Open Source Money Maximalist Miko Matsumura
Pete and I had an fascinating conversation with crypto pioneer, founder of EverCoin Exchange and General Partner of Gumi Cryptos, Miko Matsumura with whom we met up at Start Engine Summit.
Since our first time visiting Start Engine Summit event last year, the blockchain market has changed significantly from fast moving ICOs bringing in millions for yet to be built technology platforms to one that is now adhering to a more regulatory value set in the form of STOs (Security Token Offerings).
Money as Software
Miko has dubbed himself an open source money maximalist, bringing a different perspective on crypto assets and the emergence of STOs. He believes that the changes happening in the markets and for STOs are part of a natural evolution process in the market.
He likens the phenomenon to what’s happened in the tech world, where software (once proprietary) was eating the world has now become open source, then money if viewed as software will also inevitably will be transformed into open source.
The swing of the pendulum in the blockchain world has taken a natural progression from the largely unregulated markets of ICOs of last year, with STOs now coming up as the antidote and regulated counterweight to the market. In Miko’s eyes, the ICO vs STO debate is missing the main point, which is that tokenization of everything is inevitable, it's the natural progression of proprietary software turning into open source software.
One of the more potent benefits of tokenization is that it will hugely impact the legitimization of the crypto asset phenomena because “as soon as you have a legal framework, legal recourse and a regulatory framework, then all of a sudden you have the ability to safely buy and sell these assets” he explains. “The legal framework will legitimize and stabilize things because without stability every cryptocurrency floating around is a poor currency.” meaning that it’s impossible to use as a means of exchange.
Stabilization through Asset-backed tokens
With the crazy volatility in the crypto markets of recent years, one potential solution that was rising in popularity was the creation of stable coins to bring stability to the markets. Yet, Miko believes that stabilization of the crypto economy will occur through the injection of real-world assets. Much like the US economy used to be tied to gold, asset-backed tokens are tokens backed by real world assets such as real estate or by anything that's of a material measurable value. This will create inherent stability of the token with the backing asset. Right now, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are similar to the US dollar post the removal of the bi-metallic standard, essentially leaving the US dollar to be backed by nothing, except the trust of the government.
He further explains that in this current economy, which is mainly about routing capital and the buying and selling of stuff, tokens will create an efficient and easy structure that keeps track of every purchase and transaction.
What STOs bring to the market are legitimization, stability and a counter to the over-hyped narrative of ICOs, which have been a source of many scams and malfeasance. When this happens at a large scale, it will naturally not only stabilize but also inject a huge amount of value into it.
This conversation was incredibly thought provoking and led us to discuss the impact of digital money on the world as we know it, borders and citizenship also evolve as concepts. We also discussed what is happening in countries that are leading these initiatives such as Malta and the move of the EverCoin Exchange to this new domicile.
Malta is poised to benefit from the foundation established by the Maltesian government to incent more businesses to relocate to the beautiful Mediteranean island.
Miko Matsumura, is a true visionary in all things’ crypto. If you're interested in his activities you can find him at Miko.com or on Twitter at @mikojava.
