The block show panels
The block show is in its second day of meetups and panel discussions.
The show kicked off with a robust debate about the usefulness and usability of cryptocurrencies in society. This was between Nouriel Robin, CEO of Roubini Macro associates and predictor of the global financial crisis in 2008, also well known as ‘Dr.Doom’ alongside Alex Mashinsky, founder of the Celsius Network. Roubini argued that there is no security in the cryptocurrency space, he also claims that there is “no democratization and decentralization.”
Mashinsky said “the current system does not work for seven billion people in the world,” while”only people who work on Wall Street can pay their bills.” He added,” saying that fintech has nothing to do with crypto is not true.
The conference continued further with discussions about the deployment of blockchain in e-commerce, and how this will impact consumers and retailers businesses. There were a few speakers who expressed their doubts about the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday lives. Like included Austin Kimm, COO at Crypterium.
Kimm also mentioned that there are still no use cases, in the industry for older people to use cryptocurrency as yet. Eric Benz, a founding member of the U.K. Digital Currency Association, Said that the ecosystem was still very small and that consumer uncertainty about the cryptocurrencies potential is affecting its growth and use.
More interesting speaker sessions
Mike Butcher, the editor-At-Large at TechCrunch, claimed that a robust legal infrastructure is necessary for the industry to thrive. Butcher said “regulation is the key”, nothing that “Poland and France are embracing cryptocurrency as a legal methodology.”
Later in the conference, Roubini joined a debate on how the blockchain is seen from the perspective of major institutions, joining industry players like Tone Vays, an ex-Wall Street professional and researcher, Sterlin Lujan, communication ambassador at Bitcoin.com, and David Drake, founder, and chairman at LDJ Capital. Roubini asserted that “everything in the crypto space is useless,”.
Vladimir Tomko, CEO of Blockchain Cuties, argued that by the year 2019 the gaming industry will embrace tokenization on the Blockchain “for sure.” While Tomko admitted that a lot of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) were scams and a few crypto games were Ponzi schemes, Tomko said that the community and developers are working to make the environment more transparent and safer.
Manish Sharma, Senior Product Manager at LinkedIn, proposed to give “power back to the people,” Dan Itkis, co-creator of Blockchain payment processor GRAFT, Argued that “blockchain is all about decentralization.”
During the Bitcoin ETF panel discussion, blockchain media advisor Dallas Santana mentioned that he was not comfortable with how the crypto space is moving because there is no real business behind it and that the bitcoin story is hurting the development of the industry.
Are you following the Block show panel and what do you think about these suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment below.
