Former U.S. President Bill Clinton Lauds Blockchain Technology

On Monday, October 1st, former U.S. president Bill Clinton addressed the opening keynote at the Ripple’s Swell Conference 2018. On stage, Bill Clinton was also accompanied by former White House advisor Gene Sperling, who currently sits on the Ripple’s board of directors.

Bill Clinton talked about a range of issues but one area where he emphasized was the blockchain technology. Bill Clinton was the president of U.S. from 1993-2001, a period which saw a huge transition of internet right from the premature stage to commercial mainstream.

Bill Clinton also talked about the emergence of e-commerce during late 1990s and further touched upon the "disparity of access” for blockchain like emerging technologies as they continue to develop and grow. He stated: "The more you develop new technologies like blockchain … AI technologies, robotic technologies … the more the disparity of access is going to be felt.”

Moreover, he also noted that the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) offers staggering possibilities as it is not limited or constrained by national borders. “This whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders [and] income groups. The permutations and possibilities are staggeringly great,” he said. “We could ruin it all by negative identity politics and economic and social policy. You think about that.”

He also asked lawmakers to not intervene much and introduce over legislations which can hinder the growth of the blockchain space. He also asked lawmakers to formulate new rules catering to the technological shift, instead of applying the same old legislations to new technologies.

Clinton noted that "there needs to be an intelligent effort to identify the downsides" and that "you can't apply an old regulatory regime to a new technology.” He further added that "You end up killing the goose that laid the golden egg”.

At the same time Clinton said that the blockchain and the crypto space should not jump the guns and move too ahead quickly. He warned that doing so it could broaden the financial and social inequalities among people in the developed and emerging markets.

Media publication TheStreet quoted Clinton saying that “The more the benefits materialize, the more you have to be careful about it”. Clinton also warned early adopters to avoid getting “carried away with the immediate financial rewards” associated with this asset class.

“You don’t want consumer fraud, you don’t want to finance criminal enterprises, and you certainly don’t want to make it easier to pull off severe attacks by terrorists,” he continued. “That’s the challenge of each new technology.”