Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson claimed that emerging markets are where cryptocurrencies matter, and that Facebook’s announced virtual currency Libra is not going to find success in this area, according to a report by Finance Magnates on June 26.
According to Hoskinson, emerging markets are the future. He says:
“Emerging
markets are where cryptocurrencies matter [...] When I look at the
developed world, I don’t care. It’s highly regulated and, in many cases,
a rigged system. If I decide to compete with a tech company they can
just push me out via regulation. [...] Then I sit down with the prime
minister of Georgia and he says, ‘we’re open for business.’ We can
rebuild parts of their education infrastructure, create a new payments system or do a medical
records system. The keys to the kingdom are right there. That’s 4
million people who in ten or twenty years will be very high-value
users.”
In contrast, Hoskinson predicted a
struggle for Facebook in promoting Libra due to its lack of
relationships, which he said need to be built over time, based on
tangible benefits specific to the emerging markets in question. In his
words:
“Facebook has to come into countries
it doesn’t know a lot about and convince them to enslave themselves to
an economic monopoly and give nothing in return. And their only pitch is
that you’ll pay less on fees. [...] I’m going there and saying, ‘we’re
going to rebuild all your systems so you have fraud-free land registration, better voting systems and improved supply chains.’
We’re already doing this stuff but it took years. These are
relationship-based markets – and Facebook doesn’t have those
relationships.”
Nonetheless, as previously reported by Cointelegraph, Facebook’s stated aim with Libra is:
“Our
ultimate goal is to help billions of people with access to things they
don’t have now — that could be things like healthcare, equitable
financial services, or new ways to save or share information.”
Other
major industry players like Coinbase have made promoted crypto’s
potential benefits to citizens in developing countries. When the crypto
exchange added support for 50 new jurisdictions in May, Coinbase made the following remark in its official announcement:
“For
new customers in countries like Argentina and Uzbekistan, where
consumer prices are expected to inflate by 10–20% in 2020, stablecoins
like USDC could provide an opportunity to protect against inflation.”
source link
