Crypto Could Be The 'Linux of Finance' By 2040, Says Vitalik Buterin

Ethereum co-founder and crypto rockstar Vitalik Buterin has a bright forecast for the cryptocurrency market volatility and said crypto could be the "Linux of Finance" by 2040.

The Canadian programmer and Ethereum co-founder recently shared his thoughts on the state of the cryptocurrency market, proof-of-stake of the future of blockchain technology and market volatility. In an interview with blogger Noah Smith, the 28-year-old crypto genius predicted that in the medium-term future, the volatility of the crypto market will eventually slow down.

"I definitely think that in the medium-term future cryptocurrencies will settle down and be only about as volatile as gold or the stock market," he said in the interview. Buterin noted that he expects cryptocurrency to be as volatile as gold or the stock market over the next few decades.

"The main question is at what level will the prices stabilize. In my view, a lot of volatility, in the beginning, was associated with existential uncertainty," the Ethereum co-founder said. While he does not know where exactly cryptocurrency will saturate, he noted that it is now answering more of its "existential questions" over time.

Buterin suggested that while crypto establishes its use cases and its role in the market slowly solidifies, the certainty of its possible limits is also becoming clearer. "Over time, these existential questions are going to become more and more settled," he noted.

Buterin also predicted that crypto could replace gold as a store of value and become the "Linux of Finance" soon. "If, in 2040, the cryptocurrency has firmly made its way into some space: it replaces the store of value component of gold, it becomes the 'Linux of Finance,' always available alternative financial layer that is actually the backend," he said.

"Important things happen, but do not completely eliminate from the mainstream, so the chances are that it will completely disappear or completely take over the world in 2042, and the impact of individual events is going to be very small. . That possibility," Buterin forecasted.

In April, the crypto genius said during the VivaTech conference in Paris that he does not expect crypto to "take over the world" and replace traditional currencies. "It's about cryptos and digital and governments," he noted.

The highly anticipated transition of the Ethereum blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, otherwise known as The Merge is less than ten days away.

As of 9:54 p.m. ET on Sunday, ETH, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain was trading up 1.20% at $1,575.85 with a 24-hour volume of $9,427,567,037 based on the latest data from CoinMarketCap.