Government vs Technology: The Threat of Regulators to Cryptocurrencies (ft. Stefan Rust, Bitcoin.com CEO)

In April 2012, Stefan Rust bought Bitcoin for the first time, at $5. Now, 7 years later, he is CEO of Bitcoin.com, a company that aims to make Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Core alike more accessible to the general public, and that is home to all manner of cryptocurrency services via its eponymous web portal. 

In this episode, our Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau sits down with Rust to talk about the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Recent events including the U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s hearing on Facebook Libra, President Trump and US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s pessimistic comments, and the Financial Action Task Force’s tightening regulations have been indicative of a global pushback against Facebook Libra and cryptocurrencies at large. Rust argues that this skepticism and distrust of cryptocurrency is a product of the underlying reluctance of government to depart from their traditional regulation of borders and limitations on transfer “of money, of intellectual property, of trade.” 

“There is, from an enterprise standpoint, a desire to engage in this new technology and in this ability to move money globally without any barriers at a very efficient cost basis. Speed is what the market is looking for, particularly as we move towards a global organization. Governments are still trying to regulate their own little boundaries and limit the transfer of money, of intellectual property, of trade. And I think that's the barrier that all of us are trying to break down.”

“I think innovation is happening on two folds. One is the consumerization of innovation and the other is the depths of innovation in terms of technology, in terms of the ability to provide the technology in a “non-custodial fashion.” I can either build innovation around custody or around non-custodial services. And blockchain has enabled non-custodial - what does that mean? That basically means the control is in me, the user, and the responsibility lies with me as the individual. Innovation on a non-custodial basis is very hard to attack and diffuse.”

“The value is not in intellectual property, it's in the ecosystem that I have developed that is contributing to the overall blockchain, or Bitcoin.cash, or whatever the underlying algorithm is.”