Mon Nov 30, 2015 12:27 pm

I would say that there is not a single biggest problem but what is always ongoing is finding the right balance between frictionless innovation and conservative regulation.Converting bitcoin to fiat before the point of sell or at the point of sale does not help adoption. I always have and will promote payment in bitcoin end-to-end. No conversion. All the deviations make bitcoin easier to use but not solve the fundamental problem. I agree with transacting bitcoin over legacy rails (credit/debit cards) if it helps with the adoption but not adapting bitcoin to fit legacy rails through conversion.Small compared to what big FinTech giants have. We are expanding and always on a lookout for a talent.It is intriguing. Faster settlement between financial institutions and increased velocity of funds makes markets more efficient. Anything that helps make market more efficient we support.Not sure what you meant by that. Are you asking how would sidechain look like if Bitstamp would have a sidechain?I understand why banks and other financial institution like blockchain and want to one for themselves. It is mainly a privacy concern. Among other benefits like optimizing the cost and tamper proof, the one that stands out to me out is the ability of an instant audit. I was recently at an event where director of EU branch of big auditing firm said they are heavily investing their time to understand power of blockchain. They well understand that auditing firms might be facing disruption as well and might soon no longer be people going through tons of paper but eventually only be algorithms on the private blockchain which will enable real time auditing.Banking partners were never the problem. Bitstamp has strong compliance programs in place and we developed good risk assessment models. It is the intermediary banks who put pressure on our banking partners and sometimes even refuse to process payments. This causes chain of events that can damage the banking relationship.Policy making needs to be interest neutral and is never up to a single decision maker so I would recommend a wider discussion. It is also a slow and comprehensive process so I do not imagine that a single meeting can spark a revolution, but it is a start. Department of Justice hosted something similar couple weeks ago. It started a dialog, that is important.Bitstamp works with some of the most innovative companies in the space. We remain focused exchange but help others pioneering other use cases.