Charlie Lee and Michael Ou are on the frontlines of cryptocurrency mass adoption, interchangeability, and secure storage options.
‘Being Your Own Bank’
In a recent fireside chat, Litecoin CEO Charlie Lee and CoolBitX CEO and founder Michael Ou sat down with Thomas Hu, founder of Kyber Capital, Kyber Intelligence, and Kyber Base.
Lee and Ou both cite speedy and efficient mass adoption as a primary goal and mission in order to elevate cryptocurrency as a viable and safe alternative to fiat currency.
They both agree that in order for cryptocurrencies to be adopted and used by the worldwide public, people need to know that their money is just as safe or safer in the form of cryptocurrency than keeping it with a bank or similar financial institutions.
Lee elaborates:
I think security is really important. With cryptocurrency, you are your own bank, so you actually have to protect your own coins.
Ou agreed with the ‘Being your own bank’ sentiment, stating:
The meaning of being your own bank becomes literal because there will be no one able to stop you from sending your money to somewhere you want or there will be no one to freeze your assets.
Ou and the team at CoolBitX have made active steps to achieve the goal of everyone being their own bank. They have currently developed and released a cryptocurrency hardware wallet that is no bigger than a credit card.
The CoolWallet S is a mobile cryptocurrency wallet and can be operated wirelessly and in sync with a smartphone.
Ou feels that with cryptocurrency storage devices, simplicity and security are key, stating, “Everybody should be able to use it, with no trouble learning it.”
Defining Mass Adoption
It can be tough to try and gauge the point at which mass adoption has been achieved.
Charlie Lee shared his thoughts on what mass adoption means to him saying, “I see mass adoption as the majority of people using cryptocurrency — Bitcoin, Litecoin, others. By using, they’re already using it for a store of value, and also for payments.”
Ideally, this system adoption will allow everyday people to send money anywhere and anytime without the need for intermediary institutions that have rules for how we use our money and collect fees from transactions.
“Just make it easy for people to spend their cryptocurrencies,” said Lee, envisioning a future system where people can spend their cryptocurrency anywhere, in the same way that a debit card functions with fiat currency in a bank.
Hurdles On The Horizon
While creating the actual cryptocurrency and security are two huge factors in achieving mass adoption, Lee and Ou aren’t blind to other hurdles that will pop up further down the track.
The pair feels that many of these upcoming obstacles to their vision of mass adoption will come in the form of governments and regulations. There is apparent fear that government regulations could go too far in a way that smothers innovation and any further subsequent adoption.
On the other hand, supportive governments and regulations can help to further establish cryptocurrency as a legitimate and recognized form of payment.
Solid regulation and legislature are also necessary to further identify and eliminate scams, deception, and fraud in the markets. Many people that are interested in owning cryptocurrency won’t invest until they can feel that their money is absolutely secure.
What do you think are the most necessary factors for mass cryptocurrency adoption? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, CoolBitX, YouTube.