In the 2nd part of Co-founder of Whale Alert, Frank describes the big Mt. Gox crash time period as a disastrous time for many people. There are several things that are kind of difficult in blockchain right now that might be destructive for blockchain and he goes in depth to it, so make sure to read it.
(Frank : Co-Founder at Whale Alert)
Interview Date :13th February 2020
The Market at the time of Mt. Gox Crash
I think the way the market was, it was disaster waiting for it to happen. The existence of the Mt. Gox fund should have been calculated into the price but most of the people didn’t know. I’m not sure if they could have known and we didn’t see it coming either. If Whale Alert had been available and tracked that big Mt. Gox transfer, more people would have been informed about what was happening and why it was happening, and this could have saved them a lot of money.
In regard to how disastrous it was, it turned out quite bad for many people I imagine. However, for us it wasn’t too bad because we had already exited the market. But I think for a lot of people they were losing 100s of thousands worth of bitcoin, and a lot of people learnt an expensive lesson. That’s why I think tracking service companies like Whale alert are important. It helps people understand why things are happening and also warns people about what the market looks like; who actually has Bitcoin? who has Ethereum or Ripple? Most of all, if people are better informed, that should take a lot of the volatility out of the market. That’s our view on it. For some people the volatility is good but for blockchain as a whole, it doesn’t really help that much for adoption.
Regulations and the Future
There are several things that are kind of difficult in blockchain right now that might be destructive for blockchain. I think one of them is insufficient regulation, because regulation is much needed. There is some centralization going on with blockchain, for example the Chinese government is really pushing for blockchain, and I am not sure they are doing it for the right reasons. There is still a lot of money chasing happening, and there still are scams and pyramid schemes etc. People are unfortunately still falling for that. I think if you look at the crash in the early 2018, that really set blockchain back a lot and really did a lot of damage for adoption because people became convinced that it all was nothing but scams. So it is important with a balance of decentralization and regulations.
Challenge of Tracking Illegal Activities
We are getting a lot better at it. It’s all about data, so the more data we get the more accurate we can get with our tracking. We are not tracking individuals, we are tracking large whales and exchanges. I think with the right amount of data I think you can make a good analysis. The whole money laundering thing is being used to escape a whole other big issue that people should be focusing. Of course these things should be taken care of, but I don’t think its the main issue here, as it only makes up a small part of the whole picture.
First time I heard of Crypto
The first time I read about it was around 2011 I think. If you read the tech news websites, every now and then there would be something about it but I never really paid much attention to it. To be honest I didn’t completely understand what it was, nor what it meant. I had to learn a lot about all the implications of decentralization, and not only about the technology, but also about what it would mean for the general; the effects of having a decentralized currency.
Facing failures and Challenges
I have another perspective on failure. All this thing about “I should have bought Bitcoin back then” or “I shouldn’t have sold it” etc,that’s not really how you should be discussing it with yourself. There are opportunities that you miss every day. Some time ago, I read about somebody who committed suicide after he lost his keys to his wallets, containing Bitcoin that he had bought years before the hype. This lead him to depression and really had an impact on his mind. That incident really struck me . So, this whole thing about “could have, should have, would have” it’s not something you should be focusing on.
I believe there will be many more opportunities in the coming future, but one should think that there are many or weak-points and aspects with the coins as well. Therefore, you have to be careful with anything concerning sending your money etc. You have to make sure that you really are using it correctly. Unfortunately a lot of people made a lot of mistakes, but I think it is getting better now. It’s all a part of crypto.
Interviewer , Editor : Lina Kamada
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The Article published on this our Homepage are only for the purpose of providing information. This is not intended as a solicitation for cryptocurrency trading. Also, this article is the author’s personal opinions, and this does not represent opinion for the Company BTCBOX co.,Ltd.