Despite his ‘super interesting’ view of cryptocurrency and blockchain, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales tells delegates at the Block Seoul conference in South Korea that these technologies still have many challenges to overcome before they can be used in real world activities.
“I haven’t seen anything that will suggest that we’re on the verge of seeing mass consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies,” explained Wales, noting that it is too early to say and he is not willing to make a bet on what the world will look like in 20 years.
Wales has found himself speaking in another blockchain-focused event, this time in Seoul, despite criticizing the industry months ago. In his interview with Business Insider in July this year, he admitted that Wikipedia is never going to get involved with cryptocurrencies. Wikimedia Foundation, which owns and curates Wikipedia, accepts donations in BTC since 2014.
Wales joined a strong panel on the future of cybersecurity at the day 2 conference of the Block Seoul 2018. The panel was well-represented by figures from the government, including former New York State Governor David Paterson and former United States Director of National Intelligence David Clapper, as well as entrepreneur Sung Kim, CEO of Neoframe and Coredax.
Moderated by BTCC Founder Bobby Lee, the panel discussed the challenges of cybersecurity within the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. Paterson, who has earned praises for his efforts made as a governor during the 2008 fiscal crisis, has stated that neither government nor the blockchain community understand each other.
“Please remember that the Securities and Exchange Commission began in 1934. It began as a result of money that was frittered away in a lot of reckless schemes contributing to the stock market crashed in 1929. So there’s always been a sense that the public needs protection particularly from financial arrangements,” said Paterson. He also said that the government is not fully equipped to really understand every investment opportunity. However, Paterson pointed out that the government recognizes inventions and new technologies and there is always a mission to supporting these.
When it comes to regulation, Clapper believes that there is a case to be made. He said, “If people always behave with altruistic motivations then there wouldn’t be any need for regulation but invariably if there’s an opportunity to illicitly profit from something, people out there are going to take advantage of that.”
Wales added that the very fundamental nature of cryptocurrencies being global is also a challenge. He mentioned that major exchanges, which have experienced massive hacking globally in the recent years, are not necessarily in jurisdictions that have a strong tradition of safe and secure banking.
The session ended with the panelists stating their outlook on these technologies. Clapper thinks that there is a tremendous potential national security implication for blockchain technology that has yet to be exploited. In addition, Paterson sees this era with a positive attitude and stated that this isn’t the first time the U.S. has faced financial challenges. Referring to the days of John Dillinger and Jesse James, he stated, “they kind of got that worked out pretty much and maybe they’ll do it here as well.”
Also watch: Block Seoul Day 1
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul Day 2: Crypto mass adoption still has ‘too many problems’ appeared first on Coingeek.
Despite his ‘super interesting’ view of cryptocurrency and blockchain, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales tells delegates at the Block Seoul conference in South Korea that these technologies still have many challenges to overcome before they can be used in real world activities.
“I haven’t seen anything that will suggest that we’re on the verge of seeing mass consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies,” explained Wales, noting that it is too early to say and he is not willing to make a bet on what the world will look like in 20 years.
Wales has found himself speaking in another blockchain-focused event, this time in Seoul, despite criticizing the industry months ago. In his interview with Business Insider in July this year, he admitted that Wikipedia is never going to get involved with cryptocurrencies. Wikimedia Foundation, which owns and curates Wikipedia, accepts donations in BTC since 2014.
Wales joined a strong panel on the future of cybersecurity at the day 2 conference of the Block Seoul 2018. The panel was well-represented by figures from the government, including former New York State Governor David Paterson and former United States Director of National Intelligence David Clapper, as well as entrepreneur Sung Kim, CEO of Neoframe and Coredax.
Moderated by BTCC Founder Bobby Lee, the panel discussed the challenges of cybersecurity within the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. Paterson, who has earned praises for his efforts made as a governor during the 2008 fiscal crisis, has stated that neither government nor the blockchain community understand each other.
