Richard Branson calls for tougher bitcoin rules
Jessica Sier and Ruth Liew
In an op-ed for Bitcoin lobby group Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association, Sir Richard said Bitcoin was disrupting the finance sector with customers not satisfied with current major payment networks.
“Making sure that conversations around this are happening at the highest level will hopefully result in common-sense reforms to areas such as taxation and law enforcement, which will be of real benefit to all concerned,” wrote Sir Richard on Tuesday.
“It’s crucial that everyone has the understanding and access to enable it [digital currencies] to work for them.”
Senator Sam Dastyari is heading a Senate inquiry into Bitcoin regulation and has said he will ask Sir Richard to appear at the committee.
Invitations to participate have been sent to 74 different organisations, including the big four Australian banks.
Sir Richard is understood to have pumped around $US30 million ($34 million) into Bitcoin ventures to date. Over $3 billion was poured into technology start ups and entrepreneurs last year alone, and the figure is expected to grow to $8 billion by 2018.
Nearly $11 million has been invested in Australian cryptocurrency ventures during the year to July.
Virgin in the spotlight
Sir Richard – in the spotlight last week when his company Virgin Galactic lost one of its spaceships in an accident that claimed a pilot’s life – has been a supporter of tech innovation and actively invests in cryptocurrency ventures across the globe.“It feels strange to think of a world without cash, no more coins or notes for us to find down the back of the sofa, but it appears that’s the way things are heading,” he said.
“Through making investments in the likes of Square and Blockchain, I hope to be a part of what could be a democratisation that helps to put more power and control back into the hands of the everyday citizen.”
Bitcoin, which at its peak soared to more than US$1000 per unit compared with US$330 currently, has attracted its fair share of controversy following a series of high profile scandals and hacking incidents. Investors lost nearly $500 million following the collapse of Bitcoin exchange giant, Mt.Gox earlier in the year.
Stable regulatory environment
Local Bitcoin exchanges such as Independent Reserve, which launched last month, depend on a stable regulatory environment to maintain legitimacy. Bitcoin Group, a Melbourne-based arbitrage fund, is hoping to list on the Australian Securities Exchange this month and has also called on the government to develop a framework within which it can operate.Sir Richard argued that while there was an appetite for a strongly enforced central government rulebook on Bitcoins, there were also merits to self-regulation, which is a model touted by local Bitcoin lobby group, The Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association.
Ron Tucker, chairman of ADCCA, previously said the Senate inquiry was a critical step in putting Australia ahead over virtual currency regulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment