Jon Matonis, Executive Director, Bitcoin Foundation

I have worked in the currency, payments, and cryptography business for over 20 years, at businesses including  Visa, Sumitomo Bank, VeriSign, and Hushmail.

The technological developments now occurring in peer-to-peer payments and online distributed trust ledgers will shake the current financial system to its core. Ultimately, this will be a good thing for society and, therefore, it should not be feared or resisted.

Of course, I am speaking about the Bitcoin Network and the bitcoin monetary unit which runs over that network.

If I had to describe bitcoin in just three words, I would say it is: Money Without Government.

Alternatively, I could say bitcoin is Survivable Digital Scarcity. In just five short years, bitcoin has unequivocally demonstrated that we don’t need kings to coin our money and we don’t need central banks issuing debt-based paper notes and deciding what our money should be. Money is anything we collectively determine it to be.

Ladies and gentlemen, the fiat emperor has no clothes. The illusion of legal tender has been exposed.

Just like the untainted child in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, some of us are beginning to notice. It’s not the illusion itself that so offends our sensibilities, but more the notion that a competitive illusion is not to be permitted.

If a free market illusion voluntarily agreed to from the bottom up is so desperately feared, then the protectors of the state-sanctioned illusion must not have the most benevolent of motives in store for us.

At some level, all money is an illusion that we share and as such we must be free to determine that shared illusion from the bottom up, rather than have it dictated to us from the top down. Even with gold, the most tangible of all monies, it is estimated that 95% of its value is attributed to its illusory monetary exchange properties.

With a bitcoin monetary unit, seigniorage becomes a thing of the past. And, as users of the monetary unit, we are not insulted by the insidious practice of having zeros added to the left of the decimal point. Bitcoin is infinitely sub-dividable to the right of the decimal point, as it should be.

Governments are not opposed to a shared illusion, they only want it to be their shared illusion.

Just as the copyright world is being radically transformed by distributed file-sharing protocols like Bit Torrent, the legal tender facade will be transformed by decentralized survivable cryptocurrency because, in the end, legal tender is simply an unearned copyright privilege over money.

Additionally, most governments are sorely mistaken when it comes to bitcoin because, in order to thrive, bitcoin requires only market-based legitimacy – not government-sanctioned legitimacy. This is enormously frustrating for them and it is something not witnessed on this scale before.

OK, now that we have placed bitcoin in that proper monetary context, we can turn our attention directly to mobile.

For some in the mobile payments space, the following will be difficult to hear.

Traditionally plagued by a variety of barriers, mobile payments have seen lacklustre adoption around the world. This is particularly true in the developed economies, where a trio of competing interests breeds perpetual infighting and stagnation.

The holy trifecta in mobile payments includes governments, banks, and operators – each trying desperately to secure their own piece of the coveted payments pie, exerting maximum influence along the way. This, in my opinion, has strangled mobile payments progress and adoption.

Fortunately, bitcoin and its decentralized network bypass these three quarrelling constituencies.

First, the bitcoin monetary unit is nonpolitical in nature and it doesn’t require an intermediary for issuance, authorization, clearing, and settlement functions. Those are performed via the public block chain.

Second, bank accounts and card networks are not required for clearing bitcoin transactions, eliminating the need for those silly dongles and awkward squares.

Third, since bitcoin wallets can run as standalone apps on smartphones utilizing QR codes, specialized accounts with operators become unnecessary, as does specialized hardware at the point of sale.

Guess what? These point-to-point bitcoin-powered mobile payments are already happening today. Furthermore, they are happening over your networks or at the very least over optional Wi-Fi.

Bitcoin is the quintessential disruptor, for not only does it disrupt established primary-level players in the field of payments, like Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, but it elegantly disrupts the very nature of monetary authority. Bitcoin is disruption within disruption.

Money naturally operates like a virus and that makes bitcoin potently viral. It is viral cubed, in fact – money on the Internet with a network effect. A monetary unit does not stop expanding until it runs into artificially delineated boundaries or achieves widespread dominance.

An undisputed early advantage will be bestowed upon those that recognize and harness bitcoin’s transformative role in mobile.

It is my sincere hope that we will never again have to sit through a “disruption in payments” conference without hearing the phrase bitcoin.

Thank you.

