Bitcoin as a nomenclature is starting to become an umbrella term that could mean multiple things to multiple parties involved. When a supporter of Bitcoin says, “I support Bitcoin”, that could potentially mean that he/she supports Bitcoin – as a transaction currency, or he/she could well be supporting the blood and bones of Bitcoin – the blockchain. Blockchain is the underlying technology that acts as a public ledger, where the Bitcoin transaction history is stored.
Wall Street & Transparency. Ahem.
There is a reason why we are witnessing a greater migration of Ex-C-Level executives from NYSE and the ilk, jumping onto the advisory boards of digital currency exchanges and other bitcoin derivatives platforms.
Every time the world economy crashes, the fulcrum of the tectonic shift often can be traced back to the Wall Street. OccupyWallStreet was and will stay as a humble reminder of that. And then there are issues of transparency, inside trading and creation of financial instruments that eventually explode.
Given all this less than glorious past, the present seems to have some hope. Hope lies in the form of Wall Street’s mind share that is shifting to Bitcoin Blockchain technology.
Bitcoin & The Wall Street — Synergy
We can’t deny the transparency issues at Wall Street. We also can’t deny the transparency that comes with Bitcoin, by the very design of this financial device. In a world where books are cooked, Blockchain is the bleak beam of hope. A hope that brings peer-to-peer online exchange. A decentralised trust system could well avert the occurrence of the next financial burst.
But it comes with a Big IF — Can Bitcoin technology be channeled the right way? If yes, who can? If not, why?
To keep this post valid – beyond cognitive bias, it must also be mentioned that Bitcoin is of no praise either — when it comes to having lived a glorious past. Many merry men have abused the Bitcoin’s advantages before. The punishments for which are rolling in one by one.
Big Names and the Blockchain
Fortunately for the betterment of the entire world, not just the Bitcoin community, the big names are entering the game. Although not entirely for altruistic or philanthropic reasons, the invisible hand does seem to be working in Bitcoin’s favour.
The improvements in the digital currency arena in the past few months are worthy of mention, for a couple of reasons. The reasons follow the events.
- IBM is trying to connect the dots between IoT and Bitcoin
- Qualcomm is looking at the Blockchain arena to innovate
- Former Citi Group Inc C-Level executive Vikram Pandit bought stakes in Coinbase.
- Nasdaq is looking at synergies in digital currency based high tech marketplaces.
- The Brains behind ‘The Global Credit Derivatives’, Blythe Masters joined Digital Assets Holdings.
- Former SEC Authur Levitt became an advisor for BitPay
- Duncan Niederauer, the former Chief Executive of NYSE, became the advisor to TeraExchange.
Reasons These are Good News for Bitcoin
- For any innovation to survive the passage of time, it needs to satisfy three stakeholders – public, private and government. Bitcoin has a long way to go in each of these spheres.
- Uncanny ability to spot profits: The ‘Big Names’ mentioned above have an uncanny ability to spot profits and trends ahead of their times. They now seem to be looking at Bitcoin — this is a very good sign.
- The composite micro-forces that make the invisible hand are the names mentioned above and the Wall Street is referred to as a structural construct in this argument.
The Invisible Hand is Surfacing
The Invisible Hand is an Adam-‘Smithsonian metaphor’ [SIC] that describes unintended social benefits derived from the acts of the individuals partaking in any society. Adam Smith proposed and many accept that the individuals’ selfish efforts to pursue their own interests, often benefits the society, far more than the scenario in which the individuals act directly for the benefit of the society. Everything discussed in this post above this sentence, drills down the article to make the reader see this force at play. Just another reason to for the Bitcoin supporters to cheer.