Cloud MSP claims cryptocurrencies still too risky for the channel
With Bitcoin mania mounting, European boss of Cloudreach Chris Bunch opens up on whether he sees a future for cryptocurrencies in the channel
Cryptocurrencies are still too volatile and carry too many security concerns to be widely adopted by the channel, according to Cloudreach's European boss Chris Bunch.
Bitcoin, considered one of the most widely used virtual currencies on the market, reached a value of more than $19,000 (£15,750) on 17 December but fell to $14,393 on 3 January.
In 2014, vendor giant Microsoft announced that it would accept Bitcoin payments on some digital payments limited to the US, with Dell also embracing the cryptocurrency that same year.
And in November last year, accountancy and consulting giant PwC accepted its first Bitcoin payment in Hong Kong as a sign that the firm is "embracing new technology".
But according to Chris Bunch, European head of Cloudreach, the channel will not be transacting in cryptocurrencies any time soon, despite the currency's recent surge in valuation.
He cited the huge amount of unpredictability and volatility in cryptocurrency valuations, and a multitude of new security concerns as key reasons for why currencies such as Bitcoin won't be embraced by the channel in the near future.
"Bitcoin is more regarded, I would argue, as a financial asset or speculative investment rather than a currency. In order for it to be a currency, it would have to have a much more predictable price," he said.
"I have invested in a number of cryptocurrencies in a small way. But I have done so with a view that if it makes a significant amount of money I will sell it, but also I am accepting the fact that I could lose every single pound that I have invested.
"The price is leaping around so incredibly wildly. The swings are big - if the pound goes up by even half a per cent, people know about it and it has a big impact. With Bitcoin, it has dropped by £1,000 per coin - which makes it incredibly volatile. That blocks it from being used as a proper currency."
The Cloudreach executive said he believes PwC's decision to accept Bitcoin payments in Hong Kong is not a first step towards the firm accepting payments globally, claiming the announcement resembled more of a PR stunt than a real move towards cryptocurrency transactions.
Bunch also said that he expects national governments will be particularly against the standardisation of cryptocurrencies in the future, but also pointed to security and scalability issues standing in the way of their general acceptance and standardisation.
"There are technical issues around scalability. Bitcoin isn't as fast as it could be and there are whole communities of effort going on to improve that. Other coins have slightly different architectures and are faster, but are not so widely adopted," he said.
"There are things to be done around security, there are some interesting consumer-grade offerings to prevent your coins getting stolen, but these are not yet available in the enterprise space to satisfy our insurers or board of directors."
There are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies on the market today, with coins such as Ripple, which has a market capitalisation of $1.26bn, making a big splash among major banks.
While Bitcoin is unlikely to become a viable form of payment within the channel in the next few years, Bunch believes that platforms such as Ethereum - a contract-based payment system where funds are automatically transferred when certain programmatic criteria is met - could be a big hit in years to come.
"Do I see a future for blockchain and cryptocurrency somewhere in the world? Yes I do, and I'm pretty bullish about that," he said.
"What you need is for one of these cryptocurrencies to become a standard and be adopted. If they do so, then yes, absolutely I could see cryptocurrencies being broadly used across B2C, B2B and consumer payments. We do have some financial services customers who are interested in blockchain in general, and they are experimenting with a number of different coins."