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conducted with fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar.
But have any experts suggest that we eliminate the U.S. dollar (and other currencies)
because some people abuse it? Of course not.
I’m pretty sure every criminal also uses a mobile phone and the internet. Should we ban
them too?
Again – some people will use cryptos for illegal activity. There’s no stopping that.
But in all the time I’ve spent in the crypto world, talking with blockchain entrepreneurs and
founders, along with a string of blockchain venture capitalists and investors, the topic of
criminality and/or money laundering has literally never come up.
In fact, quite the opposite, nearly every professional in the space expects know-yourcustomer
(KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations to be enhanced, not
diminished.
Don’t paint all cryptos with a single brush
There’s no denying that bitcoin was originally encouraged by enthusiasts who tended to err
on the side of anti-government and libertarianism . And there’s still a fierce underpinning of
that ethos within the crypto market today. But the market has expanded far beyond the
realm of any single political ideology.
For example, bitcoin’s market value as a share of the overall crypto market is now less than
a third. A year ago, it was over 85 percent.
There are thousands of crypto asset enterprises out there. Some projects veer towards
radical transparency. Others are committed to providing absolute privacy. Some cryptos are
plainly based around establishing personal identity. And others couldn’t care less.
As for folks like me? Well, at the most basic level I find the idea of a decentralised, fast,
secure, immutable means of transferring value to be utterly fascinating and ultimately
necessary. (And this is just bitcoin, a currency which is only a fraction of what crypto assets
are capable of).
Two months ago, I tried to pay a translator based in China with an international bank
transfer from HSBC to a bank in China. The first attempt was kicked back after several
days, “rejected” by the recipient bank for no specific reason.
The second attempt went through (i.e. the funds were deducted from our company bank
account), but the recipient never received them.
Where was the money then? No idea. Neither bank had an answer. (I’m not even kidding –
the money was simply unaccounted for, lost somewhere).
Some SIX WEEKS later, the funds have now reappeared in our account after countless
man-hours wasted.
Using a crypto currency like bitcoin cash (BCH), I could have done the transfer from my
phone to the recipients in a few seconds, and verified the confirmation on a public ledger.
The point I’m making here is that the time for sweeping generalisations about the nature of
the entire crypto market is long gone. It’s symptomatic of a wider trend which sees the
media in general focus on the most extreme elements of a particular story because that’s
what generates headlines and clicks.
The reasonable, rational and genuinely inquisitive approach is dismissed because it actually
requires a bit more effort.
In my humble opinion, crypto is worth making the effort for.
Good investing,
Tama
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