Crypto analyst Caitlin Long came on episode 32 of the Square One podcast to discuss the future of Bitcoin and the security token space. In this episode, Long makes the case for Bitcoin’s longevity and the necessity of security tokens for accessible capital for everyday startups.

Caitlin Long has been a long-time thought leader in the blockchain space. Long was formerly the President and Chairman of Symbiont, a platform for business-led blockchain solutions, and is the co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition. It was because of her efforts that Wyoming legislators approved the Blockchain Bank Bill this month. Spending 22 years on Wall Street before she was involved in the blockchain space, she came on the Square One podcast to discuss Bitcoin, its evolution, and how tokenized securities will forever alter traditional asset classes.

“Security Tokens Are about Democratizing Access to Capital”

Long is an unabashed crypto fan. Its her opinion that not only will Bitcoin grow to be dominant globally, but it will soon became the reserve currency much like gold is treated today.

The next frontier for the space, however, will come from tokenized securities due to the usefulness of blockchain technology itself: everything is verifiable thus making the technology perfectly suited for compliance concerns.

“Security tokens will allow us to definitely verify shares were legally issued… you’ll be able to trace back to the genesis moment when it was created,” Long said.

Ultimately, security tokens are about “democratizing access to capital” Long continued. However, the process today is far too bureaucratic, especially when it comes to startups. The ICO model proved, for better or for worse, “that companies could raise capital without paying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of legal fees.”

Although the ICO model did not have clear disclosure agreements, Long argues that ICOs nonetheless proved to those in the financial market that an alternative, more decentralized model was possible. And now we are in the process of refining this fundamental basis into a compliant model: the security token offering.

“Startups don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay lawyers and do SEC filings. And most startups don’t have financial histories that they can provide in their disclosures… what are then the chances you will have access to the capital you need in this system? It’s pretty close to nil… we need to reduce this bar as opposed to all this bureaucratic management,” Long said.

Security tokens thus provide startups with a new model for raising funds, and one which could potentially open the floodgates to a new “golden age” of innovation.

For Long’s full comments, be sure to watch episode 32 of the Square One podcast.

Do you agree with Long that security tokens will democratize capital formations? What other benefits do security tokens bring to existing financial markets? Let us know your thoughts below.

Image courtesy of Caitlin Long.