The Crypto Currency event took place at Grant Thornton LLP, hosted by the British American Business Council and sponsored by Grant Thornton and Royal Bank of Scotland. The evening was dedicated to the topic of Bitcoin or Cryptographic Currency which is pertinent to the very future of technological and financial institutions in San Francisco. The seminar-style discussion, headed by an expert panel, provided the 50 attendees with the opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of Blockchain particularly Bitcoin.

The discussion panel consisted of a collection of experts from financial, technological and legal fields, in order to ensure that a wide range of issues surrounding Blockchain were covered. The panel was made up of: Wendy Matheny from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Daniel Romero from Coinbase; Bart Stephens of Blockchain Capital; Joel Waterfield from Grant Thornton, which was excellently moderated by John Stewart from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

During the first part of the discussion, John asked the panelists to attempt to define in their own words what Blockchain and Bitcoin are respectively, so the audience could gain more clarity on this somewhat complex subject.

Daniel notes that Bitcoin is a new technology which fundamentally provides a solution to online transactions. “Bitcoin becomes a trustful way to transact in an inherently trustless environment over the internet.” The attraction to Bitcoin is that it is a traceable form of online currency and offers a little to no online transaction fee compared to what is now controlled by major financial institutions. ‘Bitcoin’ itself is in reference to the actual technology and the token itself; ‘Blockchain’ is then the ledger and record of every Bitcoin transaction.

Bart offers an interesting analogy in that he describes Blockchain/Bitcoin in reference to the Internet. “The internet as we know it allows for the secure and instantaneous exchange of data the Blockchain allows for the secure and instantaneous exchange of value, that value is then the native digital currency called Bitcoin. Bitcoin and Blockchain are inextricably linked, Bitcoin is the first manifestation of Blockchain technology, Blockchain enables for the transfer of bitcoin.”

After these useful definitions, it was then the role of the panel to explain why businesses currently have a hard time adopting this currency.

In order to answer this Joel threw another insightful analogy into the mix and likened Blockchain to the early Apple computer in 1990’s. “Apple designed its first computer in relation to other computers on the market, like the IBM. It did not work well as it was not meant to work in the same way; they spent a lot of time thinking well how do we get it to work like an IBM? Companies are approaching Blockchain in a similar way in that they want to centralize the Blockchain. The whole thing about Blockchain is decentralization and not having control, it requires a non-linear style of thinking in regards to finance.”

Perhaps the most central question on most of the attendee’s minds was: what does Blockchain and Bitcoin mean for business growth going forward?

There seemed to be a consensus among the panel in regards to this topic. Whilst it may be early days of Bitcoin/Blockchain, it is vital that businesses become educated and open minded about its possibilities for future growth. If you would like more information about Bitcoin or about purchasing Bitcoin go to Coinbase, or Blockchain Capital.

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