Honest crypto-speculation, and why NFT madness is changing our culture – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

Cryptocurrencies are constantly entering the mainstream. The current situation goes from almost illogical (from cryptocurrencies that have no intrinsic value to logical) to (what they are for and products that improve our daily lives).

But there is no denying the high level of activity seen in this space over the last year and the growing interest in cryptography from consumers, businesses and governments.

‘Digital currencies: missing puzzle piece?’ At the FinTech Festival in Singapore, one participant asked if the value of cryptography had been captured with prices, citing Shiba Inu coins as an example. He also questioned how these tokens could be valued more than assets like Deutsche Bank today.

In response to the question, Kevin Lim, CEO of Temasek, gave his personal perspective: “Do I think the general cryptographic economy is showing signs of speculative behavior now? My honest answer is yes.”

“It’s speculation. When people come in, they don’t have to be naive, they have to know what to expect. ‘

“Speculation itself is a double-edged sword, I think, on the one hand, that is what drives the interest and involvement of the community’s return. Look, hey, everyone wants to make money and there’s a chance of making significant money here, not so we should call a spade a spade, ”Kevin said.

“Now, looking at how cryptocurrencies have gone up and down – we’ve had crypto winters in the past. I think it’s naive to think that the direction of prices is one-way, upward,” he added.

“With that in mind, if you come to the scene, say, pull out, any asset you have today, 10 times, 100 times, 1000 times will be appreciated, I mean great for you. But again, it’s really a matter of getting into and out of the right options.”

Eric Anziani, chief operating officer at Crypto.com, noted that beyond the price, “there are still a lot of things for crypto.”

“I think we see a much bigger economy through Web 3.0. At the moment, we are building tools, and sometimes the NFT space is also different at stratospheric prices, ”he said.

“I think we shouldn’t focus on that, we should focus on whether we’re building the right tools for web 3.0 or for this fairer and fairer world where we want people to build, where people have better control over real property and their money.” data and identity. And prices will reach something closer to value, ”added Eric.

NFT madness

Beyond the wild price ratings, the panel also discussed the rise of non-fungal tokens (NFTs) that have taken over the mainstream Internet. The reason behind hyper is that NFTs are now associated with art and music, and are transforming their inherent value as a digital product, panel members explained.

“What we’re seeing is that it’s really becoming a cultural cryptography in the last year. It’s becoming nice,” commented Cuy Sheffield, head of Visa Crypto, vice president.

“It used to be that you were investing in the first crypto, you were kind of weird. We have now seen that with the NFT market there is a new class of consumers and major consumers into the space, ”Cuy said.

“There are people who are interested in art or music, who are interested in culture in general. Now they are setting up cryptocurrencies in waves and are excited to use an encryption wallet to invent an NFT or help other creators find a way to make money on their creative talent, ”he added.

Cuy cited CryptoPunks as one of the first examples of this bridge between art and technology and the path to becoming a major collection.

“We believe NFT is replacing a new tool, and it’s changing the nature of what cryptocurrencies do, not just where you store your money, and cryptocurrencies can become places where people discover their favorite music,” Cuy added. .

“So we really believe that this component of a cryptocurrency portfolio is becoming a Super Application and has an impact on a consumer’s life beyond investing in a new asset class. when you put them in. ‘

It’s a fresh start

Kevin added that this push for cryptography is happening faster than expected. This includes industry developments. “That’s really been seen in the exponential rise in the volume of cryptocurrency in recent years.”

“If we only had this interview three years ago, would we expect a rise in prices and volumes? I think it’s pretty hard to be an advertiser. It’s hard to predict how things will shape, especially when it’s innovative, when it’s in its infancy, and when it’s happening in a parabolic way, ”Kevin said.

“Now that you’re an artist, and you’ve never been in a coder’s space or you’re not a developer, that doesn’t mean you can’t get on the board. You have to know how to find a way to play.”

“I think the whole concept is fine here, you have to have an anchor point as a starting point. But by bringing different forces together to make it work, I think the concept itself is strong, ”he said.

In general, the world itself is also becoming more and more digital, and the focus is really on the path of 10 years and 20 years on what would be the digital economy, Kevin said.

