Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Thinks Blockchain Hype is Indicator of Bubble

Despite being an advocate and bull for bitcoin, Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, believes that the hype surrounding blockchain technology is an indicator of it being a tech bubble.

Wozniak made several statements during his speech at the NEX Technology Conference in NYC. When speaking about blockchain technology, he said that the hype present on the market is similar to that of the dotcom era. The Apple co-founder stated: “It was a bubble, and I feel that way about blockchain.” 

However, this doesn’t mean that Wozniak doesn’t see any potential in blockchain technology – on the contrary. His assumption is based on the idea that during the dotcom era, numerous companies promised to innovate on the internet, yet failed to do so. This is similar to what is happening to start-ups holding ICOs. While many of the ideas seem innovative and life-changing, only a few will end up succeeding despite the huge potential of the technology.

With this in mind, Wozniak also thinks that blockchain has a great implementation potential, due to its decentralized and trustworthy nature. However, similar to the development of the internet, it may take a while before fully-working projects gain traction worldwide.

According to him, “If you look now you say all that internet stuff happened, we got it, it just took a while (…) It doesn’t change in a day, a lot of the blockchain ideas that are really good by coming out early they can burn themselves out by not being prepared to be stable in the long run.”

When it comes down to digital currencies, Wozniak has adopted a bull stance. He believes in the future of bitcoin, according to several statements made in the past. Additionally, in the case of Ethereum, the technology may ‘outlive’ the blockchain hype, granted its use case, alongside open-source protocols, effectively allowing developers to build innovative decentralized applications.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, blockchain may be a bubble granted the huge hype. Yet, to avoid a potential burst, companies have to consider long-term stability rather than quick, short-term gains.