October 8th 2014, Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce “Study on the use of digital currency”, 11th session Background on the “Study on the use of digital currency”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUNGFZDO8mM
AA: It's easier to be transparent than anonymous. Anonymity of bitcoin is widely misunderstood. Cash is far more likely be used for nefarious purposes than bitcoin, since the latter records every transaction and can be audited by anyone with an internet connection.
When an identity is attached to a transaction, it can be traced easily.
DB: the blockchain is a recording of ownership with a timestamp. Clearly criminals will continue to prefer cash.
Don't treat it like a single entity, or as a centralized entity. Bitcoin has many more flexible and transparent ways to respond to consumer protect than centralized administration.
For starters, you're your own custodian. End user is the only one with full control of the money.
DB: Adaptability exhibited by multi-signature adoption in 2012. In response to failed wallet services and frauds like Mt Gox, the protocol was enhanced 3 years after its creation by allowing users to generate numerous keys (m-of-n mulitsig).
AA: let bitcoin mature on its own before attempting to regulate it. Understand the nuances of decentralized vs centralized money.
AA: Btc is at 1992-era Internet. When sending email required command line skills typed into a mainframe. Within 10-years it was mainstream, within 20 years my Mom could send email on her iPad.
It will take some time, but I think it will be 3x faster. Within 8 yrs there will be mainstream applications.
4. If no central oversight, who ensure harmful entities don't use bitcoin to send money all over the world?
AA: far more benefit to bitcoin than terrorist financing. Gangsters and criminals will always prefer cash. The tiny minority that use it for evil can be sussed out by common modern-day policing / investigative techniques.
Bitcoin can empower the poor, unbanked of the world, by lowering their fees and increasing their access to capital.
AA: Wallets can be hacked. Bitcoin as whole cannot. Billions are sent over the network and there have been no hacks acknowledged, despite the best efforts of many elite hackers to steal from the network.
Must distinguish between the system and individual wallets. Groups of hackers used to be able to take down Yahoo or Google. They can't do that now, because dynamic systems constantly exposed to threatening stimuli become stronger (anti-fragile). Open source nature of the technology allows for this.
AA: Most alts are copycats. Cryptocoin adoption follows power law with long-tail distribution. Only a small handful will have economic viability and value, but there will be hundreds or thousands of alts that can exist in parallel.
AA: Nature of currencies are changing. Bitcoin is already bigger than some smaller national currencies.
I see national central bank utilizing blockchain technology to underpin national digital currency.