Metalla CEO Says Crypto Industry Is a 'License for the Private Sector to Print Money'

During an interview this week, Metalla Royalty & Streaming CEO, Brett Heath, explained that he believes cryptocurrencies will lead to the next financial crisis. The precious metals boss said history shows that “mass adoption of a new financial product” typically leads to a financial crisis.

Precious Metals Exec Says the Public Embracing Crypto May Lead to a Financial Disaster

Brett Heath is the CEO of Metalla Royalty & Streaming (NYSE: MTA) (TSXV: MTA), a company designed to generate leveraged precious metal (PM) exposure via royalties and streams for shareholders. On May 27, Heath spoke with the precious metals news desk from kitco.com and explained that he believes the mass adoption of digital currencies like bitcoin will lead to catastrophe. Economic calamities begin when society adopts a new financial product Heath asserted.

“When you look back to the last few decades and all of the financial crises that happened, they all have a couple of things in common. And one of them is the mass adoption of a new financial product or a new technology that is not very well understood,” Heath stressed during his interview with kitco.com’s David Lin.

Heath further remarked that it reminds him of the subprime mortgage crisis that tossed the financial world upside down 12 years ago. Heath added:

If we just rewind to the mortgage crisis of 2008— We had the mass adoption of mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations. And once the public had embraced this, this new financial product, then it crashed. It was a huge problem.

Crypto Adoption Will Lead to ‘Significant Financial Repercussions’

Heath continued by adding that he was skeptical of the money that has entered into the crypto economy and said that the industry was a “license for the private sector to print money.” But he also called into question the Federal Reserve’s expansion of the American money system. The PMs proponent emphasized that the crypto economy has grown at an exponential rate as well. “If you look at cryptocurrency using the total market cap of cryptocurrency, it’s over tenfold,” Heath stressed.

Business has been booming for PM companies like Metalla Royalty & Streaming as the price of gold is tapping new highs again. Gold is trading for $1,904 per ounce while silver is trading for $27.92 an ounce at the time of publication. This past March, Heath’s company acquired royalty on Eldorado Gold’s Tocantinzinho Project (NYSE: EGO) (TSX: ELD). Heath said he was thrilled to work on a project that will cover “over 2 million ounces of gold.”

While speaking with kitco.com’s David Lin, Heath said that the crypto economy seems to be a recipe for disaster and he thinks it could very well lead to a possible financial crisis. “The crypto market could go upwards $3-$10 trillion. When you have that amount of capital wiped out of digital wallets across the globe, you better believe there is going to be some significant financial repercussions that are felt,” Heath concluded.