Full effect of cryptocurrencies yet to be seen, Dubai summit hears

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies exchanged over the internet and mainly used outside existing banking and governmental institutions.

Powered by automated translation

DUBAI // Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are set to revolutionise how people pay for goods and services and move money around the world, according to the co-founder and president of Blockchain, a digital wallet and software company.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies exchanged over the internet and mainly used outside existing banking and government institutions.

Nicolas Carey, speaking on the second day of the World Government Summit, said the way we pay for items over the internet was changing, reported the state news agency, Wam.

“There is a great deal of talk about financial inclusion, but there are 2.5 billion people on Earth who do not have access to a bank account,” Mr Carey said. “Even in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, 20.1 per cent of households are underbanked and 33 per cent of millennials do not expect to have a bank account in the next five years.

“If you combine all these people, with everyone who has access to the internet over smartphones, you can see the potential for cryptocurrencies.

“Digital is part of everyone’s DNA. Digital money is a natural extension to the digital world. It offers frictionless and borderless transactions that are more open and more equal,” Mr Carey said.

More than US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) has been invested in Bitcoin technology, he said.

In 2010 the first Bitcoin transaction took place when 10,000 Bitcoins were used to buy two pizzas. At today’s exchange rate, Mr Carey said, the two pizzas would be worth $5 million.

newsdesk@thenational.ae