Cryptocurrencies and the wider crypto space have been receiving considerable attention due to the recent downturn in the market and the collapse of many crypto businesses. In this episode, we go back to basics with George Connolly, of OneLedger Technology Inc., Bitcoin enthusiast and serial Internet entrepreneur, Rohan Smith and guest cohost, Matthew Cowen, and discussed, among other things: Is the value of crypto (somehow) hinged on fiat? What happened with FTX, and what might the implications be for The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean? And what might regulation of the crypto space look like?

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Stitcher!

We cannot escape it, but the meltdown of FTX, the crypto exchange registered in Antigua and Barbuda and headquartered in The Bahamas, has brought cryptocurrency to the fore globally and even here in the Caribbean region. Although people may have heard of Bitcoin or the term crypto, it would have been far removed from their lives and experiences thus having little or no impact.

However, thanks to the meteoric rise of Bitcoin, in particular over the past three or so years, those who had previously been hesitant began to dabble in crypto and would have been lured even more by the considerable return on investment that had been touted by some platforms. Now that the crypto market has been experiencing a significant downturn over the past several months and several well-known and trusted crypto platforms have collapsed, there is concern and fear about the future of crypto, with a lot of misinformation thrown into the mix.

In the Caribbean region, we tend to see ourselves as being removed from the matters that are being experienced “over there”. However, the collapse of FTX has brought crypto closer to home, especially since work is underway to develop a regional stablecoin and many countries are eager to become global players in the fintech and/or digital assets space.

In this podcast episode, we take a temperature check of the global crypto space and discuss some of the more recent developments and what the future may hold.

 

Introducing our guests

George Connolly
Rohan Smith
Matthew Cowen

George Connolly is the Chief Executive Officer and President of OneLedger Technology Inc., a layer 1 Web3 platform based in Barbados. He has over 15 years of industry experience and previously was a Technical Director of PwC Eastern Caribbean and senior management role in the largest Xerox distributor in Latin America.

George has been an innovator in the digital transformation space for governments and enterprises and possesses a deep knowledge of technology migration and operation strategies. He is a Distributed Finance (DeFi) and Blockchain evangelist, which he believes can be leveraged to transform global business efficacy by infusing interoperability.

Rohan Smith is a Software Developer and serial Internet Entrepreneur. He is passionate about the internet and the technologies it supports that enables anyone from anywhere to contribute to the global economy. He is also an avid Bitcoin enthusiast and educator, and a proponent of investing in digital real estate through web-based businesses and Bitcoin.

Rohan is the Founder of Exterbox, an “Indie hacker” start-up company, through which he does freelance software development projects, primarily using Drupal and open-source software. You can follow him on Twitter, @frazras, where he shares his thoughts on technology and internet entrepreneurship. He is based in Trinidad and Tobago.

Matthew Cowen is an IT Specialist, Researcher and Digital Analyst, who specialises in ICT in the Caribbean region. He is also the Founder of dgtlfutures, a consulting firm that helps small businesses across the Caribbean develop and implement their digital transformation strategies. And he is also the author of The Future is Digital newsletter, and is based in Martinique.

Matthew has been on the Podcast quite a few times, and in January, we discussed the emerging issues and opportunities of Artificial intelligence, which was a follow-on of an earlier conversation we had in 2021 on how technology can perpetuate bias. Most recently he joined us as one of the researchers for the study, Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, published United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

 

Insights into our conversation

Relatively speaking, crypto is new, volatile and unregulated. And though it has been a hotbed of innovation, it has also been a high-risk environment, which has resulted in considerable gains and considerable losses at various points in time with many businesses and individuals experiencing the repercussions.

However, as much as the demise of several popular platforms has occurred in a period when many cryptocurrencies have declined significantly, neither George nor Rohan believe that the end of crypto is imminent. Instead, they are of the view that crypto is being “right-sized” by the shake-up that has been and will continue to occur – which is necessary for its evolution. Hence, in the longer term, crypto will likely become stronger and more robust, thanks to the challenges it is experiencing and those that will inevitably emerge.

Below are a few of the questions posed to George and Rohan, which also helped us to cover as much ground as we could in the time available.

  1. To start us off, share with us how and why you got into crypto.
  2. What does the term “crypto winter” mean, and what is the concern about it?
  3. Contrary to popular belief, although crypto might be unique in its construct, isn’t the value of crypto hinged on fiat?
  4. In your view, what happened with FTX, and what might the implications be for The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean?
  5. How do the failures of crypto, such as FTX, affect the average citizen?
  6. What should regulation of the crypto space look like?
  7. A year on, what do you think of the outcome so far of El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender?
  8. What do you think about Saint Kitts and Nevis’ announcement that it wants to make Bitcoin Cash legal tender by March 2023?

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  G Connolly;  R Smith;  Mariia Shalabaieva (Unsplash);  Anne Nygård (Unsplash);  M Cowen

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez