There is a need to experiment with decentralized solutions in all industries and see where they can be used, believes Mathias Sundin, Member of Swedish Parliament in the Tax Committee and the Finance Committee. In the interview, the expert talked about blockchain regulations, shared challenges of providing crypto services and evaluated Sweden’s DLT sphere.
Interviewer: Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Stockholm (BCS).
Speaker: Mathias Sundin, Member of Swedish Parliament in the Tax Committee and the Finance Committee (MS).
BCS: You are the first person in political sphere who has started accepting campaign donations in bitcoin. Why did you come to this decision and how did you make it possible?
MS: I was the first in the world to only accept bitcoin for my campaign. I did that because I wanted to show people that bitcoin is something very exciting that could change the world, and politicians and others need to help make that happen.
BCS: Being a member of Swedish Parliament, how can you evaluate crypto taxation regulations, and what do you think can be improved?
MS: I don’t think we need special regulation for cryptocurrencies. The rules and regulations for other financial services apply to crypto as well.
BCS: As a Chairman at Goobit, Sweden’s first provider of financial crypto services, tell us about the challenges the company has met in being a pioneer in the sphere?
MS: A lot of misunderstandings and biased views of what bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are. We follow every rule and regulation, but despite this some people think it’s something shady. Especially, the banks need to learn more about Blockchain.
BCS: Evaluating Sweden’s blockchain sphere, which sectors do you think are mostly in need of decentralized technologies for their work improvement?
MS: If you need to store or transfer value, ownership and the like on a global level, then Blockchain is something to consider. But sometimes a centralised system is better, so don’t just follow the hype, think it through.
BCS: Do you think there are industries which benefit from centralized systems only and will not function better with decentralization? Which ones?
MS: I think we need to experiment with decentralized solutions in all industries and see where can find use for it.
BCS: Tell us in brief, what are you going to focus on in your presentation at the conference?
MS: I will talk about how strong decentralized systems are. The internet was built on decentralized systems, but many of the biggest services built upon this open system are centralized. That hinders innovation and new actors. That could change when we add an economic incentive to the open, decentralized system. The lack of economic incentive is otherwise the biggest challenge when you work with decentralized systems. But bitcoin and ICOs have solved that problem.
Mathias Sundin will become a speaker at the Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Stockholm on September 11. Register here.