Does cryptocurrency need Wall Street to succeed? Not according to Dash CEO and former Wall Street executive Ryan Taylor, who left a 15 year career as a hedge fund analyst working for a $20 billion investment firm to set up Dash.
In an interview with CCN, Taylor spoke of his departure from Wall Street to get into crypto, and how Wall Street isn't necessary, but it would help. Taylor left Wall Street because he say the great opportunity of crypto:
This is an incredibly immature industry with enormous potential for well-run projects.
Another reason for leaving was because the:
... technology has the potential to change the world for the better by empowering some of the most disaffected people in the world with a greater degree of financial freedom. It is truly an exciting place to be working.
In creating Dash, he was working towards enabling merchants to handle payments using cryptocurrency instead of the traditional fiat currency we are all used to. Dash has had some great success in adoption so far.
Earlier this year, it was reported that New Hampshire was using Dash in over a dozen businesses. This has probably increased. In countries where the economy has taken a serious downturn, cryptocurrency has stepped in as the payment of choice. With the economic crisis in Venezuela, Dash has seen over 800 merchants accepting it for payments. Dash is also very active in the economic joke of Zimbabwe.
Taylor spoke of the two-faced message that much of Wall Street sends when something new develops. Regarding crypto, he says:
... I suspect many others are working on solutions, even while simultaneously publicly shunning cryptocurrencies.
While Wall Street has been mocking and shunning crypto, it seems to have been in favor of keeping most people out of it and holding the traditional assets, while they swoop in to get their hands on things at a lower price.
Taylor thinks crypto is doing fine without Wall Street acceptance anyways:
Crypto doesn’t need Wall Street to grow. It is getting adopted more and more every year with or without it. There are major benefits and drawbacks from its involvement, but I think netting those out, it is an overall positive thing that crypto is becoming more and more integrated with the traditional financial system.
His point is accurate, as the acceptance of the traditional financial system will enable easier payments by integrating crypto into the existing structure of society. It only adds to the utility of crypto. A lack of the interconnection between the old and new school will mean crypto will have a hard time getting adopted, but it won't stop the juggernaut.
Taylor makes an analogy with the US dollar to exemplify why the integration is greatly beneficial for crypto adoption:
Would you rather use the U.S. dollar if it were not integrated with the financial system? By turning the question around, it becomes obvious that this will help crypto adoption.
The lack of integration in the traditional financial system is one barrier to wide adoption, but there is another in the form of regulatory uncertainty that has many people on the fence or feeling negative about dipping their toes into the new water.
Right now, regulatory uncertainty is preventing a lot of businesses from jumping in to provide services or become comfortable accepting payments in digital currencies. Regulators will eventually catch up and provide businesses with the guidance they need to gain comfort with it.
Banks having already been jumping into the waters, and that means more will follow. Regulators have usually dealt with intuitions, and with banks getting involved more, that will force regulators to get involved and legitimize the cryptocurrency world that many fear.
Cryptocurrency sprung up as a grassroots movement completely devoid of the traditional financial system, and worked to compete against it and make people more free by comparison. Banks eventually caught up, somewhat hesitantly. Regulators are next behind them, it's only a matter of time. Then the big influx into crypto will happen, which will likely see a great increase in value.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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