Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation Says Banks Avoid Bitcoin Due to ‘PR Problem’

The banking establishment has been quick to notice the potentials inherent in blockchains and distributed ledgers, but many in the financial space have warned about the unintended consequences and dangers of integrating this disruptive technology.

Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, Brock Pierce, doesn’t seem to share these sentiments. In a recent interview with CNBC, Piece explained that certain portions of the financial system may be “negatively impacted”, but many other parts of the financial system may see new sectors flourish with the increased adoption of blockchain technology.

He goes to point out that blockchains will most likely disrupt areas of the financial world where middlemen are involved, “And the parts of the industry that are being most negatively impacted are the ones where the bank is not providing much in the way of value, where they are being a toll taker but not really a value creator.” Said Pierce.

Pierce, who is also a partner at Blockchain Capital, which has raised a total of $15 million in VC capital since its inception in 2013, believes that the technology is likely to initially disrupt “other industries” that are not as heavily-regulated, “I think banks are going to take a while to integrate this” he adds.

While Pierce says that the underlying technology of bitcoin will transform many industries in the coming years, he also said that the negative press surrounding the digital currency has forced the financial establishment to focus their efforts on building their own blockchain-based systems, rather than building on top of bitcoin’s blockchain.

“Bitcoin’s got a major PR (public relations) problem and that’s why you hear major banks saying bitcoin bad, blockchain good.”

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