Bitcoin itself is inherently safe digital currency - expert

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Antony Lewis, Business Development at itBit, Bitcoin Exchange in Singapore talked to VoR answering questions on what gold and Bitcoin have in common as well as why Bitcoin exchanges bring bad reputation.

How will the troubles affecting the biggest Bitcoin exchanges influence the reputation of Bitcoin as a safe digital currency?

Yes, we can see from the price action that people are certainly worried about the troubles at some exchanges. But I would say Bitcoin itself is inherently a safe currency in principle. It is the implementations and accounting processes that differ across the exchanges. So for example, our exchange itBit, based in Singapore, has not been impacted by the malleability issues. In fact we picked up customers coming from other exchanges. So speaking with the long-term investors, they understand that we are in a very early stage of the industry. You have to pick your partners very carefully at this point in time. We are looking to differentiate, and we look forward to global regulations that will drive responsible practices by exchanges and other Bitcoin companies, that will help to protect our clients.

Is Bitcoin the gold of the digital age?

Some people would consider Bitcoin to be a digital form of gold and there are some similarities. For example, with gold there is only a finite amount that you can dig up. And it is similar with Bitcoin, where only 21 million Bitcoin will be mined around the year 2140. Where Bitcoin and gold differs is that it is very hard to pay for things in gold. You can’t just hand over a piece of gold to shopkeeper and cut in half and give a small piece to them to buy a chocolate bar. But with Bitcoin you can split it, you can have down to eight zeroes after the dot, you can really, really split it into tiny amount. It doesn’t weigh anything to carry. And other similarity between gold and Bitcoin is that while it is quite easy to counterfeit a banknote, with Bitcoin and gold it is very, very difficult to duplicate. With Bitcoin, the system won’t let you spend the same Bitcoin twice with two different people and I think that’s one of the fundamental properties of Bitcoin; this is why it is revolutionary because we solved a problem of taking digital assets and we stopped people from being able to copy it and spend it twice. I think the important point is that Bitcoin doesn’t need essential trusted person or entity with which to prove that the transactions happened. So if you take dollars or normal currencies there would be a bank who you have to trust and you have to believe what the bank says when it says that you have the money to spend the money or you are not allowed to spend the money. And with Bitcoin you don’t need that middleman.