Embracing Winds of Change 迎向改變
Friends, Honorable guests, and distinguished participants, ladies, and gentlemen.
Good morning. Welcome to Taipei!
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Asia Blockchain Summit…again! As a legislator here in Taiwan, I’m not here to talk about legislation and politics, I know that that would bore most of you out, and that would not fit into my title as the Crypto Congressman, rather I’m here to urge for change and tell you the time for change is now.
In the past year, the world as a whole has changed in many ways, new pages of history have been written while new stories are unfolding. We’ve faced many issues and conflicts, ranging from the trade war between the United States and China, Brexit moving on to another stage, Boeing 787 Max being grounded, G20 conference that concluded two days ago, and the protests that are still ongoing in Sudan and Hong Kong. When these events first appear on the front page, most of us are concerned and worried, but over time have we just forgotten about it? I wouldn’t say so, I would rather say that we’ve adopted a solution that is either acceptable for most of the population, or else we are still searching for a new one. For example, 10 years ago who would have imagined President of the United States stepping onto North Korea’s territory？This is a clear example of how our world is constantly changing, and moving towards unintended outcomes.
As you can see in all of these events that I’ve mentioned, we are always searching for a solution and a better alternative, and the same logic should be applied in transforming the financial world. In fact, many of these conflicts that I’ve mentioned are the result of power being tilted towards a certain side. This is why providing an equal platform and decentralized system is vital in creating a better future. However, I would like to present three important aspects for us to move forward together, which are the necessary conditions needed for change to happen, elements that are preventing us from change, and what would happen if we change?
There are always risk in technological development, just as we have experience the threats in cybersecurity, misinformation, or identity theft. But should this be an obstacle for us to move forward, or should this be the fuel for us to build a better world? How do we encourage people to embrace change and challenge? We’ll need leaders, managers, and decision makers that understand technology, in order for them to make a decision that is capable and suitable in fostering change. In fact, I would say that education would be one of the most suitable solutions, equipping future generations with tools to deal and cope with present and future issues. In the long-term, this will create a society that is an open-minded and welcoming change. On the other hand, communication and collaboration would also be another key, since it would reduce misunderstandings and increase efficiency in the long run.
We’ve been able to gather together and work towards a creative solution that is outside of the box, and I believe with the development of new technologies and new regulations, we will be able to achieve more and beyond. It is a revolution that we are going through, not one about politics, but one about the changing future of money and Fintech.
The development of modern commerce began from a coin, paper money, to checks, and nowadays we are moving to digital finance through new technologies like blockchain and digital currencies. The evolution will change our traditional concept of coins and commercial bank deposits, and the states of role in providing money and currency. Let’s ask the question, what can a popular digital currency do?
By having a popular, and regulated circulating digital currency, it will improve the entire financial system in three main ways, it would improve financial inclusion, security, and consumer protection, and enhance the privacy in payments. This digital currency would allow financial services to reach the poor and rural populations that were originally ignored by traditional banks. In fact, if there are well-designed regulations and transaction systems, it would separately process and store one single individual’s information into different locations, which will then enhance the security of the information. More importantly, blockchain and developing Fintech would prevent users from being exposed to hacking and customer profiling, thus all of us here would be benefited from this. We are going from the Internet of Information to Internet of Value.
A recent example of how we’ve been changing the world of social media and digital currency is Facebook’s announcement of the new digital currency, Libra. This is a clear example of how our daily life and social media will be integrated with financial systems that could possibly lead to a cheaper, safer method of transaction that is ready for person-person usage. Not to mention Facebook’s popularity in developing countries, the creation of this digital currency would have the ability to reach people and businesses in the remote and marginalized region, thus decentralizing, empowering, and sharing the power with more of the population. In the long term, this will help us in accelerating our progress in reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Other than resisting change, why don’t we think of innovative and creative solutions together?
This is the way that Taiwan deals and faces challenges and innovations, we welcome changes, embraces innovation, and seek cooperation.
Lastly, as Buckminster Fuller said “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete,” and now is the time for us to stop modifying the old model and build models of our time.
Thank you and Welcome to Taiwan!
