Private Blockchains Don’t Make Much Sense: Pankaj Jain

News portal Medianama organized a bootcamp for cryptocurrency enthusiasts on Friday. The event titled #NAMA Bootcamp: How Cryptocurrencies Work, was held at The Lalit in New Delhi. The event was attended by eminent names such as Pankaj Jain, founder of BlockHack, Ajeet Khurana, CEO of Zebpay, among others.Taking the dais, popular crypto personality and founder of BlockHack, Pankaj Jain explained what blockchain in a nut shell means. Jain said, “Blockchain: Decentralised and spread across the world. It’s slow for transactions, but extremely stable.” An audience member asked, “How do I create value from cryptocurrency, and who decides that?”, to which Jain responded, “There’s zero inherent value to gold and diamond. They have value because two parties mutually agree they have value. The same is with cryptocurrencies.”Ajeet Khurana, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zebpay said, “Cryptocurrency is a new asset class. It is the only instrument which is multidisciplinary and attributes value.” Pankaj Jain chimed in by saying, “Most cryptocurrency software is open source. You can download it and make changes to it,” and added that the idea of private blockchain does not make a lot of sense.The idea of a private blockchain doesn't make much sense. @pjain at #namabootcamp #NAMA— MediaNama.com (@medianama) August 23, 2019The BlockHack founder said cryptocurrency is like going back to a peer-to-peer barter system. We can decide what its worth. The term, cryptocurrency, was not known in 2012 and was simply known as electronic cash. Jain said, “Bitcoin is not anonymous. You can trace every single transaction a person is making.”The topic then moved to bitcoin mining, which is indeed a relevant topic in today’s day and age. An audience member asked, “Is the power consumption aspect of mining cryptocurrencies a valid concern in India?”To which, Khurana responded by saying, “The first time we heard of too much power consumption while mining cryptos was in 2016, and we stopped hearing about in September-October 2017.” When an audience member pointed out that bitcoin is not backed by a central bank, Pankaj Jain said that there are about 2,000 different cryptocurrencies, vast of them based on Bitcoin. Bitcoin is by far the largest in terms of market cap and usage. The top 10 or 20 cryptocurrencies are tiny in terms of bitcoin’s value.Comparing cryptocurrencies and stock markets, Jain added, “Crypto exchange is much like traditional stock exchanges.”Following this, Tanya Dayal Sardana, a lawyer from Ikigai Law, which was formerly known as TRA Law took the stage to explain if cryptocurrencies are securities, commodities or currencies. Citing numerous examples, Sardana said, “Cryptocurrency is not pure-play currency, commodity or security because it is neither of them. Problem with regulators: lack of recognition that cryptocurrencies are an asset class in themselves and thus, forcefully fit in existing buckets.”Liked what you read? Join us on Telegram