Brock Pierce: Bitcoin is Gold 2.0 and can transform remittances

Brock Pierce says Bitcoin could transform the country’s remittance business and that digital currencies will gain increasing acceptance in India.

MUMBAI: The digital currency will gain increasing acceptance in India given its gold-like properties that could transform remittances in the country, Global Bitcoin Foundation chairman, Brock Pierce told ET News.

The Bitcoin Foundation was founded in 2012 to standardize, promote and protect the use of Bitcoin. The foundation engages in lobbying, organizes conferences and provides technical support for the digital currency.

“Given India’s strong gold culture, I’m surprised Bitcoin isn’t more popular here. I call Bitcoin Gold 2.0 because it has all the properties of gold except it’s not tangible, which is less important in the digital age,” said Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, at the INK Talks during the SingularityU India Summit.

Pierce said digital currencies could be used for remittances because peer-to-peer transactions do not require high service fees like remittance companies.

“The service fees from remittance companies can sometimes be as high as 10% of the entire transaction. Smaller remittances from the Middle East can be much higher. This is a great use for Bitcoin,” Pierce said.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital payment currency. Instead of using a central authority to verify digital transactions, Bitcoin uses a method called blockchain, which is an efficient distributed public ledger that tracks all transactions.

Transaction commands in the ledger are encrypted. Bitcoins are "mined" after users complete computing tasks, such as helping to verify transactions on the peer-to-peer network. Bitcoin also faces huge challenges.

Bitcoin is widely used for money laundering and other illegal activities online. A former vice president of the Bitcoin Foundation had to resign before being accused of laundering money through the illegal online marketplace Silk Road.

The price of Bitcoin has also been fluctuating with major Bitcoin transactions, such as the Mt Gox collapse. In November 2013, the price of one Bitcoin was as high as $1,137, while the current price is about $426 or about 30,000 Indian rupees. Pierce said the difficulties surrounding Bitcoin are similar to those faced when the Internet was first introduced.

“When the Internet first came out, all the newspapers said the Internet was only going to be used by bad people to do bad things and that was it. But the Internet changed everything, and Bitcoin will do the same,” Pierce explained.

Pierce is also a partner at Blockchain Capital, a venture fund focused on startups working on bitcoin services or building enterprise products.

Original article: http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/bitcoin-is-gold-2-0-can-transform-remittances-brock-pierce/51184246
By Jochelle Mendonca
Compiled by: Kyle
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/bitcoin-transform-remittances-business‎)