29 Jan 2014 / The Globe and Mail – A hearing Tuesday on the regulatory future of Bitcoin instead turned into a forum on the shortcomings of the traditional banking industry.
The hearing, called by New York state’s top financial regulator, Benjamin M. Lawsky, gave five Bitcoin advocates the chance to spell out what they view as the advantages of Bitcoin over current systems of moving money around the world.
“Solutions don’t really come from the current industry,” said Cameron Winklevoss, who, with his twin brother, Tyler, has invested in Bitcoin companies. The two were early players in Facebook.
Even Lawsky got in some digs when he complained that it took three days for his bank to transfer money to pay a credit-card bill at the same bank.
When Lawsky asked about efforts by banks to create their own Bitcoin alternatives, Fred Wilson, a leading venture capitalist at Union Square Ventures, said, “No one is going to build on top of JPMorgan Chase’s Bitcoin.”
JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, went on the record last week playing down the potential of virtual currencies like Bitcoin, which have become hot over the last year. Bitcoin aficionados argue that digital money could provide a way to dispense with the transaction fees and penalties charged by banks….. Read more
