prime Minister and, according to Forbes, the richest man in Georgia. According to Tsikaradze,

“Instead of investing in the real economy and job creation, the fund’s money is being invested into stupid things of that kind. In many countries of the world, bitcoin has even been banned. Previously, one bitcoin was worth 1500 dollars, but now its price went down to 200-300 dollars. That means it does not have any future”.

In May 2014, the Fund participated in an investment round for BitFury, providing $10 million out of the $20 million raised by the company in total. A bitcoin mining centre was established in Georgia, creating 20 high-tech jobs, according to Georgy Bachiashvili, CEO of the Fund. At that time, he was also optimistic about bitcoin prices:

“I think mining will become more like a commodity because more people will get into it and it will be harder to get a market share. Then, there’s the price of bitcoin itself. If it rises and reaches several thousand per bitcoin, I think good revenue can be generated".

According to the Coindesk Price Index, the maximum price of bitcoin, reached on December 4th, 2013, was $1147.48.

As we reported yesterday, Russian lawyer Artem Tolkachev believes bitcoin may be banned in Russia in autumn 2015. According to Michael Chobanian of Bitcoin Embassy Ukraine, the Ukrainian government is imitating Russia in its negative attitude towards bitcoin.