Jon Najarian and Charlie Shrem Sit Down to Talk Crypto in Miami

Day two of The North American Bitcoin Conference kicked off this morning and was highlighted by a fireside chat with Jon Najarian of Market Rebellion and Charlie Shrem of Crypto.IQ. The two covered a variety of topics regarding cryptocurrency including decentralization, the upcoming halvening, and possible changes in the regulatory landscape. Jon and Charlie have met before and it was clear that they could talk about crypto in a casual and conversational manner all day, but unfortunately only had 15 minutes to scrape the surface. Here’s what they covered:

Decentralization

Charlie is a Bitcoin pioneer and has been a key figure in the community since the beginning, so his insight stretches back all the way to 2011. Throughout this time, he never forgot the sentiment that was fundamental in Bitcoin’s innception: decentralization. 

If we get off the path to decentralization, we may as well pack up and go home because what are we even doing here?”

Since Bitcoin’s initial development, the community has seen a number of projects pop up and ride the wave of Bitcoin’s success. With all the noise in the space it can be easy to lose sight of what Bitcoin is all about. Charlie emphasized the importance of maintaining the centralization of the network and how Layer 2 solutions, like inter-wallet operability, will play a critical role in this maintenance process. 

The Halvening

Due to the longevity of his time in the crypto space, Charlie is no stranger to Bitcoin block halvenings. To be exact, this will be the third block halvening that he has been through and that experience gives him a better idea of what to expect leading up to and following the event. Jon asked Charlie how significant the supply of Bitcoin is to price, and he replied,

Supply is everything. And that is part of why Bitcoin is so unique, there is no other asset where controlling the supply is a fundamental part of the code. If you haven’t experienced a halvening before, I recommend you get together with some friends in the crypto community and celebrate the occasion. Regardless of what it does to price it is a significant milestone in the life of Bitcoin.”

Charlie made it clear that he isn’t in the habit of making price predictions and any estimate he made regarding price post-halvening would be merely speculative. What is clear, however, is that everyone in the room was excited for the event and that the anticipation of the event alone will be enough to affect the price.

Regulatory Landscape

One other prominent topic of discussion between Jon and Charlie was regulation and compliance, and how events that took place in 2019 will affect the regulatory landscape in 2020. One major project that garnered lots of attention in 2019 is Facebook’s Libra, and their back-and-forth with the United States Government is paving the way for future projects.

Libra is doing a service for our community. As much as crypto has been taken seriously in the past, it has never really been treated as a threat from major governments. Libra has been seen as a threat since day one, and are receiving all of the government’s attention. It is like Libra is the first one to breach the door and take the bullets; we should just be glad it’s them and not us.”

So although Libra received heat from Bitcoin maximalists due to its inherent centralization, Charlie sees it as a sort of sacrificial project that will set regulation standards for projects that follow. If Bitcoin hopes to achieve mass-adoption and receive an injection of new capital, it is almost inevitable that it will need to be legitimized by the U.S. government. Unfortunately, that process involves an incredible amount of time jumping through legal hoops, and in many ways Libra is alleviating the burden on Bitcoin by making the first move.

Wrapping Up TNABC

Jon and Charlie lit up the room today, as did many of the other speakers with their enthusiasm for Bitcoin. The attentive crowd was receptive and eager to hear insight from the varying backgrounds of the speakers and it is safe to say they were not disappointed. There was an unmistakable air of enthusiasm throughout the event. A variety of topics were covered these past two days, but one thing that was made clear by every speaker was that 2020 is going to be an eventful year for Bitcoin.

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