The blockchain/crypto week in quotes

“People who are watching the daily price of Bitcoin are really missing the whole point…The whole idea of Bitcoin is it’s a store of value. It’s a chaos hedge, or schmuck insurance, as I like to call it.” Morgan Creek Capital CEO Mark Yusko 

“This (becoming the first country ever to legalise salary payments in cryptocurrency) is a very positive step for New Zealand – the government is already taking a progressive approach towards digital government services. They are also applying similarly pragmatic steps to integrating crypto into the wider tax and payments systems.

These kinds of assurances as businesses and employees are precisely what the industry has been asking of other jurisdictions for years now. My hope is that this ruling will prompt the remaining D9 to follow a similar approach shortly. In the fight to attract the best talent to a country, New Zealand is already punching well above its weight and this is yet another ribbon to add to that bow.” Dave Hodgson, Director and Co-Founder, NEM Ventures

“It will be interesting to see how China getting ready to launch its own cryptocurrency will shake up the market. It’s great to see a positive governmental move towards crypto, given other major economies such as the US and India are taking steps to stifle cryptocurrency adoption. It’s clear that China understands the opportunity cost of missing out on crypto growth. Digital currencies are coming into the mainframe and international competition is heating up. Economies risk being disadvantaged if they are left behind.

This new currency could even rival Facebook’s notorious proposed cryptocurrency, Libra. This is largely because Facebook is not permitted in China, giving the government a potential monopoly over the market. Looking ahead, China is well positioned to get ahead of the game and take up a leading position in one of the key asset classes of the future. Although a certain level of regulatory scrutiny is wise, other countries should consider taking China’s lead. 

Whether regulators like it or not, the adoption of digital currencies will continue. Just last week, Bitcoin shot to new heights and was even treated as a safe haven asset during sell offs over recession fears. It’s a positive sign of things to come.” Don Guo, CEO, Broctagon FinTech Group