What Crypto Means to People — Startup Thailand 2018
Last month Bitcoin Center Korea visited Thailand for the Startup Thailand 2018 conference. Our friends at Bitcoin Center Thailand very generously invited us and we had a great time and learned much about the progress of cryptocurrency and blockchain, while also meeting some old friends and making some new ones. There was a tremendous amount of content at the conference, both blockchain and non-blockchain material. For a much more direct experience of the conference, please view the recorded events on Startup Thailand’s Youtube page. For the purposes of this article, we will be focusing on two presentations: one by Roger Ver of Bitcoin.com, and one by Charles Yu of Bitcoin Center Korea (BCK).
Roger Ver — “Just a regular guy”
Before his presentation, we had a chance to sit down with Roger Ver and spend some time with him. Whatever you may think of Mr. Ver from past public appearances and interviews, It was a refreshing experience to talk with him one on one and just hear about his past and what he hopes to accomplish. Gone was the vitriol that many people associate with him. What was present was a man who was quite dedicated to his craft and was very open and attentive to people’s questions. He still had that sharp wit that responds back to a variety of responses and criticisms, but he just seemed extremely calm yet firm on his position, which has to be commended.
“I’m just a regular guy that really believes in this and wants to share it.”
With that being said, He was still first and foremost a Bitcoin Cash evangelist, but his approach did not have that same level of urgent attack that some may see in his previous interviews. Granted, most likely he was not talking to an audience that had the same level of blockchain expertise or knowledge as the people at Deconomy or Consensus; but it was this type of Roger Ver that many people do not remember or do not see very much.
“I hope there will be better [cryptocurrencies] that come out tomorrow, because if a better one comes out tomorrow we all get to use that one too, just like I hope that a better iPhone comes out tomorrow, because I’ll get to use that one as well.”
During his presentation, you could hear the standard affair of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) promotion and its comparisons to Bitcoin Core (BTC), but when presented with such positivity, it’s easy to understand why Mr. Ver can attract such a massive following. He also touched upon the recent BCH hard fork which increased the block size from 8MB to 32MB and how that type of scalability can continue with Moore’s law (a position that he has used before). A Google search about Roger Ver and scaling will probably lead you to his most recent debate with Samson Mow of Blockstream. If you watch that, it is clear that both have very strong but polarizing philosophies about scaling.
History has shown us how much a strong leader can accomplish, and Mr. Ver has definitely been doing this for such a long time that he understands the crowd and how they react to him. One of his most iconic acts is giving people free cryptocurrency (originally BTC, but now BCH) just so that they can try it out for themselves. It is an extremely simple yet still effective marketing tool for spreading adoption of cryptocurrency.
In terms of the future of blockchain technology and how to properly scale it, Mr. Ver has one theory, and many people follow him; as well as many people who are with the other camp, and each side has daggers for eyes pointed at each other. Regardless of who wins, Mr. Ver is following up on his words, for better or for worse.
Charles Yu — A Glimpse into Crypto’s Future in Korea
A little bit later after Mr. Ver’s presentation, our colleague Charles Yu from BCK gave a presentation about our center and what the current state of cryptocurrency is in South Korea.
Concerning our center, Mr. Yu said it quite simply but eloquently:
“We’re for the community; we like to incubate, and provide more education about [cryptocurrency].”
Expanding on that, he went into more detail about how we achieve this through our varied events and also through the growing crypto community in Korea that work together and try to develop the industry more maturely.
Another topic that Mr. Yu focused on were the interesting facts about the trading volume (specifically for altcoins) in South Korea, and the possible causes of such high volume.
Next, he narrowed his focus on specifically Korean ICOs (ICON, BOScoin, MediBloc). As well as introducing South Korea’s first hard fork: Micro Bitcoin.
***On a more light-hearted note: when Mr. Yu and Mr. Ver were talking with each other, Mr. Yu first introduced the characteristics of Micro Bitcoin without naming it specifically, and Mr. Ver responded with a chuckle: “So the name of this is BCH.”***
Switching tracks, Mr. Yu moved on to possible South Korean regulation, with a rundown of recent events, and relating it to the reasons and facts that he had mentioned earlier in the presentation, as well as cutting through the smoke about what the government has actually said and done.
Lastly, Mr. Yu gave possible regulations, which involved cryptocurrency being classified as an asset in accordance with the G20 (which South Korea agreed to do); updates to the regulation of cryptocurrency businesses (including exchanges); and revisions of foreign exchange policies.
Mr. Yu’s presentation is exemplary of what we try to achieve at BCK; neutral statements about the state and trends of cryptocurrency in Korea, backed up with logical facts and reasons, paired with personal anecdotes to show realistic situations that happen everyday and we see firsthand. As he mentioned in his presentation, we are not an exchange; we are hear to inform and educate the public about cryptocurrency and blockchain to help transform this originally niche field into a legitimate and prosperous industry.
