In a rapidly changing world shadowed by uncertainty, small and medium businesses that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 impact, await a shy bounce back brimmed with an enormous challenge to ensure durability in the near future, restructuring, financing and cash flow are some of the vital aspects of this challenge, as a result of this pandemic we have seen declining use of physical cash due to risks of contagion and an increasing role of governments introducing fiscal stimulus to confront the repercussions, furthermore, the crisis has redefined the global monetary system, paving the way to a new political mandate in favor of a digital currency.

The future of cryptocurrency post Covid-19 and Curacao tough stand on this were hot topics among others in my Q-A session with Mr.William Santiago, an IT specialist for the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten(CBCS)and an advisor on cyber-security, cryptocurrency, and Fin-Tech in 2008, a dedicated information technology professional with more than 22 years of experience in the networking and internet field, a member of the Curacao Blockchain and Cryptocurrency taskforce(“CBCT”), advising CBCT board on developments in the Fin-Tech space especially in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as well as the unique challenges faced by Fin-Tech businesses in the securities industry.

Q: 1- What is cryptocurrency in a very simple explanation that can be comprehended by all layers of society.

A: A cryptocurrency is a type of digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography(a method of protecting information and communications through the use of codes),which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend, the difference between cryptocurrency and digital or virtual currency is that digital or virtual currency has a 3rd party that secures and “guarantees” the transaction, i.e. when you pay someone with a US dollar, that paper bill/note is guaranteed by the United States of America and in the case where you transfer a US dollar digitally, a bank or financial institution “guarantees” this transfer.

Q: 2- Money’s main functions can be summarized as being a medium of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account, can digital currency be a credible substitute for cash and deposits? 

A: Yes it has the same characteristics and additional ones like: - Acceptable (medium of exchange) - Divisible (unit of account, some can be configured to eight decimal places) - Durable (as long as there is electricity available) - Limited Supply (some cryptocurrencies can be limited and some can be inflated like the USD$) - Portable (you can send it just as easy as sending email) - Uniform (fungible, i.e. same USD$ in your wallet is the same as in my wallet) - Stable (some can be as stable as current fiat legacy currency like the USD$).

Q: 3- Cryptocurrency usage brings risks along, like money laundering in terms of cybercrimes, what is your intake on securing those financial transactions?

A: Cryptocurrency by nature has security as its core design, and these design/protocols are mostly used by current financial institutions depending on the design implemented as a permissionless cryptocurrency can have core AML and KYC built at its core requirements making it more secure than current legacy AML/KYC currently used by banks, and while banking security AML and KYC are centralized with increased risk and with a high infrastructure cost, Cryptocurrency can reduce costs, increase security and provide better transparency.

Q: 4- HTC mobile phone manufacturer has partnered with Mida labs (manufacturing and services sector), to bring cryptocurrency mining to the mobile phone (DeMiner app), do you agree that mining should never be limited to giant miners?

A: Agree but it all depends on if the cryptocurrency is designed to be decentralized, centralized or federated, decentralizing is a strong characteristic of the cryptocurrency bitcoin and part of that decentralizing and security is done by miners, so being able to mine, at least part of a hash, on a mobile phone is extremely important. 

Q: 5- The Covid-19 outbreak has significantly worsened the economy of Curacao and neighboring islands, how do you visualize any possible future solutions amid a contracted GDP and an increased unemployment rate? (in general).

A: The urgency of transforming the electronic payment systems, which is about 25 years old and extremely inefficient, is the most urgent 1st step for Curaçao, this innovation will allow individuals to exchange value frictionless, more secure, reducing cost and bureaucratic red-tape and be able for entrepreneurs to become competitive in this global market.

Q: 6- There are now more than 7,700 bitcoin ATMs worldwide, is Curacao ready to embrace this digital leap and open its first ATM?

A: Curaçao has been ready for years, it is just the bureaucratic structure, full of red-tape and archaic regulations with indifferent leaders that are oblivious to new innovations and global change, that is holding it behind. ATMs are just the first steps in getting onramp physical fiat currency out of being physically circulated and exchanged for new innovative digital contactless cryptocurrency.  Cryptocurrency is not a threat to fiat physical legacy currency but an enhancement, just like when email replaced the FAX machine.   

Q:7- If I want to buy a house with Bitcoin, how can this be done (simple explanation).

A: If the seller wants bitcoins for the house it is just the same as handing over the keys and title to the house in exchange for the transfer of value (bitcoins) to the sellers wallet address, if the seller wanted the bitcoins converted to USD$ dollars, then there would have to be a third party involved, global bitcoin payment service provider, to complete the transaction and wire the transfer USD$ to the seller's bank account.

Q: 8- How do you get people to become more familiar with cryptocurrency?

A: Since 2014 I have been the organizer of the Curaçao Crypto Group Meetup, having meetups on a monthly basis getting members of the community engaged and informed, also while working  at the Central Bank of Curaçao & Sint Maarten(CBCS), I advised senior management on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and the DLT blockchain innovation by giving presentations and reports, it is very important to educate about this innovation since it's mostly an alien topic to most, just like email was in 1993.