I love this stuff - bitcoin, ethereum, blockchain technology - and what the future holds.
Blockchain technology isn't just a more efficient way to settle securities. It will fundamentally change market structures, and maybe even the architecture of the Internet itself.
We need to come up with use cases for this technology that drive clear benefits for individuals and institutions - these are our customers. Too often we see bitcoin and blockchain technologies as solutions in search of a problem. We don't just need these systems to be technically better than the alternatives - we need them to be more user-friendly.
The blockchain does one thing: It replaces third-party trust with mathematical proof that something happened.
What's really happening is that every bank in the country is experimenting with the blockchain and experimenting with bitcoin to figure out where the value is. For the first time ever, they're working hand in hand with startups. Banks are asking startups for help to build products.
I think that governments are going to get disrupted by the blockchain. I think in the same way that the Internet forced everyone to evolve, the Blockchain is going to change the game again.
There are very few fundamental shifts in global infrastructure that can happen in our life times. The financial infrastructure is one of them, and the Blockchain is changing the way we think about the transfer of value.
Belarus will become the first government in the world that opens wide opportunities for the use of blockchain technology.
2016 has proven to be the year where the most forward-thinking financial institutions are actually using blockchain technologies for payments and settlement rather than as an experiment.
We don't think the blockchain can do most of what's been ascribed to it. But we're entering the Internet of value - and that is very much underhyped.
