I thought he was extremely articulate without being to nerdy and tech centric. I also thought he did an excellent job of emphasizing by repetition:
1) the need to differentiate bitcoin from standard banking practices (and thus a different gov. response)
2) not rushing to classify bitcoin through detrimental legislation
3) contrasting overwhelming benefits compared to risks
4) Internet evolution to bitcoin evolution
and a number of others. He didn't just put it out there once, but was consistent throughout the testimony. The crypto world couldn't ask for a better spokesperson or presentation from him.
I was also rather surprised by the politicians, who generally sounded positive. Problem with politicians is they're masters of sophism and manipulation and it's nearly impossible to know their motives and true attitude. Looks good, but who the hell knows how many banking interests were represented (i.e. which of them might be bought off by the banking industry) and were present only to mine the testimony for ammo against bitcoin.
Thank you for posting this video!!
I always enjoy watching and listening to Mr. Antonopoulos presentations.
He's articulate and very effective with the way he frames his responses to particular questioning, making it easy for just about anyone to understand.
He's not only a great advocate for Bitcoin but the whole crypto economy in general. I think it would be naive to believe that he isn't following Bitshares very, very closely.
You can tell (well I think I can anyways) that he clearly understands the Bitcoin protocol limitations and side steps those issues very eloquently, ie. POW and Miners, Ease of Tax Filings, Price Volatility, Currency Conversions.
We obviously know that Bitshares will help eliminate those limitations via bitUSD and other pegged currency assets. In turn, making it much easier for people to adjust to the crypto world and still go about their daily lives as normal.
I'll admit that I found the taxing issues the most intriguing aspect of the whole hearing. Especially when it came to either classifying crypto as a Currency or as a Capitol Gains asset.
Which made me think if there is a way to easily implement that change into Bitshares?
Here's what I mean by that...
So let's say I want to make a transaction in the BTS system and before that transaction is completed, a quick popup (or something to that effect) asks if the transaction will be used as "Currency" (like purchasing a product or service) or used for "Savings", therefore categorizing it as a "Capitol Gains".
Once everything is tallied up at the end of the year you could easily export that data into a Quickbooks type program and simplify the process of proper Tax filling for crypto transactions (who likes Fed audits?).
Of course, the governments would need to classify and clarify (hopefully in the near future) these crypto transactions as such to make this happen; helping to avoid any filling penalties.
But still, I think it would be a perfect addition to the BTS platform and have this capability.
Psychologically I think new users would appreciate this function as a "Mental" safety net and feel more comfortable jumping into BTS and using bitUSD without any fear that they're "Avoiding" or "Bypassing" the system.
There was a separate thread which someone was asking how Bitshares could get integrated in the transportation/logistic industry and how to pitch the idea to a receptive decision maker of that company.
IDK, maybe adding the stated function above could help close the deal? It would substantially help with bookkeeping regarding paying out payroll, supplies, vendors or stock buy backs etc. via bitUSD. Classifying those bitUSD transactions as either currency or capitol gains assets would keep things in check.
Just another tool in the belt and help close the sale to that prospective company or business owner who's familiar with this technology, has been looking for ways to integrate crypto, help cut overhead cost and able to merge it seamlessly.
BTS would be their obvious choice cause no one else is offering it today!!
Sorry for the rambling LOL