John Oliver: Cryptocurrency market is like the wild West

John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight,” devoted the lion's share of his evening program to warning about the dangers of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings.

“I'm not saying that every cryptocurrency is a scam, just like I'm not saying that every blockchain company is crap. What I am saying is that behind all this speculative mania, it is very difficult to discern which companies are truly worthwhile.”

Oliver also expressed concern about the possible overvaluation of blockchain technology. He cited the example of the company Block.one, which was able to raise more than $1.5 billion for the development of applications on the Ethereum blockchain in just nine months. For comparison, it took Facebook seven years to raise a billion, Uber five years. 

“The fundamental reason why Bitcoin is valuable is because people believe it has value,” Oliver said, comparing the Bitcoin market to the frenzy that surrounded limited-edition Beanie Babies plush toys, a market that collapsed dramatically in 1990. 

Blockchain technology researcher Don Tapscott retorted to Oliver: “Blockchain technology is an extremely sophisticated thing, almost like Chicken McNuggets. Hacking the blockchain system is like turning a McNuggets back into chicken.”

Oliver ended his video by showing a clip about Carlos Matos, who was one of the early investors in the company Bitconnect, which was forced to declare bankruptcy and close in 2018. The company has been repeatedly accused of fraudulent activities and has often been called a pyramid scheme.

“The cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile and under-regulated. It's just a pump and dump, nothing more,” Matos says in the video.