In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero, Nick Garner of Rize Digital explains why it is OK that crypto regulation is coming.
One of the main selling points of all cryptocurrencies is the removal of the middlemen, aka central authorities, governing transactions and regulating exchanges. Thanks to blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, people are able to do worry-free financial transactions without the outrageous fees.
The popularity of cryptocurrency, however, is making financial regulators anxious, especially when it is already beginning to affect traditional exchanges. The governments’ fear of the unknown has driven them to wage war against cryptocurrencies.
Nick Garner of Rize Digital believes that in the battle between cryptocurrencies and regulators, the latter will emerge as victorious in the end. Crypto regulation is coming, he said, especially in the first-world markets.
For the second- and third-world countries, cryptocurrencies will become the currency of choice due to the growing number of smartphone users, according to Garner. He believes that cryptocurrencies will reign supreme in these markets because the governments don’t have the capacity to control them—yet.
“Battles are fought in many different places. So there’s the war and there’s the battles. The war is going to be won by the regulators because people need player safety, they want it,” Garner told CalvinAyre.com. “So they’re going to win in first world markets and rightly so, because you gotta have player protection.”
Garner noted that the gambling industry’s transformation, thanks to blockchain, will come in two tiers: the first level will see blockchain enabling more efficient transactions in the gambling industry, followed by left-field disruption.
However, Garner warned that regulations are going to creep up, along with the hassle factor.
“So, what I keep on saying to people is go look at the ICO market place and just read the white papers that these people have to put forward in order to describe what their big idea is to get the money. So, the better the white paper, the more exciting it is to the crowds as it were, the more money they’re going to raise,” Garner said. “That’s a great way to work out what’s coming through. I think it has something to do with gambling becoming decentralized. So, think about file sharing, think about torrents, think about the ways it disrupted the traditional music and entertainment markets, and how those big businesses go towards streaming to deal with the problem of file sharing.”
