A potential paradigm shift in global currency and payments
The rise of digital currencies, spearheaded by Bitcoin, has posed a raft of questions to both financial institutions and businesses alike.Digital Money 2014 will be addressing the opportunities and threats associated with cryptocurrencies on a global scale. We will be bringing together financial analysts and key commercial representatives from major retailers to discuss their views and outlook on cryptocurrencies, in addition to early adopters and champions of Bitcoin and comparable digital currencies.
Themes include:
- Future take up of digital money by business as a form of online payment. Cost saving implications?
- The potential consequences for transactional facilitators
- Speculation on virtual money; opportunity for financial institutions. Is this the beginning of a new marketplace? If so, how should financial institutions position themselves?
- The security concerns and benefits associated with digital currencies
- Regulatory outlook of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
What does Cryptocurrency mean?
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that is based on cryptography. Cryptocurrency uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to counterfeit. Public and private keys are often used to transfer the currency from one person to another.Cryptocurrency is considered a counter-culture movement related to cypherpunks, who advocate the use of cryptography as a route to social and political change. Cryptocurrency presents a form of this movement in that it is essentially a fiat currency, which means it only has value if people agree to such and use it as a medium of exchange. However, because it is not tied to any country, its value cannot be affected by a central bank. In the case of Bitcoin, the most prominent functioning example of cryptocurrency, its value is determined by supply and demand in the market. As such, this currency behaves much like gold and other precious metals.