“It’s really about people and millennials and the generations that come after it … As Temasek also sees us, we have an enabling infrastructure and we bring together teams of talented individuals in an unauthorized world by contributing to their various aspects.”

“When we build things that are exciting, fun and culturally diverse, then the products have a certain duration.”

Achieving a balance between volatility

The panel also touched on the role of centralized players in the cryptographic space, and whether this is a conflict of interest with the decentralized concept of cryptography and its creative approach.

Panel members justify that centralized players, like centralized crypto exchanges, fill the center for consumers who are unfamiliar with the techniques but want to participate in the crypto space.

Yusho Liu, founder and CEO of Coinhako, said: “I think in the end, let’s be, a lot of people talk about it, but a lot of people don’t really get into it. Most users, generally non-technical people, have passwords. So how do you expect to understand how to open a MetaMask account, pay for gas, and then how to do the transaction. “

Keeping users safe with their assets is a priority when a crypto company is regulated, and includes ensuring that Coinhako conducts analysis to know where tokens are coming from and where they are going.

“It’s a couple (more) steps. Many resources are used. But I think it’s more important that the reason we go through these steps is to create a safe environment for users and make sure it’s controlled, ”Yusho said.

Cuy noted that there are very few merchants in today’s crypto space who directly support cryptography and “it’s a difficult experience for consumers to have to guess which store they want to spend money on”.

“So the ability to pair a visa credential (physical or virtual) with the same crypto account and create it as a unified experience – we think it will solve a big problem. Consumers will be more interested in investing in this asset class and demonstrating that.”

Cuy says there are about 250 million crypto users today. Although it has shown tremendous growth in the last six months, compared to the world’s population, there is still a long way to go.

“Being able to translate traditional financial instruments, digital currency and traditional instruments. It is still very important that we have a role to play if we want to continue to grow the industry, ”he said.

“He will be there to really help take up this space. I believe that centralized platforms have made tremendous progress in this regard, and this is usually evidenced by the certificates and licenses they have obtained to prove their efforts and investments in protecting client funds, ”Cuy added.

The role of stable coins is growing

Beyond the great elegance of NFT for art and music, the role of stable coins is growing.

Kevin of Temasek stated: “So what I’ve seen in stable currencies is that there’s a momentary explosion. I think by mid-last year, we’re talking about a market capitalization of more than $ 20 billion worldwide. it was about a million dollars, so that’s a six- to seven-fold increase, ”he said.

“There is a lot of interest in space and an interest that is not lost. From that base, what is that interest like, what really affects it? One, of course, is price volatility, and cryptography is an attractive asset in general.

“If you go back to the real world economy, there is no solution right now. The lack of what could be an alternative to this, aside from stablecoin projects, and space bankers or central bankers are trying to innovate and find ways to bring in new solutions, ”Kevin said.

“We have seen a lot of digital central bank (CBDC) activity that is not yet networked. I think the wholesale market is also waiting to breathe. There are a lot of questions, a lot of research has been done about the value of this space, and we have seen some that I think promise. ”He added.

Kevin highlighted the Dunbar project, which is undergoing international settlements, using multi-CBDCs. Partior also highlighted Temasek, the latest company based on the latest blockchain chain in the clearing and settlement network between peers-to-peer banks created jointly with DBS and JPMorgan.

“These concepts really take advantage of blockchain technologies to enable faster and broader transactions in the wholesale field,” Kevin said.

Regulation is still necessary

At the end of the day, the board members realize that there is still a need to regulate, when and how the most important question is.

“It’s an industry where it is currently valued at $ 3 trillion. A recent report by the NDF says it is not yet something that would be an implicit or immediate threat to financial stability, but it is growing.

“Now the question, though, is how do you regulate and who do you regulate? And how do you regulate the nature of something that is meant to be unauthorized? said Kevin.

“There’s a lot of discussion on those fronts, but from a direction standpoint, I think the central banks are sure to come. Because, again, this isn’t going to be a toy. It’s not going to go away.”

“When you have stable fiat currencies or projects with a large number of fiat currencies or fiat obligations within crypto networks, it’s hard to really ignore them and say that look, there’s no need to regulate space,” he said.

Featured Image Credit: CryptoPunks, Forbes