The Bank sector is being challenged by Bitcoin and other crypto coins like Ripple and Etherium. And of coursing this impacts the government and lawmakers.
Tax laws and regulation requires modernization when the new payments systems are getting mature. But…

Mature

Are the challengers mature enough? According to the ‘believers’ they’re. But I’m in cryptocurrency since 2013 and I have noticed this is  one-bridge-too-far.
Reliability, Stability and Security are crucial!
‘The amount of transactions was to high the last 4 weeks.’
Really?!? since the banks transactions in december where skyhigh due to Christmas as well and there where no congestions on these networks.

The conservative world of banking has some quality and quantity levels what is matured due to incidents and experience.
(I know from working for 5 banks in the last years)
The recent outage of Kraken is raising concerns on quality of services.

RATINGS

They have these CIA ratings, what has nothing to do with the Intelligence service of the USA, but with the regulations on Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. This is why people ‘trust’ there banks. This trust is reduced of course due to scandals and mismanagement what started the economic crisis of 2008, but is still the only stabile

factor there is. An alternative like Crypto currencies has the ability to grow into some good. But it requires Quality and Quantity improvements.

And more important: be User-friendly.

It’s to complicated to have an account on Binance.com or Coinbase to start buying and trading Bitcoins or some alternatives.

The media is not supportive on this as well, since they don’t understand the change economy. The hacking of accounts, people losing their coins due crashing HardDisks, or not receiving their coins is not define the trust what is required. And of course the continiously news items  about the ‘bubble’ called Bitcoin and or that these are Ponzi scheme’s. The truth is on awareness and the early adopters: some of them are already filthy rich by the new economy and technology called Blockchain. The change of ‘win’ money by Cryptocurrency are 1000x higher than participating in the lottery. The challenge is there, for banks, for governments and grey old men of economies.

Millenials

The new generation is demanding a different feel and do as before. There the old school market is investing in Gold and Bricks, are the millenials more focussed on the digital era. Independent from the old markets they;re investing in new services and values. As an example we have noticed that very young people (sometimes younger) had already started with buying Bitcoins in 2009. They’re more interested in new directions. These millenials are less interested in old school economics. These has created new business models like AirBNB, Uber, etc. The cryptocoins are an logic part of this new business model.
The resistance of the Old Economics is everyday visible. First they declared the CryptoCurrencies as Fraud, Criminal money laundry, or as Ponzi schemes, but also the risk of losing all of their money.

None of these worked, since the interest of the millenials is growing in a different direction. It’s therefore that Banks are losing their influence on the opinion.

 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Exciting times are coming and more trading companies will hit the market, starting delivering trust, quality services and the ability of quantity in trading in payments. By reducing the fear for hackers stealing the your newly gained coins, the business will increase. These are the opportunities the big financials and retailers see.
Therefor the bank sector is enabling Blockchain, starting with their own coins to battle the challenge of stay relevant. But also Governments are investigating Crypto currencies like Venezuela, North-Korea and Russia. In 2018 we will welcome more new opportunities, with new challenges, new branding, new gained reputations and new security issues.
Those  who adopt the new economy and new technology with the knowledge of the past will become the real winners!