The head of Bitbase, Álex Fernández, stressed that developed countries in particular have seen “the biggest growth in cryptocurrency due to the devaluation of their own currency”, as it has led to “the democratisation of money” and prevented “inequalities from becoming even more destabilising”. Fernández commented on how middle- and low-income populations have suffered the impact of the crisis more than others, and that previously, “these kinds of assets were only available to the rich, but now they are available to those with less purchasing power”.

In the same vein, CEO of DiverInvest, David Levy, added that the emergence of the blockchain has allowed younger people to invest, even in Spain, where society in general “does not tend to invest in the stock market”.

In turn, lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Pablo Agnese, highlighted above all the “supervisory role” that cryptocurrencies play in the face of the policy of the Central Banks, which “seems to have no end and a great incentive to continue printing and increasing debt, keeping real rates at negative levels”. According to the expert, “given its decentralised nature, the blockchain is dotting the i’s and crossing the t's to make us react, thus revealing that something is being done wrong”.

Agnese explained how “the Federal Reserve (Fed) will force cryptocurrencies to undergo a litmus test in March”, as “there is talk of tightening the money supply and raising interest rates to control inflation”. That being said, in the case of cryptocurrencies, he believes “we have to look beyond prices at how value is being added”.

The blockchain universe

As regards the regulation of the blockchain universe, the UIC Barcelona lecturer highlighted how cryptocurrency “is a reaction to the excess of current regulation” and thus “by its very nature, the blockchain is detached from all of this”. Therefore, in the event that a decision is finally made to regulate it, “there should be room for innovation”, although he does not believe that “that is the spirit”. He also added that “there is no consensus among countries on regulating this sector”.

As such, the Bitbase CEO pointed out that, instead of regulating cryptocurrencies, “the aim is to avoid people using them to commit crimes”. In 2019, the illegality of total cryptocurrency transactions was 2%, falling a year later to 0.3%, according to a Chainalysis study quoted by Pablo Agnese.

All three experts agreed that it does not make sense to create links between crime and the cryptocurrency sector, and were convinced that crime will become less and less prevalent. “You don't use crypto to break the rules, you use cash, because it is untraceable. In the blockchain, everything is recorded”, added Agnese.

Following the success of this first lecture, the second of the series will be held on 22 February under the title “Adding value using the blockchain”. The final session will be held on 29 March and will focus on “Disruptive uses of blockchain”.