As the CEO of BitPanda, an exchange that trades Bitcoin (BTC), as well as precious metals like gold, silver and platinum, Eric Demuth didn’t hesitate to call BTC a “Gold 2.0” or “a better version of gold.”

As demand for digital assets increases, he says, so does the need for precious metals: “That supports the theory I always have that Bitcoin is Gold 2.0 for a younger and ‘more digital’ generation.” He said that digital currencies are very easy to liquidate quickly, are pretty much free to transfer and can be stored in your pocket, apart from the scarcity and functionality, adding:

“I think crypto has already become an asset class that owns its own that will never vanish again. They will always be there. Especially, Bitcoin is like the gold standard of crypto. There will never be a world without digital assets or digital currencies.”

The crypto ecosystem tends to see regulations as “the big bad wolf”. Government and regulators set rules that slow down innovation and damage growth for the crypto-industry. That might have been the case a few years ago, but no longer, according to Demuth: “It can be quite a good thing now that the industry and many companies have reached a size that matters, depending on the regulations.”

Demuth was a keynote speaker during the Istanbul conference on Blockchain Economy 2020.

Turkey is First Stop Outside EU

Demuth began the conversation with an announcement: Turkey is BitPanda’s first stop outside of the EU. He listed several reasons, such as cultural affinity, geographical proximity, and being “two hours away with the plane.” But, unsurprisingly, the main reason is the high demand from such a large country.

When asked if regulations are a challenge for the crypto industry, Demuth took a second to think about it, as over the years the answer to this question has changed, and according to him:

“We have AML5 regulation in Europe right now. It’s similar to banking regulations. Four years ago, that would have killed all innovation and companies in Europe. Imagine you’re just a new startup, you can’t achieve this.”

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