In his emphatic address to the members of the Blockchain For Impact summit, Behnam opened with a retrospect of the creation of the United Nations, and how at the time the world was entering into a new age of global transformation. Now, he believes, we are witnessing a new era of change and “virtual assets are just the beginning”.
Heavy emphasis was added to the way blockchain technology and digital currencies, have already created massive disruption to our current economy; particularly financial industries. As each country has had this new technological phenomena forced upon them, Behnam remarked on how some have chosen to welcome this new innovation openly, while others have sought to restrict it.
“None of us know where it will end. But it has forced us to rethink. We have learned that virtual assets respect no borders. Regulation is often behind the curve, unable to keep up with daily developments. At least the developments we know about. As a result, some countries have outlawed virtual currencies. Others have new, strict laws to control them. Many countries simply don’t know what to do. Their policy is bewilderment. Or avoidance.”
Irrespective of what countries are currently doing, to either adopt or ban cryptocurrencies, Behnam asserted that it is simply a matter of time before digital assets become the new mass market standard.
“virtual currencies may – will – become part of the economic practices of any country, anywhere. Let me repeat that: these currencies are not going away and they will proliferate to every economy and every part of the planet.”
During this powerful affirmation of blockchain’s future mainstream acceptance, Behnam also commented on the wider potential for digital assets to battle centralized corruption, transform our economic infrastructure and reach the unbanked world. By placing the power of money into the hands of the individual, the Commissioner continued to add that “it could mean a massive, and equitable, shift of wealth”.
That being said, the dangers of this new age opportunity and it’s weaknesses are not to be ignored. Behnam highlighted whale investors in the forms of governments, banks and the “economic elites”, as a “powerful danger” who threaten to exploit this new technology.
“If the kleptocracy controls technology and the means of distribution, then they simply accumulate more wealth at the expense of their citizens, draining wealth in cryptocurrencies rather than dollars or euros. Virtual assets may be a stranglehold. In other words, technology can be a weapon against the work of the United Nations and others trying to alleviate poverty or violence. Virtual assets become a means of deeper control of wealth and a means of exploitation…”
While this cannot be denied, many would agree that the launch of Bitcoin futures trading played a key role in providing these kleptocratic powers with greater manipulative control; particularly over Bitcoin, a pivotal force in the crypto market.
This process has been identified by many, particularly on reddit, as a user outlined,
“If Wall Street is actively trying to get Bitcoin and Altcoins to crash, they will... short Bitcoin futures. But behind the scenes, they will be buying now, privately as much Bitcoin as possible without causing large spikes in the trade volume.
Just before the the futures contract expires, they will sell everything, and together their selling will cause the same panic and subsequent crash... Their sell orders will drive the price of Bitcoin down, triggering automatic bot sell orders from other traders, which in turn will cause an ever cascading amount of sell orders to trigger......and crash the price. And WallStreet wins.”
In a roundabout fashion, it’s ironic then that the very Commission Rostin Behnam works for, is regarded by some as the tool for which these ‘economic elites’ use, to further exploit the technology he so passionately describes.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest