Miko Matsumura shared refreshing incites on the future of cryptocurrencies, the need for regulation and a preference for ineptitude over scams in the ICO world with CryptoTicker.io at the C3 Crypto Conference Berlin.
Miko studied abstract computational neural networks at Yale University where he earned a Master’s Degree in Neuroscience. He has spent his career working in the tech industry, but most recently he founded the crypto exchange Evercoin. It is similar to ShapeShift, but based in the U.S.
He has also a limited partner in the Pantera Capital ICO Fund, and has been involved in non-profit work through The Liberation Institute – a grassroots non-profit mental health organization co-founded by a network of counselors, psychotherapists, yoga teachers, artists and activists in San Francisco.
“Not worried”
Miko’s concern is with open-source currencies. He likens them to the history of open-source software, where private entities are always one step behind. He does not imply that there is no place for privatized, as they add value to software by building on top of the advances of open-source creations.
But in the end, open-source crypto currencies are on a “one way” movement to take over centralized currencies. Similarly to software, he is no advocating for eradication of fiat. He takes the more broad, almost anthropological approach that the versatility and adaptability of open-source will inevitably win over the majority, no matter what.
This view leads him to avoid paying attention to “market timing” – there is no reason to be overly concerned with day to day, or even yearly price of Bitcoin or any major cryptocurrencies, because the inevitable trend will be mass adoption.
He points to the inherent value of Bitcoin – Satoshi Consensus. Whether Bitcoin develops a way to be used as a daily payment currency is almost irrelevant in his opinion. It has already established it’s worth as an unbreakable store of value – a “Fort Knox,” and a replacement for the benefits of a “swiss bank account.”
The issues impeding adoption are maturity of blockchain services, fear of ICO scams and undeveloped government regulation.
One of the most interesting sentiments Miko shared is his view on “ineptitude.” We can’t expect perfect products to come out of brand new technology, so to avoid funding projects because there have been others displaying ineptitude would only reduce growth of knowledge in the space.
The major problem is “paying for vacations” – truly scam ICOs.
He points to the major issue governments have – of course they would prefer to take advantage of the technology for economic stimulus, but at the same time cannot disregard consumer protection.
Here the importance of developing regulation for KYC (Know-your customer) and AML (Anti-money-laundering) will dictate the future of exchanges – whether or not there will be anonymous exchanges in the future remains in question.
Private companies like Coinbase are making great strides to begin to unify institutional money and the cryptocurrency market.
