The lack of knowledge about blockchain technology is one of the hurdles to its broader adoption, says Hugo Pierre, CEO of Growth Tech. Once these barriers are down, the adoption of blockchain will bring a number of benefits, including greater control over personal data and an efficiency gain for banks. This is the opinion of executives in the area who participated in the debate of the Blockmaster Forum.
According to Pierre, quite often even the corporate world knows little about blockchain. He sees the technology as disruptive, but not as complex as the market says. Thus, people tend to adopt a more conservative position, hindering the debate.
Another factor cited by him as an obstacle to the advance of blockchain adoption is the lack of more realistic use cases of this technology. This would make the results tangible and show the positive aspects of such protocol adoption in other areas.
Blockchain adoption allows revoking access to data
Roberto Machado, CEO of BetaBlocks, mentions the control over data among the possibilities offered by the blockchain. This is a very important subject with the imminent entry into force of the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) in Brazil. Machado explains that in the U.S., by law, information concerning medical examinations belongs to the hospitals. However, it is possible to use blockchain to gather this data and allow the patient to “take” it with them, presenting it where it is needed. The technology would also allow to revoke access to data. This would be useful, for example, when you stop working in a company. In this way, your sensitive data would no longer be accessible to the former employer.
Speaking about cryptocurrencies, Fausto Vanin, partner at OnePercent, cites the efficiency gain for the financial system, “which constantly struggles against a very low efficiency”. He also argues that digital currencies will help business in an increasingly global market without borders. Operating in this scenario, Vanin says, is a challenge, especially in terms of the operationality of countries’ currencies.
Therefore, the evidences point to a promising future. Pierre, from GrowTech, is one of those who believe this, and also sees good prospects for tokenization. “The future of money as a whole is clearly doomed to the digital format. And the cryptocurrency, being around for a while, circulating within this ecosystem, will take advantage when this is a feasible reality”, he says.
Digital Real in six months
He adds that Brazilian regulators show signs of increasingly including the digital currencies in the agenda, be it the Central Bank or the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM). In the case of BC, it is already being discussed the feasibility of creating the virtual Real. And a final decision will be made in six months, said Aristides Andrade, deputy head of the information technology department to Folha de São Paulo. Andrade also coordinates the working group on the subject in BC.
In this sense, Fernando Bresslau, of the Celo Foundation, mentions a survey conducted with 60 people from all over Brazil. Of these, two or three hadn’t used cash in the last six months. As a result, he assesses that the money is already digital. But not in a way “very aligned with people’s individual freedom”. “You’re leaking a lot of information to a lot of people without knowing it, without having control”, he explains.
He also notes that the adoption of crypto technologies by central banks will happen. Nonetheless, he says that currencies issued by national or central authorities will live for a long time alongside with the decentralized ones, such as bitcoin.
Machado, of BetaBlocks, explains that it is not that central banks will not exchange their currencies for cryptocurrencies. But there will be an adoption of blockchain by banks.
