In context: Whenever the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Etherium happens to tank, some swear such currencies are doomed to fail. Those beliefs were lent credence recently when China banned the sale of all crypto mining and trading outright---a huge blow for decentralized coins. However, despite these setbacks, Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes crypto is here to stay.
More specifically, he thinks "it is not possible" to destroy cryptocurrencies in the first place, as much as countries like China might like to. Ban them or don't: so long as the world has flawed financial systems, there will be those that seek alternatives. In the case of cryptocurrency, Musk believes the benefits are too significant to ignore. They act as a check to the power of large (especially authoritarian) governments and have the potential to reduce "error and latency" when compared to "legacy" money systems.
While Musk believes cryptos' benefits and widespread adoption make it difficult for governments to eliminate them, he acknowledges that they can certainly slow its progression, as China has done. Preventing your citizens from legally acquiring and trading crypto coins is a surefire way to dampen its spread, but due to the anonymity, many cryptos offer traders---provided trading is performed outside of mainstream platforms like Coinbase---it will be nearly impossible to fully stamp it out.
Musk seems cognizant of this fact. When asked whether the US government should interfere with the growth of cryptocurrencies through federal regulations, Musk simply advised country leaders to "do nothing."
Of course, Musk's pro-crypto words are nothing new. The billionaire has long been a booster of cryptocurrencies, particularly Dogecoin and Bitcoin. Indeed, Tesla announced earlier this year that it had, as of February, purchased a whopping $1.5 billion in BTC; due to Musk's urging, undoubtedly.
It will be interesting to see how the crypto space evolves in the coming years. Though prices are low for the time being, they'll likely bounce back eventually. Either way, you can be sure we'll keep you in the loop as time goes on.