It’s time for Bitcoin to grow up, CoinGeek Toronto 2019

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Bitcoin may have just celebrated its tenth birthday, but the big push didn’t start until only a couple of years ago. As awareness and interest grow, the excitement turns to the realization that cryptocurrency is not just a toy – it’s a legitimate tool that will completely change the global financial ecosystem. In order for this to happen, though, in the words of Bitcoin Association President Jimmy Nguyen, “It’s time for Bitcoin to grow up.”

Nguyen led a discussion at CoinGeek Toronto 2019 with several individuals who understand well both the crypto and finance spaces. Centbee co-founder Angus Brown, nChain CEO David Washburn and co-founder and CEO of FRNT Financial Stephane Ouellette all joined Nguyen on stage to discuss how crypto is impacting the financial world and what changes are coming to make it even better. Before becoming involved with digital currency, all three were deep in the financial industry, so their goals with crypto transcend well beyond the typical crypto boundaries.

Bitcoin needs to be taken to a level that makes financial institutions and investors comfortable in supporting the ecosystem. Many are hesitant to embrace the technology for a myriad of reasons – old habits, resistance to the connotation of the term “crypto,” volatility and risk management, among others – and overcoming these hesitations are paramount to seeing Bitcoin prevail in the financial world.

FRNT is helping rewrite the script between crypto and finance by offering a platform that allows investors to take advantage of Bitcoin SV (BSV) derivative products. The platform was funded, in part, by Calvin Ayre and his Ayre Group and is changing how Bitcoin is viewed from a financial perspective. (5:03)

One area that could help tear down the barrier between crypto and finance is the introduction of regulations. The BSV community has made it clear, as opposed to most other crypto projects, that regulations are welcome. This is due to the acknowledgement that, for digital currency to work, it has to be regulated. It also stems from the fact that Bitcoin, as provided by Satoshi Nakamoto, was never meant to work outside of legal boundaries the way that many crypto projects have tried to assert.

In order to help facilitate the introduction of regulations, legislators and policymakers need to break down the Bitcoin infrastructure and address different components separately. Exchanges should be better regulated as a whole, especially in terms of crypto-to-fiat activities. Additionally, the introduction of whitelists or blacklists for token projects would help to make the Bitcoin space more mature.

Bitcoin has the capability to do something that no previous technology has ever been able to provide – true risk management and transparent audits. It can almost completely prevent financial fraud and revolutionize the accounting processes for financial audits, and this level of attention is only possible with BSV. While companies have attempted to tackle the processes through other blockchain projects, they have come to realize that those platforms are too slow. However, BSV’s large scalability makes it the perfect solution and it will become the go-to platform for many large businesses.