The Nash Vision — Part 1
We would like to thank the tens of thousands of Nash followers in our community. This article is for you. Decentralized solutions can only thrive when surrounded by a large and passionate group of supporters.
Capital freedom works. Blockchain makes it easier.
Capital freedom enriches societies. This principle has long been embraced by economists and regulators. Consider the freedoms enshrined in the capital movements law. This is a core component of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty that promotes the following freedoms in the EU and internationally:
- Opening bank accounts abroad
- Buying shares in non-domestic companies
- Investing where the best return is
- Raising money where it is cheapest
- Investing in securities (e.g. in shares, bonds, bills and unit trusts)
- Granting loans and credit
All of these freedoms help economies and businesses grow. They decrease the cost of capital, make it easier to invest efficiently and decrease unproductive losses.
What’s more, all of these freedoms can be extended by blockchain technology.
Decentralized networks are international by definition. The sale of utility and security tokens on these networks has allowed individuals and companies to invest where the best return is and raise money where it is cheapest. Moreover, blockchain-based currencies, with their programmable features, have enabled the creation of powerful credit, escrow and crowdfunding services. They have given rise to novel financial instruments.
By facilitating capital freedom, blockchain can lead to a more prosperous world.
Nash’s mission is to empower more than one billion users to invest in, trade and manage digital assets by 2030. We aim to be the premier platform for decentralized financial tools and services.
Decentralization is inevitable. We will drive it forward.
Blockchain offers clear functional advantages over traditional financial services.
At present, the freedoms above depend on large and inefficient systems. Banks and brokers both grant and limit access to them. The friction involved in investing, trading and borrowing slows these processes down and renders them inaccessible to many.
In the future, these freedoms will be ubiquitous, realized through decentralized technology. Blockchains don’t care who you are. They don’t discriminate. Underserved and underdeveloped markets will gain access to new wealth and opportunities as decentralization liberates them from inefficient financial infrastructure that would be cost prohibitive or not profitable for its providers. Wire transfers that take days, and which aren’t processed at weekends, will be instant, since blockchain does away with the slow and expensive process of reconciliation.
There are clear advantages to a world where everyone controls their own assets and can initiate transactions anytime, anywhere. Trustless networks will enable more people to exercise their freedoms and will drive trade to new highs. A plethora of networks will co-exist, and people will choose the ones that meet their specific needs.
It’s only a matter of time before open financial networks take over. We want to be the ones pioneering new technologies and driving the whole industry forward.
Regulation is necessary. Blockchain can help regulators do their job.
The media has frequently branded Bitcoin a tool for illegal activities. This paints a narrow, even hypocritical, picture.
Blockchain is a technology like any other. Like fiat currency, it can be used for legal or illegal purposes. Studies have estimated that illegal activities accounted for only 0.61% of Bitcoin trade between 2013 and 2016. By contrast, in 2014, several countries added illegal production to their GDP calculations. In each case, the illegal share was at least three times larger than Bitcoin’s. In statistical terms, blockchain is significantly more honest than fiat currencies.
Blockchain is also more honest than most existing financial institutions. Some famous investment firms have a history of defrauding investors and paying out settlements in bribery cases. Moreover, their illegal and irresponsible activities have put the economy at risk. Taxpayers have had to bail out these supposedly respectable institutions to the tune of billions.
We can mitigate against such cases with blockchain technology. The underlying protocols work the same for everyone. You cannot bribe a blockchain.
Blockchains can also help regulators do their job. Anti-money-laundering (AML) tools work more effectively in a trust-less setup where data cannot be faked and is easy to understand. Bitcoin offers a fully transparent public ledger where it is impossible to hide transactions. Similarly, a smart contract whitelist with Know Your Customer (KYC) information can’t be bypassed. AML technology might be in limited use on decentralized networks today, but this will not be the case for long. Regulators can check records with much greater efficiency. We hope to facilitate the implementation of such technology.
This underlines a key issue for the future of blockchain: compliance. If the market is to grow to thousands of times its present size, platforms and companies must work with regulators to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where they operate. They must safeguard user and investor capital.
For this reason, Nash has decided to register our token as a security, and we are moving to acquire the licences required for our products in all relevant jurisdictions. For similar reasons, we are also developing systems for our platform to interact with fiat currencies.
The narrative of blockchain as a tool for criminals is false. Quite the opposite is true: blockchain offers a real alternative to the corruption possible within traditional structures.
To further regulatory compliance, Nash will continue to drive innovation in the regulatory space and educate the ecosystem in AML and securities law.
Blockchain must be accessible for everyone.
We envision a world in which open financial networks and technologies have an enormous impact on people’s lives. But for that world to be possible, these technologies must be made easier to use. Thousands of people forget their private keys each year. Many more don’t understand what a private key is, how public key cryptography works or how to use the tools surrounding the technology, such as wallets, block explorers or even exchanges. This lack of understanding too often leads to a loss of funds, occasionally in enormous amounts.
One of the core principles underlying our products is user-centered design. This process engages with users early in a product’s development and initiates a feedback loop where our developers constantly adapt software to users’ needs. Our design team are experts in these methods and will ensure that our products are accessible to everyone.
Still, blockchain accessibility goes beyond purchasing and trading digital assets with ease. Non-expert users must also be able to store assets safely before using them elsewhere.
This is why we have always seen Nash as more than an exchange. We are building a platform for decentralized banking.
Our platform will provide new, safer ways for users to manage their digital assets. And through the Nash Extension, users can also safely deploy those assets anywhere on the web.
Nash aims to make blockchain technology accessible to non-experts.
Four products for the future
The Nash team is working relentlessly to establish the technologies and products that will make our vision a reality for anyone, anywhere. The best Wall Street traders and the smallest Pacific merchants will all want to use Nash.
Our planned products fall into four categories. Each has different needs regarding licensing, regulation and client expectations.
The foundation of our services is crypto-to-crypto (C2C) trading. This offers a mixed market where both businesses and individuals can operate.
Next come prime brokerage tools. These are business tools for institutional investors. Nash is conducting market studies and discussing internal products in this sector to eliminate pain points in OTC and block trading. These products are expected to start shipping during 2019.
Crypto securities trading is aimed at both businesses and individuals. The technical tools for these products are already in place and they will be added once regulatory steps are finalized. This will vastly expand the investment opportunities we offer both our prime and retail customers.
Completing the package, we have inter-exchange liquidity networks. We intend to collaborate with other major exchanges to establish order book–sharing protocols. These will interconnect different markets and provide higher liquidity. Development is expected to begin in 2020.
Connecting all of these products are the Nash Extension and development SDKs. These make it possible for users to interact with the broader blockchain ecosystem. A cross-chain release of the browser extension with a newly designed user account feature is planned for 2018.
Stay tuned over coming months for more details on our planned products!
Can you help us achieve our vision? We’re hiring.
