What future awaits blockchain, bitcoin and other financial technologies in Russia and in the world? Are cryptocurrencies worth investing? Is there a new bubble on the market? CoinFox reports from the NextMoney conference in Skolkovo.

The meeting took place 7 July at the Moscow School of Management and brought together entrepreneurs who either use or intend to implement fintech solutions in their business, as well as those investing in blockchain projects or planning to do so in the future.

This time, NextMoney speakers focused more on blockchain technologies than on cryptocurrencies. It is remarkable that only seven out of 150 participants admitted having ever owned cryptocurrencies. Igor Pesin, the Investment Director of Life Sreda VC, reminded that in the first quarter of 2016, investments in blockchain startups for the first time in history exceeded those in bitcoin startups.

Chris Skinner, the head of The Financial Services Club who was speaking from Heathrow Airport, London, is sure that, in the decades to come,

“it is highly probable that blockchain protocol will determine the infrastructure of states and industry in general, finance, trade and commerce.”

The expert sees the rapid, transparent and secure transfer of assets as the principal advantage of the technology, which allows to exclude such intermediaries as central banks and SWIFT. At the same time, Skinner does not consider it a threat to traditional banks. On the contrary, he suggests that banks should “curate and integrate open-source technologies.”

He also mentioned that the UN is going to use blockchain for personal identification in crisis areas, as well as for refugee registration.

Gleb Davidyuk, Managing Partner at iTech Capital, brought up a bolder suggestion that in the future the blockchain would “leave auditors unemployed” by making transparent all accounting offices in the world.

Artem Tolkachev, Managing Partner of the law firm “Tolkachev and partner”, focused on the situation around the legal status of cryptocurrencies in Russia. He stressed that today, the citizens cannot be prosecuted for operations with bitcoin because there no law which prohibits its use. There are only recommendations issued by Russian Central bank advising to avoid using “money surrogates”. However, the Ministry of Finance still advocates a ban on bitcoin operations across the country. As of now, Russia is one of the strictest jurisdictions in the world for cryptocurrencies (Luxembourg being considered the most liberal one).

At the same time, Tolkachev mentioned that Russian authorities are much friendlier towards blockchain technologies and consider using them in governmental institutions. For example, the Central Bank established two working groups that will study blockchain technologies and their possibilities.

Some compared the hype around the blockchain and cryptocurrencies with the US dotcom bubble in 1995-2001, when the rapid emergence and massive failure of new Internet companies eventually led to a huge wave of bankruptcies and made NASDAQ index collapse.

According to Artem Tolkachev, however, the danger comes not from the possible “bubble” but from inflated expectations and the hope that fintech will solve all problems at once and miraculously raise revenues in one go. Gleb Davidyuk, in his turn, warned that many swindlers and “new Mavrodis” will take advantage of the cryptocurrencies’ growing popularity and reminded the audience to always look for trustworthy service providers when trading.

During the conference, NextMoney speakers drew quitter a few remarkable analogies: “blockchain is a byproduct of Bitcoin”, “blockchain is the rails, while bitcoin is the locomotive”. However, the most interesting comparison was made by Sally Parulava of Consult Hyperion, who said that “it's impossible to rob a bank made of glass” referring to the blockchain’s transparency.

Ludmila Brus