Mark T. Williams

Mark T. Williams, better known in the Bitcoin community as Professor Bitcorn, is a Boston University faculty member. In 2013 Williams predicted that bitcoin "could" trade for less than 10 dollars by mid-2014,[1] and provided testimony before the New York State Department of Financial Services hearing on virtual currencies. During the February 10, 2014 flash crash, the value of bitcoin dropped by over 80 percent, to a low of $102 before rising to over $600. The low in this crash was still an order of magnitude higher than Williams's prediction. He raised concerns about Bitcoin including it being a high-risk virtual commodity, having artificially inflated price, extreme hoarding, hyped demand, high potential for market manipulation, and need for strong regulation.[2][3] On April 2, 2014, Williams provided congressional testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business discussing the 10 major risks associated with Bitcoin.[4] The Bitcoin community remains critical of his concerns,[5][6] and usually refers to him as "Professor Bitcorn." Williams also continues to assert that the virtual currency is in a hyper bubble and will eventually suffer a price collapse.[5]