SI Partners are delighted to announce their forthcoming conference on virtual currency, co-hosted with Bird & Bird. This event will take place on Thursday 13 March 2014 and will provide insight into digital currencies, and in particular Bitcoin, which has been shrouded in mystery since it appeared in 2008.
Our panel of speakers confirmed to date comprises Angus Bankes, founder and CTO of Moreover Technologies, Carl Miller, co-author of a paper on Bitcoin for Demos think tank, Charles Cohen, original founder of the online currency Beenz.com and Trystan Tether, Joint Head of Bird & Bird’s International Finance Group. The panel discussion will be chaired by Charles Fallon and Joe Hine of SI Partners.
We aim to investigate the breadth of opportunities offered by Bitcoin and its potential to give businesses greater autonomy. However, there are also significant legal and commercial concerns attached to this opinion-polarising exchange medium. From its benign use at a Dutch café, to its more worrying appearance on the underground site Silkroad (now seized by the FBI), Bitcoin has caused excitement and distrust in equal measure.
Not controlled by any central federal authority, and potentially anonymous, some see Bitcoin as the future. It has been claimed that its finite nature - there are 21 million available to be mined in total – can be considered a guard against inflation. Others have decried it as a digital Ponzi scheme. The media attention attracted by Bitcoin has been phenomenal which in turn has contributed to its increasing value. A single Bitcoin surpassed $1,000 (£613) for the first time in November 2013. With China banning it and Singapore devising ways to tax it, its future relationship with world governments is unclear. Bitcoin could be on the way however, to becoming more ubiquitous with the Winklevoss twins and Benjamin Lawsky the superintendent of financial services in NY, among others, calling for regulation.
Places are limited but if you would like to attend, please email kate@sipartners.co.uk for further details.
