In this interview with The LagosTimes, one of the leading names in the cryptocurrency revolution in Nigeria, Victor Ganzallo of Bitclub Network throws light on why people should embrace digital currency, why it is the future of transactions and what the Nigerian regulatory agencies, like the Central Bank of Nigeria should be doing to guide against Nigerians losing money to scam and ponzi schemes.
TLT: Tell us, what really is cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, a lot of people associate this with MMM and do not have a proper understanding of it.
Ganzallo: Cryptocurrency are monies in digital form. Unlike physical money, like Dollars, Pounds and Naira that you can touch, cryptocurrency are online, what you can call internet money. Bitcoin is the first digital currency in the world. It came into existence in 2009 and has continued to be embraced all over the developing world, it was the invention of an anonymous man named Satoshi Nakamoto.
People relate Bitcoin to MMM because at some point when the ponzi scheme called MMM was winding up, they were asking people to pay in Bitcoin as against the regular Naira their subscribers have been paying with. So, being the first time a mass of Nigerians were hearing the name Bitcoin, they automatically linked them together which was very wrong.
TLT: What are the advantages of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?
Ganzallo: Well, one of the major advantages of Bitcoin, is that it eradicates third party charges, it is seamless, it is anonymous and sending and receiving payment using it is very fastand very secured. Also, Bitcoin is a far better store of value, the price of Bitcoin can not be manipulated or controlled by anybody or any government. It is 100% decentralized. The price only yields to the laws of demand and supply by the activities happening on Blockchain, which is the open ledger on which Bitcoin runs.
TLT: You just mentioned Blockchain, which a lot of people see as another buzz word, what is Blockchain?
Ganzallo: The Blockchain is about the most innovative invention in recent memory, it is an open, digital ledger where all Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency activities are recorded by a wide network of computers all over the world. Now, the unique thing about the Blockchain is that whatever is on it cannot be altered in any way. By design, a Blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data. It is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. Now, a lot of industries from manufacturing to medicine, education, the food industry, healthcare and finance are adopting Blockchain. If adopted for political elections, Blockchain can help to eradicate electoral frauds forever.
Many banks like Barclays are also working on adopting blockchain technology to make their business operations faster, more efficient and secure. Banks are also increasingly investing in blockchain startups and projects. IBM predicts that 15% of banks will be using the blockchain by the end of 2017. This is why it is disheartening seeing the reaction of the CBN and the Nigerian government to such a global phenomenon.
TLT: What does your organisation, Bitclub Network do, how can Nigerians benefit from your activities?
Ganzallo: We have a franchise with one of the companies licensed by Blockchain to mine Bitcoin. By mining, I mean the production of Bitcoin. Bitclub Network is one of the 22 companies licensed by Blockchain and we represent them in Nigeria. Bitclub Network has one of the biggest mining facilities in the world, it is based in Iceland. You may ask, why Iceland? That is one of the coldest regions of the world, and mining of Bitcoin generates a lot of heat, because of the activities of the computers mining the Bitcoin, so it requires a very cold, natural environment. You can watch the video of the facility on Youtube. What we do as their representative in Nigeria is to help people buy shares in the company and earn from the Bitcoin mined daily. Investors are daily paid from whatever the production the company makes daily. This legitimacy of Bitclub Network can be seen by visiting Bitcoin Block Explorer – Blockchain
TLT: How valuable is Bitcoin and what is its future?
Ganzallo: Like I stated earlier, Bitcoin came into existence in 2009 and as at then, one unit of it was less than 1 Cent of a Dollar. Today, one unit of Bitcoin is over 10,000 Dollars. According to the projection of experts, like John McAfee of the McAfee antivirus fame, one unit of Bitcoin will sell for 1 million Dollars by 2020, based on its scarcity and global adoption. On April 1, 2017, Japan, one of the most sophisticated and advanced countries in the world made Bitcoin a legal tender, meaning that you can transact any business in Japan with Bitcoin, in the U.S, we have over 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs, over 380 in Canada and well over 100 in the UK. The adoption of Bitcoin across the world will continue to grow as the world further embraces digitization and it would be sad to see Africa playing catch up again.
TLT: Locally, what do you see as the effect of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the Nigerian financial system?
Ganzallo: Well, to be honest, I think the people that will feel the most effect of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is the banking sector. Bitcoin practically makes you your own bank, you transact peer to peer, you do not need any third party. It is either the banking sector reinvent themselves and evolve or they see themselves closing shops, look at Barclays, one of the biggest banking groups in the world adopting Blockchain technology. I have speken with quite a lot of people here in Nigeria, who are bankers and workers in other financial services and they know next to nothing about Blockchain or Bitcoin, how does that person give their customers the right advise on something that will forever change the way we transact business, how? If care is not taken, many bankers will one day just wake up and see that they are out of jobs.