So part two of the Meetup on the 10th Jan
The below is my interpretation of what was said and not a necessarily a stance or personal view
Simon Dixon was up next, again another very good speaker and his knowledge of the space is vast. He covered a lot and I say again this blog is no way going to do it justice
He started by saying how enthused he is right now with regards to the explosion in the space
When he first started an even like this one would be in a pub and there would not be many there, not like todays packed house
Simon then covered his background
His website is here for more detail,
Simon has worked in Finance moving through several areas of Wholesale Banking*
*(Take a look at www.investopedia.com for a Finance Dictionary and reference point)
He worked in trading as well as launching IPO's - Initial Public Offerings where the term ICO has been lifted. Again if you are not familiar with an IPO check out Investopedia's site.
Think I picked up right that he started to have concern about the systemic risks in Banks and then quit his job to then
talk about the Risk in Bank Deposits & wrote a book Bnk to the future which he said was the first book that covered bitcoin
The first one was not successful, no one wanted to listen to the systematic risks in banks or the technology behind them, then the crash happened and that all changed.
The first meet up he went to he said he struck gold however it did not seem like it at the time
Bitcoin conference in Prague 40 people which consisted of 20 "geeks" and 20 activists
Bitcoin was $3 Mt.Gox sponsored the event he mentioned the videos are still on youtube
Not sure this maybe these;
Simon then enthused about how the space has exploded from a Social experiment thats now disrupting finance and is excited to see support teams struggling to cope with the volume of support tickets as this a sign of the huge success
He then went on to talk about the 3 things that differentiates Bitcoin and putting cash in the bank , there is a CNBC youtube clip on his website he covers it on here as well
in summary
When you put your Cash in the Bank they now own it
When you deposit Bitcoin in your wallet , you still own it (careful not to leave it on exchange)
So this means your money in the Bank is at risk with regards to the Bank and it failing as well as any the Government , think about what has happened in Greece for example
Because you can own you can spend as wish, you have the ability to transfer it as you want
Governments have to look after domestic economy they look to create stable economy this by its nature creates an inflationary environment where saving reduces power of your cash
Bitcoin does not care about location and because it has a fixed supply if utility and demand increases the price goes up
Simon summarised by saying in the early days it was an underground activity it's way beyond that now and still an undervalued currency.
Interesting that he stated that it has succeeded because of the the Banks rhetoric, initially they dismissed it however they then spun the conversation from Bitcoin to Blockchain and lauded the tech capabilities it had to offer , this then pushed the Bitcoin agenda mainstream.
Bitcoin is a scarce deflationary currency and its purchase power goes up over time.
In summary :
Bank deposit the Bank is the legal owner
Bitcoin you own
Bank when they own your cash they spend it on least risky high return investments for example - mortgage lending
Bitcoin spend anywhere no bank required
Bank inflationary by design
Bitcoin deflationary
Simon got into bitcoin as a hedge against bank deposits the below are some of the investments he has made
He was in at the start and invested in what are now some of the most recognised exchange names at the time they were struggling to get noticed and secure funds. Now there is no way for an individual to get invested
Scaling is the big issue which Nick had mentioned earlier and the only thing that matters - there is unlimited demand for storage on blockchain
There are Altcoins out there trying to solve it however he stated there have been many scams the key approach to invest is diversification
ICO's came along - He mentioned that Vitalek Of Ethereum fame was initially involved in the mastercoin project first was mater coin trying to make Ethereum it came along 15Mil of bitcoin they raised 2000 Eth made it 2cents ERC20 came along Vitalek was part of the mastercoin project
He does not believe bitcoin can be cash due to volatility - Gov create cash and stable money and intervention he sees Bitcoin as digital gold and a mechanism to buy other coins.
He said that the conditions to create Bitcoin will never happen again and its security is second to none, he stressed this by explaining :
Miners tried to get their way - they failed
Developers tried to get their way they failed
Even hackers hackers have tried they failed
The one thing that has survived through all of this is Bitcoin
He said that everyone needs it to protect themselves against own government regional protection
The tradeoff is that you do need to learn how to protect your own money and step up personal security
Unique passwords & 2fa are going to be critical ,Bitcoin is a really a good way to learn when someone can steal your money if you dont understand / protect your passwords / private keys
The questions which I again struggled to keep up with however I did catch the below in his answers:
It will be impossible to create Bitcoin again, the initial underground development with 5 years bug testing no one knows who the original Satoshi is person or group and the balance mining power of 50% so it can't be attacked or manipulated.
I am sure he said that Bulgaria had paid of its national debt mining bitcoin, I searched this and found the following articles:
https://www.coindesk.com/bulgarian-government-sitting-3-billion-bitcoin/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5163209/Bulgaria-Bitcoins-pay-FIFTH-debt.html
Which actually state they have seized the funds from criminals who were mining.
In summary I am now signed up on Bnk To The Future , will be buying the book , If you ever get the chance to see Simon present then sign up!