“Please remember that the Securities and Exchange Commission began in 1934. It began as a result of money that was frittered away in a lot of reckless schemes contributing to the stock market crashed in 1929. So there’s always been a sense that the public needs protection particularly from financial arrangements,” said Paterson. He also said that the government is not fully equipped to really understand every investment opportunity. However, Paterson pointed out that the government recognizes inventions and new technologies and there is always a mission to supporting these.
When it comes to regulation, Clapper believes that there is a case to be made. He said, “If people always behave with altruistic motivations then there wouldn’t be any need for regulation but invariably if there’s an opportunity to illicitly profit from something, people out there are going to take advantage of that.”
Wales added that the very fundamental nature of cryptocurrencies being global is also a challenge. He mentioned that major exchanges, which have experienced massive hacking globally in the recent years, are not necessarily in jurisdictions that have a strong tradition of safe and secure banking.
The session ended with the panelists stating their outlook on these technologies. Clapper thinks that there is a tremendous potential national security implication for blockchain technology that has yet to be exploited. In addition, Paterson sees this era with a positive attitude and stated that this isn’t the first time the U.S. has faced financial challenges. Referring to the days of John Dillinger and Jesse James, he stated, “they kind of got that worked out pretty much and maybe they’ll do it here as well.”
Also watch: Block Seoul Day 1
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul Day 2: Crypto mass adoption still has ‘too many problems’ appeared first on Coingeek.
It is apparent how cryptocurrencies are starting to change the world and how people live today. And yet, there is not much sense of urgency among governments and regulatory bodies in most territories and jurisdictions as to how these new form of money can be technically defined and used by everyone.
On the 17th of September 2018, the first day of the Block Seoul 2018 conference, a panel of investors and innovators came together to discuss what cryptocurrency is and define whether it is an asset class. The Financial Times described an asset class as a broad group of security investments that tend to act similarly in different market conditions. Equities like stocks, bonds, and cash are all asset classes.
Among the panelists, BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee and Elmar Bob from Tech Alliances APJ agreed that cryptocurrency is an asset class. Bob shared, “I’ve been living and working in Japan for about 20 years. Japan has always recognized Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as an asset class.” He added, “In fact, in Japan Bitcoin is legal tender so you can actually buy and sell goods with Bitcoin. Now, that’s kind of an important aspect because Japan is third largest economy in the world. It’s something we need to pay attention to.”
Lee agreed and shared the possible reason why countries all of the world seem to have challenges with creating and defining regulation for Bitcoin. “Bitcoin does not fit into any one of these (securities, equities, bonds, real estate, and precious metal). It has aspects of all five of these asset classes but I think Bitcoin cryptocurrency is a unique piece that’s why countries and regulations will have a challenge,” Lee explained.
For CITDEX’s Chris Cutler, however, cryptocurrencies are assets—but they’re not asset classes. He then raised a question: “How does it fit within the regulatory framework, in the legislation framework?”
According to Cutler, there is a rich history of how investment instruments are treated under tax rules. He said, “You’ll see different treatments for securities tokens offerings that distinguish them from utility token offerings in the United States, and those are critical distinctions. It’s also frustrating dealing with governments often because they are reactive and not keeping up.”
The panel also discussed other use cases for tokens that exist in the ecosystem that have not been seen before. Trevor Koverko, of Polymath, forecast the next evolution will involve moving from paper to digital, and then to smart contracts, where programs and simple tasks as filing will be automated. Cutler also expects that security tokens will be disruptive in Venture Capital industries.
Sandra Wu, of Origin X Capital, pointed out that with Security Token Offerings (STO) there will be regulators which may only allow accredited investors, which, in turn, may defeat the purpose of a decentralized feature of the technology because it may only be about “the big boys club” again. She asked, “How do we ensure that there will be more individuals coming in and playing in this space? Because ultimately, with this type of technology, you want mass use adoption and therefore, a lot of investors coming in.”
Wu closed the panel stating the future of crypto is looking bright. She hopes to see new custody offerings and new regulations that will guide the community to a new path.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul Day 1: Is cryptocurrency a new asset class? appeared first on Coingeek.
