Inside Sibos | Day 2
The Future of Money is once again a key theme of SWIFT’s annual Innotribe startup competition at this year’s Sibos conference in Boston. It dominated a number of discussions on the first day of the conference, and cryptocurrencies were in the spotlight. The day began with a talk on the rise of cryptocurrencies featuring a number of digital currency innovators, such as Barry Silbert of the Bitcoin Investment Trust and Chris Skinner, author of the recently-released book, Digital Bank, and a regular blogger at The Finanser—the blog of the UK’s financial services club.
As Wim Raymaekers, head of banking and treasury markets at SWIFT recently noted in an interview on the Innotribe blog: “Together with an active developer community, cryptocurrency firms continue to attract venture capital investments. They received over $130 million in the first two quarters of 2014, bringing the total investment across 49 companies to $240 million.”
The day also featured an in-depth look at the current state of regulation within the cryptocurrency space, a subject we looked at quite closely in our recent Bitcoin cover story.
Off the cryto topic but still on the future of money, the day also featured a look at mobile money in Kenya, such as innovator mPesa, and how it is becoming a model for other African, emerging and developed markets.