Sputnik’s reporter on the ground Denis Bolotskiy sat down with one of SPIEF’s participants, Sven Wagenknecht, the editor-in-chief at BTC-ECHO Bitcoin & Blockchain News, to discuss the role blockchain technology could play in the banking sector.
“Blockchain provides a secure, cheap infrastructure for all kinds of transactions. It could be shares, bonds, assets and all other property goods. That is why a lot of banks are trying to do blockchain research,” the editor said.
Talking about the bitcoin cryptocurrency, Wagenknecht said that there is a lot of potential regarding adopting bitcoin as mainstream, but bitcoin is independent of central banks and financial and political developments.
“Such alternative investment options are very attractive to a lot of investors and they diversify the portfolio,” the editor said.
“The bitcoin price today stands at about $2,300, so that is a lot more than some weeks or months before. In the long term I am very optimistic to see a higher market capitalization and higher price of the bitcoin,” Wagenknecht said.
He explained that volatility is due to the fact that the market is less regulated so when the regulatory standards are improved, there will be a decrease in volatility.
Talking about the security concerns that are attributed to cryptocurrencies, such as the black market of goods and demands for ransom, the editor said, “On the one hand, the blockchain is very transparent as anyone can see any transaction ever made, but on the other, one cannot see the personal data of whoever made the transaction. It is, however, possible to find out who is behind the transaction, by analyzing patterns of transaction history or by analyzing the interface between the blockchain ecosystem and the regulated financial market,” he said.
Talking about SPIEF 2017 the editor said that he is taking part in a discussion on overcoming obstacles in the IT sector.
“The challenges are very tough and need international solutions because there are no national borders in such transactions so we must find a regulatory framework and set standards,” he said.
The agenda of the gathering for SPIEF 2017 will include key global economic and financial issues, as well as prospects for sustainable economic development.
