Google Director of Ideas and former technology advisor to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Jared Cohen, says that digital “crypto-currencies” like Bitcoin are here to stay.
“I think it’s very obvious to all of us that crypto-currencies are inevitable,” he told the audience at SXSW, in conversation with Chairman Eric Schmidt, to promote their co-authored book, The New Digital Age.
The most popular digital currency, Bitcoin, has caused media and political firestorm for its wild swings in value, strong support from the libertarian hacker community, and association with the black market. “There’s lots of value to it,” he argues, but “there’s a danger to it not being regulated.”
Google Ideas is the search giant’s residential think tank that deals with governments, especially oppressive regimes. Bitcoin’s reputation has suffered from recent mass thefts, leading some critics to declare “Bitcoin is dead .”
If Google’s own lead on these types of issues believes that the inevitability of cryptocurrency is “obvious”, it’s a resounding validation of the beleaguered technology.
Now, Bitcoin itself may not last.”Is Bitcoin the model, or the master of crypto-currencies?” Cohen questioned.
Anyone can create an anonymous completely digital currency. Like all currencies, Bitcoin just depends on two parties having confidence in the exchange value. Indeed, just this week, another technology blog, Ars Technica, decided to create one of their own, lovingly called “arscoin “.
Cohen says the long term threat to digital currencies is safe storage. Certainly the theft of $400 million worth of Bitcoin from popular exchange service, Mt.Gox, shook the industry. But, even with that embarrassment, Bitcoin is still retaining value.
The controversy has reached congress. Some members are calling for heavy regulation to curb the impact on susceptible consumers. In response, Congressman Jared Polis made headlines for cheekily calling for a ban on the U.S. dollar, with a clever letter comparing the frailty of the U.S. dollar to Bitcoin.
Google Lets Slip That It’s Exploring Possible Bitcoin Integration Plans
Since Overstock.com OSTK +3.1% began accepting Bitcoin payments earlier this month, the cryptocurrency community has been buzzing with speculation about which tech company will integrate Bitcoin next. So Jarar Malik decided to ask.
“After the whole Overstock thing, I said ‘f–k it,’” says Malik, a Bitcoin early adopter, online marketing manager and musician with a following in Pakistan. “‘Let me email the head guys at a bunch of tech companies and see what they say.’”
He started with Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook, asking if Apple AAPL +0.91% or Amazon had any plans for the cryptocurrency. No response. Then he tried the Google GOOG +1.83% triumvirate Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt. When they also ignored him, he moved down a rung to Google’s Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra.
To his surprise, Gundotra wrote him back. He also forwarded Malik’s query to another Google staffer and started a series of email exchanges that led to one Googler telling Malik that the company is indeed pondering how it can make use of the world’s first form of decentralized digital cash.
“We are working in the payments team to figure out how to incorporate bitcoin into our plans,” wrote Google Senior VP of Ads and Commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy at one point in the email exchange that Malik forwarded to me. He promised to get back in touch “when we are a little more sure.”
When Malik posted Ramaswamy’s response to the Bitcoin forum on Reddit and immediately got an positive response from the site’s bitcoiners, Google Wallet exec Ariel Bardin followed up by asking Malik to serve as a moderator on a Google survey posing the question “What would I want Google to do with Bitcoin?”
I reached out to Google, and the company responded in a very different tone, but didn’t deny that the comments Malik posted to Reddit were real. “As we continue to work on Google Wallet, we’re grateful for a very wide range of suggestions,” a spokesperson writes. ”While we’re keen to actively engage with Wallet users to help inform and shape the product, there’s no change to our position: we have no current plans regarding Bitcoin.”
source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/08/googles-jared-cohen-its-obvious-bitcoin-like-currencies-are-inevitable/ & http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/01/22/google-lets-slip-that-its-exploring-possible-bitcoin-integration-plans/
It’s “Obvious” Bitcoin-Like Currencies Are “Inevitable”
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