Education the key to unlocking Crypto

The second panel to grace the stage at the inaugural AIBC Asia Summit was all about the crypto exchanges. Bringing industry-leading knowledge to ponder and postulate the exciting terrain left to traverse for the emerging Fintech industry.

This panel was opened by Megan Nilsson a seasoned Crypto educator from the Crypto Megan podcast, who also acted as moderator for this discussion.

CEX, DEX and The Future of Exchanges

She began by expressing her enthusiasm for the panel’s topic, mentioning the past year’s events regarding exchanges and their regulation. On the subject, she stated:

There’s been alot of hurdles, alot of loopholes, alot we’ve had to get through as Crypto community.”

The panel members then introduced themselves and their stake in the industry.

Jen Bilango

First up was Jen Bilango who started by highlighting her pleasure at the female majority sitting on the panel, a rarity by her account.

As the County Manager for Coins.Ph, Bilango explained how she held a scepticism for Crypto up until she began raising funds for some of her projects. This experience thus succeeded in converting her into a believer in the Web3 and Crypto space.

Cynthia Lo

Cynthia Lo followed Bilago with an introduction of her own, as the Head of Relationship Management at Huboi. Lo is currently working to maintain relationships and partnerships as part of her day-to-day tasks along with organising several other conferences globally.

She explained how she has been working in the Crypto space since 2017 making her part of the first wave to truly embrace the industry.

Moritz Gastl

Moritz Gastl runs operations for Binance in the Asian Market. He details how he began as a banker, a profession that he had followed for the majority of his career, only later stumbling into the Crypto sphere.

He gave a positive yet measured outlook on the industry through its emergence, stating:

I’ve been in the space for close to 2 years now and I’ve seen the opportunities that exist across Asia, I’ve seen some markets where Crypto grows extremely well and others where there are still a lot of hurdles.”

He expressed how the opportunities available, despite the issues to be overcome, have given him much conviction in fully embracing the Crypto industry.

Instability in the Crypto space and its solution

Bilango addressed this issue by explaining how any new phenomenon that enters the world of finance is more than likely to incur issues caused by “bad actors”.

In the case of cryptocurrencies, Bilango believes that this was simply accelerated in this vein. Referencing the catastrophic collapse of the FTX exchange, Bilango described it as a “tail as old as time”, highlighting the failure to comingle funds.

She stated:

The most important thing when you are running an exchange or a bank, it doesn’t matter what institution you have, you need to have a fiduciary responsibility to take care of customer assets.”

The fiduciary nature of exchanges is a vital aspect that mustn’t be overlooked, especially in the light of inducing a more comprehensive embrace of the industry.

In order for us to gain mass adoption we need people to trust who they are interacting with.”

Web3 adoption

The order of the day was most certainly understanding why and how more individuals can be educated about Crypto, this is what all 3 panellists discussed when the topic turned to the future of the industry.

Gastl compared the Asian market to that of its European counterpart, expressing how he believes the tools being used in Asia are lagging behind. He stated:

What we are looking at is how we can financially free people here through education.”

He explained how Binance itself is putting a great deal of effort and indeed capital into teaching people the benefits of Crypto on its various scales.

This is being achieved through numerous avenues including university and government partnerships to name just 2.

Bilango then reinforced Gastl’s statement:

Regulation has always been the key to adoption in any new technology.”

As did Lo, who explained that Crypto is all about the community, adding that education should not only be an important factor applicable to users within the Crypto space but also for regulators, naming the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in particular.

Regulatory scrutiny

A highly significant factor in the crypto space today is the regulatory interference being propagated towards all aspects of the crypto industry.

Gastl believes that this is a positive factor at this moment in time, as it is accelerating the adoption of Crypto along with the frameworks and guardrails that drive the sector forward.

He expressed how in his mind there will be no world without government supervision or oversight so it is good that the regulatory frameworks of such a new industry are being defined at a rapid pace.

This means that the industry is in no doubt about how and where to comply, allowing a much keener focus on the most important factors from Gastl’s point of view, these being customer protection, building new products and bringing products that meet customers’ needs.

AIBC Asia

AIBC Asia is bringing unparallel expertise and a plethora of premium networking opportunities from across the globe to the iGaming and emerging technologies metropolis of Manila on the 19th to 22nd of July, 2023.