LinkedIn Founder Talks Bitcoin’s Future at San Francisco Conference

LinkedIn founder and Greylock Partners investor Reid Hoffman issued new remarks about bitcoin this week at O’Reilly Media’s ‘Bitcoin & the Blockchain: Realities, Risks, Rewards’ event held in San Francisco’s Marina District.
The conference brought together a collection of entrepreneurs, investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts for a one-day schedule, though it was perhaps Hoffman’s talk that was most anticipated.
During his on-stage discussion session with Xapo CEO Wences Casares, Hoffman took a professorial tone in evaluating where he believes the ecosystem is headed, though it may not be as definitive as enthusiasts would hope.
He said:
“The interesting question about bitcoin is, is it the first or last cryptocurrency? It all comes down to network effects.”
Hoffman noted that bitcoin does have a community behind it, which makes him believe it may have a lasting influence. As an investor, Hoffman notably backed bitcoin infrastructure startup Blockstream and its recent $21m funding round, suggesting he may be confident in its future.

This post was published at Coin Desk on February 1, 2015.