E-commerce and blockchain, is it a match? Experts debate online retailers’ future at Blockshow Americas 2018
Our RoadShow took us to BlockShow Americas 2018, one of the most anticipated crypto events of the year. Austin Kimm, Crypterium’s co-founder, was privileged to take part in a panel discussion on blockchain deployment in E-commerce. And since there were proponents of two opposite views of how — and if — the technology can benefit consumers, the session turned into heated debates.
Without further ado, here are some of the discussion highlights
Who were the participants
Moderated by Eric Benz, a founding member of the U.K. Digital Currency Association, the panel was comprised of five experts from finance, IT and crypto industries, including Bobby Lee (Co-founder at BTCC), Melanie Mohr (Gen Z Entrepreneurship Advocate), Dr. Pavel Kravchenko (Information Security PhD) and Malikkhan Kotada (Global Digital Banker, Fintech mentor and Blockchain evangelist). And we’ve already introduced you Austin Kimm, Crypterium’s co-founder.
Customer’s mindset and generation gap
The things kicked off with one of the main questions that lies ahead of companies aiming to bring crypto to the masses: how do we change consumer’s mindset?
Eric Benz:
“I want to focus on consumers behaviour and how we are bringing consumers into the space. Because, look. I wake up in the morning, I check my keys, my bank cards, my cash. And this whole transformation to this digital representation of these values and that change of thinking… we used to think that money is tangible, money is in your wallet, money is something that you hold. And now we are approaching another territory, where a consumer doesn’t have anything that’s tangible. Speaking from a consumers perspectives, I want to know — how the technology is going to make my day better?”
Melanie Mohr:
“It might be hard for us to change our habits, but when it comes to younger generation, it’s different. From my experience working with teenagers, I can say that younger generation understands the value of digital assets, and young people push us to get more educated. And focusing on this generation will bring our products further on the road”.
Austin Kimm:
“Just to follow up on that. I don’t think it’s true that the older generation is not so quick to adapt. If you go to Shanghai now and try to buy with cash, you might struggle. And you’ll get a sixty-year old quit happily transferring money between two mobile phones and understand exactly what they’re doing.
I think the key is getting a use case, for many of the older generation — they haven’t got a use case right now. Why do they go online and pay with their bank cards? It’s convenient. But what if I have to go and buy a product with Bitcoins? Would that be more convenient? There is no real use case for that group. There is no real value proposition for them right now other than the fact that they can own it. I think we can get people to change, but we have to find that use case”.
Everyday-pocket coin
As you might have heard, there’ve been several big companies, take Amazon as an example, that announced the launch of their own virtual currencies. Typically, these kinds of coins are not considered crypto as they are not tradable and can only be used as vouchers. However, they can do a lot for the industry.
Austin Kimm:
“I also want to think about what has been actually mentioned many times during the conference. The digital coins issued by big companies. These coins can transform people’s view on cryptocurrency. Let’s say Walmart or airmiles. If you could spend airmiles on Amazon instead of having to spend money on your flight, you probably would. If you could spend your Walmart points on one of your favorite websites, you probably would. I personally believe that it’s not going to be Bitcoin, or Ethereum that will change the way people look at E-commerce, it’s going to be a coin that is finding its way into your everyday pocket. And if I can spend this coin online — that would mean that I have a use case. There are a lot of buttons on the Internet saying “pay with Bitcoin”, I don’t think it’s going to have an impact. Maybe very small amount of impact. What if it is “pay with ANY cryptocurrency — than people will change their attitudes”.
Use cases coming
Summing up the above, Bobby Lee shared his vision on the scenario for crypto.
Bobby Lee:
“There are certain things you cant’t buy in China now with regular money, you have to buy them with crypto because they ship this things from abroad. I think in the future where normal processes will not process certain goods and services and than the merchants will have to turn crypto. Because it’s more convenient, it’s faster and more reliable, and when consumers realize they want those goods, they will use crypto to purchase them. That’s what I think the cycle will look like”.
About Crypterium
Crypterium is building a mobile app that will turn cryptocurrencies into money that you can spend with the same ease as cash.
Shop around the world to pay with your coins and tokens at any NFC terminal, or via scanning the QR codes. Make purchases in online stores, pay your bills, or just send money across borders in seconds reliably and for a fraction of a penny.
Learn more at http://crypterium.com/ and join the discussions in ourTelegram Chat.
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