DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta backed bitcoin as having already established itself as a store of value but cautioned against a world that favors too much decentralization.

Whilst DBS’ Piyush Gupta agrees with the consensus view that cryptocurrencies still lack payment capabilities, he differed with regards to the digital asset’s ability to store value.

«I’m convinced personally that while cryptos are unlikely to be money – unit of account and medium of exchange functions are limited – I think cryptos are already a store of value,» Gupta said during a panel on future trends in finance at this week’s Singapore Fintech Festival. 

«There's $2 trillion in bitcoin. How can you argue it’s not a store of value?»

Dangers of Excessive Libertarianism

Despite his confidence in decentralized currencies, Gupta cautioned against the general idea of full decentralization – an «idealistic libertarian» world dependent on smart contracts and tokens instead of intermediaries. 

«The problem with that [scenario] is that when you take that ultimate to the next phase, it’s not just that you don’t need the intermediaries,» he added.

«Then you start questioning. You don’t need a central bank. You don’t need the regulators. And by the way, guess what, you don’t need nation-states. You don’t need governments. This is not a question of technology, this is now a question of social politics and a question of philosophy.»

Human Nature

Regardless of current views, Gupta believes it is nonetheless highly unlikely that this level of libertarianism will be adopted by the world at large.

«Do we as mankind prefer to live in a world where 8 billion of us are individual agents without any organizing principles of country, state, central bank, regulators, boundary keepers?» he asked. 

«I would argue it is very, very hard for us to get there. In part, because it’s not a technology problem. It’s a human problem. It's what makes us who we are.»

Digital Pipeline

Decentralized currencies aside, Gupta also highlighted the benefits of blockchain, such as improved efficiency and fractionalization, and the potential behind tokenized assets.

In addition to the issuance of a tokenized bond in May this year, Gupta shared that the bank’s digital exchange was preparing to roll out a tokenized property asset «anytime soon» and is also exploring the tokenization of art. 

«I think it’s quite clear that over the next several years, every asset class is going to be tokenized,» he said.