Jon Matonis

Benchmark, a leading international provider of solutions for email marketing and events, will be at the Digital Expo of The Second  Chile Digital Latin American Congress of Technology, Software, E -commerce, Mobile and Online Marketing 2015.

With a presence throughout the Americas and more than 100,000 clients, Benchmark Email has a powerful editor and renovated more than 500 templates for easy editing, technical support in Spanish, 365 days a year, ability to send video emails, detailed segmentation options, integration with other platforms, the ability to generate reports of high complexity and tutorials, all this combined with an efficient platform for managing events: Benchmark events.

The solution for events Event Benchmark lets you create registration pages, paid and free events, email invitations, reminders, integration with social networks, generate reports and facilitates the registration process to make your event a success.

To learn more about Benchmark Email and Events visit: http://www.benchmarkemail.com

A new report from Accenture titled Engaging the Digital Consumer in the New Connected World revealed that most consumers present difficulties when using new technological devices.

The survey of 24,000 consumers in 24 countries by the leading management consulting company, technology services and outsourcing, showed that 83 % of users have usability problems with new technological devices such as portable fitness monitors, smart watches, vehicle entertainment systems and other connected security systems to the home.

According to the report, 21% of respondents consider that the devices are too complicated to use, while 19% say that they have configuration problems and do not work as showing advertising.

33% of respondents mentioned the «ease of use» as the most important factor when deciding which products to buy these criteria. 29 % said they are important «features and functionality of the product», while 22% said the same about buying «a trusted brand.»

Given the increasing complexity of the devices launched in the market, Sami Luukkonen, Managing Director of Electronics group and High Tech of Accenture, noted that the high-tech companies must return to basics and rethink our approach to development, focusing on the customer experience.» They must make fundamental strategic changes that no longer focus on differentiating product features but in a holistic differentiation of the digital experience,» he added.

According to the research results, the problem of usability of the devices has a direct impact on purchase intention of the most important and traditional categories of high-tech products, decreasing 13-9 % the number of respondents who plan to buy devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, HDTV equipment and desktops.

For more information on how your company can be part of the principal event technology and business in Latin America, Chile Digital 2015 visit: https://congreso.chile-digital.com/english/

E -sign, a leading company specialized in providing security and confidence in the Internet, based on innovation and the pursuit of trust in electronic channels, will be sponsor Expo of The Second Latin American Congress on Technology, Software, E- commerce, Mobile and Online Marketing Digital Chile 2015 to be held on 8 and 9 July in Santiago, Chile.

Its products and services include digital electronic signature certificates for people, SSL digital certificates that protect information traveling on Webs sites, Consulting Security to detect application vulnerabilities, identity and authentication services. Likewise, innovative in terms of management, treatment processes and electronic documents.

One of the main capital of the company it´s technological independence and development of solutions for large scale operations and high confidence, so as function as being equivalent to an «electronic notary «, where one of its roles is give full evidence and legal validity to individuals, companies and trading.

E -sign works with market leading solutions, emphasizing strategic alliances with leading companies affiliated to the global network of digital certification Symantec, serving Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
To learn more about E-sign services visit: https://www.e-sign.cl/

Latin America’s largest event for Digital Marketing, e-Commerce, Internet, Mobile, Software and Technology will take place July 8 & 9, 2015 in Santiago. 

Why is this the best place to grow your company’s influence in Latin America? 

(1) You’ll meet as many key customers and strategic partners in two days as you might meet in two years on your own…

… especially because we’ll help you build the strong relationships you need to succeed, without the awkwardness and ambiguity that can accompany unstructured networking. During the Business Meetings Session, you’ll be matched with the strategic partners and key customers that will help your company grow throughout Latin America.

(2) With four events in one — International Seminar + Conferences, Digital Expo, Venture Capital Forum, Business Meetings Session — Latin American Congress has it all!

(3) Two words: Chilecon Valley (via The Economist)

(4) There is massive potential for growth in the region. Latin America has more mobile phones than people!

(5) Showcase your company’s products at the Digital Expo. More than 5000 attendees are expected for the event, especially executives from the region’s top tech companies.

To learn more about how participating in the Latin American Congress — as a sponsor, exhibitor or attendee — can help you grow your business, contact us today! INFO@CHILE-DIGITAL.COM