Israel seems to roar in the crypto space as this Tuesday Tel Aviv hosted the first Israel Bitcoin Summit at Tel Aviv University. In this event, Nick Szabo, the veteran cryptographer and pioneer of crypto space was present, and he elaborated on various aspects of the crypto economy.
Here he expressed his views using a lengthy presentation. He explained the history of currencies and evaluated different forms of cash that have been used up till now. He then drafted the current progress of cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange.
Importantly, Szabo emphasized that looking at the rising financial uncertainty, central banks may start considering cryptos as an alternative to existing central bank reserve denominations. He noted, “There’s going to be some situations where a central bank can’t trust a foreign central bank or government with their bonds for example. One solution that’s been developed is to have the Swiss government hold it for you – that’s not a trust minimized solution. The Swiss government itself is subject to political pressures and so a more trust minimized solution is cryptocurrency.”
Szabo also believes that central banks may initiate to supplement their gold reserves with crypto assets. He pointed out the physical vulnerability of gold, stating, “When the Nazis conquered countries in Europe, the first place they went to was a central bank’s gold reserves.”
According to Szabo, the utilization of crypto will increase in countries which are having mismanagement in the fiat economy. He also expects that 2019 will bring growth in the use of cryptocurrency as a means of bypassing political blacklists. In the next 12 months, he predicts that the second layer solutions such as Lightning Network will be more in implementation. The Lightning Network is something which can help two people to make payments to one another instantaneously. The layer-2 solution is created to enhance the speed and efficiency of Bitcoin transactions significantly.
Szabo has developed the concept of “BitGold”, a never-implemented, pre-Bitcoin (BTC) privacy-focused digital currency in 1998. He also gave the concept of smart contracts. He is considered a leading thinker in the crypto sphere. Marking these facts, a part of the crypto community believes that Szabo is actually Bitcoin’s anonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.