“I regard Bitcoin Cash as an opportunity to rebrand bitcoin for the better. When it achieves global adoption, it won’t be called Bitcoin it will just be called cash.”

At the recent Satoshi’s Vision Conference, Tokyo, delegates were treated to a talk from Ken Shishido on Bitcoin Cash adoption in Japan. Shishido, is best known as the co-organiser for the Tokyo branch of the Bitcoin meet up, a movement which hosts weekly meetings to talk about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies across Tokyo. Meet ups discuss different topics and visit different, quirky locations throughout the city in an aim to bring total transparency to users of Bitcoin, a testament to Shishido’s passion and nature. According to Shishido, at present, 2 million cryptocurrency account holders exist in Japan, this is 2% of Japan’s entire population, the highest penetration of cryptocurrency account holders in the world. Altogether, Japan is home to 16 licensed crypto-exchanges. Shishido discusses how of recent years, Japan has been home to historically low interest rates, meaning that before cryptocurrency existed, FOREX trading was always quite a big deal as investors in Japan needed to look elsewhere to get interest on their savings. Now, these traders are seeping into cryptocurrency trading spaces at a fast rate. In Shishido’s words, crypto-fanatics are no longer just a ‘group of geeks’ and the culture is ‘going into the mainstream’, Bitcoin Cash in his eyes is at the front of this. Shishido believes that Bitcoin Cash naturally strives for worldwide adoption, but to do this it needs to be easy to calculate and translate in everyday transactions. In the same way the dollar or the pound makes sense, Bitcoin Cash needs to be represented by simple numerical value. Moreover, Shishido argues that Bitcoin Cash needs to be separated from Bitcoin Core . The reason for this – Bitcoin Core’s ‘bits’ are pronounced the same as the French word ‘bitte’ if you’re unsure what this translates to then don’t look it up, just know it’s a little rude. I must add that these are Shishido’s words, not mine! Obviously, he is trying to make light of the difference between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash here, and often humour does go a long way in capturing the imagination of the audience, so fair play to him. Shishido uses an example of Starbucks coffee in that, if a latte costs $3, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at $1,000 then the latte would cost 0.0003 BCH, this is not an easy sum of money to move around and turns a simple transaction into a tricky one. What’s more is that the same latte could then cost 0.5 BCH the day after, and 10 BCH the day after that (in theory). He believes that we now live in a world where governments are going ‘cashless’ and argues that actual money and hard cash makes up a small proportion of many governments money supplies, with many stores and merchants already implementing cryptocurrency transactions, Shishido believes we are at a turning point in how we all pay for things. Towards the end of the talk, Shishido makes reference to the Ryan X. Charles quote:Shishido is another face at the top of Satoshi’s vision, the idea that Bitcoin will go on to replace cash and currency systems worldwide, both in terms of physical and digital cash. Bitcoin Cash is the one he, and many others are backing to lead the race, but with so much competition from other, well established coins and new coins alike, I think everyone can see that it’s only a matter of time before this does start to happen. See Shishido’s full talk here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY3ziabsJ7g&list=PLpd9yRMC7Ebl40OAmLUI8Zev9Ixekxv6s&index=12&t=0s