Bitcoin Session
by Adam George
October 16, 2014
At the 15th annual World Knowledge Forum, three major pioneers of the recent Bitcoin phenomenon gathered to enlighten the audience on this new cryptocurrency. Jinyoung Lee Englund, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Bitcoin Foundation, was joined by Roger Ver, CEO of Memory Dealers and one of the first investors with Bitcoin, and Jonathan Mark Southurst, the Editor for the Asian Region of CoinDesk.
Mr. Ver described Bitcoin as “indestructible, uncontrollable money that anybody, anywhere in the world can instantly use without having to ask for permission.”
A virtual form of currency marked by its lack of regulation and adamantly supported by its users, or “miners,” Bitcoin could enable anyone in the world to make any kind of transaction with any other user if it achieves widespread adoption.
“The supply of Bitcoin is limited, but not because of politicians. It’s limited by the laws of mathematics,” Mr. Ver stated. “I think everyone in this room is smart enough to know that we can trust mathematics more than we can trust politicians.”
After Mr. Ver examined the utility of Bitcoin, Ms. Englund focused on how the essence of Bitcoin mirrors the goals President Geun Hye Park presented in her 2013 joint address to the Korean congress. Ms. Englund firmly believes that Bitcoin can help Korea maintain the center stage of innovation.
“The creative economy is what we needed to jump-start Korea’s economy again,” Ms. Englund avowed, echoing President Park. “China is quickly eclipsing Korea in innovation; Korea needs new ideas in order to jumpstart its economy.”
Ms. Englund also looked at the benefit of zero regulation within Bitcoin, explaining that with other payments, like credit cards, a third party must always intervene, approve, and record the transaction. This is not the case for Bitcoin, which has eliminated the necessity for the third party.
“Whenever you take out the middle man, you reduce cost and increase options for the consumer,” she said.
Following Ms. England’s comments, Mr. Southurst addressed some of the negative responses Bitcoin has received and dispelled concerns with the fiat currency.
“There are a lot of people out there who disparage Bitcoin…[but] these are literally the guys who, in the 90s, looked at the Internet and saw no value there,” Mr. Southurst claimed, referring to two prominent individuals who have vocally criticized Bitcoin.
Mr. Southurst then compared the narrow-minded perception of Bitcoin’s initial stages to that of personal computers in the 1980s: “Everyone approached it with fear and awe, not knowing how to possibly fathom such a creation. But now we can control it, without having to acquire any licenses or approvals. The same will apply to Bitcoin,” Mr. Southurst assured.
After their opening statements, the panelists converged on the idea that governments should embrace Bitcoin and avoid limiting people’s ability to take part in the virtual transactions. In fact, Mr. Ver questioned the qualifications of any government that decided to abrogate the use of Bitcoin by its people.
“Even if there is only one country with a free market exchange of Bitcoin, that will set the market price for everybody else around the world,” he said, “and anyone with a smartphone will be able to use Bitcoin.”
Upon the conclusion of the session, all three panelists agreed on the need to help push Bitcoin towards the mainstream and jumpstart a new economic trend. Mr. Ver even offered to send anyone willing to participate 1,000 Korean won at the end of the talk in the form of Bitcoin, hoping to ignite future Bitcoin miners. With the need for global collaboration rising, Bitcoin could easily pave the way for more innovations worldwide.