A Professor at Cornell University says Bitcoin (BITCOMP) “may not last that much long.”

What Happened

Eswar Prasad, senior professor of international trade policy at Cornell University, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” that he believes “Bitcoin’s use of the blockchain technology is not very efficient.”

Prasad said he thinks the apex cryptocurrency “doesn’t scale up very well” and that newer cryptos are using blockchain technology more efficiently. Another concern the professor has with Bitcoin is that it uses “a validation mechanism for transactions that is environmentally destructive.”

Why It Matters

Prasad says that Bitcoin is not an effective medium of exchange. “I don’t think it’s going to have any fundamental value other than whatever investor’s faith leads it to have,” he added.

Although the professor acknowledges that blockchain technology will be “fundamentally transformative” to the financial world, and to daily transactions, including the purchase of items like houses and cars.

Opposing View

Prasad's opinion stands in stark contrast to that of MicroStrategy Inc (MSTR) CEO and Bitcoin Bull Michael Saylor, who recently said "It's pretty clear that Bitcoin is winning. Gold is losing." He added that when it comes to the company's purchasing of Bitcoin, "we're going to keep stacking forever."

Saylor recently announced that MicroStrategy has purchased close to 122,478 Bitcoin (currently valued at over $5.7 billion), and the company could lend some of it to a counterparty to generate income.

Bitcoin is priced at $47,015.50 up 0.17% as of Sunday morning. The cryptocurrency has been trading between $42,874.62 and $60,004.43 over the past month.