Miguel Cuneta, SCI Ventures [PH 2019 Crypto & Blockchain Year in Review]

December 18, 2019 – Depending on who you ask, 2019 is another turbulent year for the crypto and blockchain industries. Globally, we’ve seen companies refocus their efforts or merge with others to survive. In the Philippines, we’ve read about more pending regulations, developments in the space, and more education drive. BitPinas sought the opinion of key crypto and blockchain leaders/influencers in the Philippines and abroad on what they think about 2019 in general and what they look forward to in 2020.

Miguel Cuneta is the Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer at SCI (Satoshi Citadel Industries) Ventures. SCI is a pioneer Bitcoin and blockchain company in the Philippines with products such as the remittance-centric Rebit.ph, Bitcoin wallet Bitbit.cash, and buy-and-sell website BuyBitcoin.ph. Miguel is also a blockchain advisor to Particl.io and is an active contributor to media site Decentralize.today. He is regularly invited to share his insights about blockchain and cryptocurrency in conferences around the world.

BitPinas: Can you please share the latest developments from your company/project/group this year?

Miguel Cuneta: SCI secured a new partner and investor in Cebuana Lhuillier, the biggest micro-financial service provider in the country.

Please share a personal highlight for you this year in the crypto and blockchain community.

Earlier at the Philippine Senate Hearing on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Senate bill no. 1041 or the Digital Asset Act of 2019 aims to recognize digital assets/currencies. Wearing my @BuyBitcoinPH shirt of course 😎 pic.twitter.com/ITMOYRa6JE

— Miguel Cuneta (@MiguelCuneta) September 23, 2019

We were invited to the Senate to discuss digital asset regulations as well as SEC for digital asset marketplace regulations, which we hope will allow our industry to grow further. We also secured a new partner and investor with Cebuana Lhuillier, which we hope will connect more Filipinos to the world of digital financial services in the near future.

What do you think is the most important blockchain and/or crypto development in the Philippines/Globally in 2019?

Although it has some negative implications to retail investors, the bursting of the ICO bubble and craze might have been one of the better things to happen to this industry in the last couple of years. Too many projects, even locally, jumped in on the craze and are now trying to sweep it under the rug like it never happened. Hopefully the industry learns a lesson from this and focuses on actual viable use cases for blockchain technology.

Photo for the Article - Miguel Cuneta, SCI Ventures [PH 2019 Crypto & Blockchain Year in Review]

Globally, Bitcoin has once again proven to be anti-fragile and has emerged strongly from the bottom of the crypto-winter. We see a lot more acceptance from the macro-investing industry for Bitcoin, with some even recommending a small % allocation of Bitcoin to diversify an investment portfolio. Bakkt, Fidelity, and several other big names have started offering Bitcoin and bitcoin derivatives to their customers. More protocol development, as well as companies that focus on building on Bitcoin (Cash app, Fold app, Lolli, etc) are seeing success and validation from the market too.

We also see a lot of other developments in the broader blockchain industry, enterprise-wise and also on the DApp front. Good projects like the Particl Open Marketplace went live this year, opening up e-commerce to a more privacy-oriented and decentralized alternative, for example. Big companies like Kakao of South Korea have launched their own blockchain platform for their own apps, further solidifying that this tech is here to stay.

What is your company/project/group looking forward to this 2020 in this space?

At the @techtonicsummit earlier talking about @SCI_Ventures, #Bitcoin, blockchain tech, and other financial applications that startups are tackling in the Philippines. @pdaxph @ConsenSys pic.twitter.com/Z3RcfKQfZ2

— Miguel Cuneta (@MiguelCuneta) November 16, 2019

We are looking forward to seeing the market recover from its 2019 lows, with good projects being validated and more users to enter the space. Also more clarity on the regulatory side for businesses, and in effect more opportunities with traditional financial services. The Bitcoin halving is also coming up and three’s a lot of positive anticipation associated with that.

On our side, we are looking forward to launching new applications for 2020 and growing the business even more, with new partnerships connecting the crypto world with traditional financial services.

What do you personally look forward to in this space?

Thanks to @eaglebroadcast for the opportunity to talk about @SCI_Ventures and #bitcoin in your event and having me on your TV show today. Looking forward to future events and collaboration! pic.twitter.com/FMHFU2aiJq

— Miguel Cuneta (@MiguelCuneta) December 11, 2019

I have a multi-year or even multi-decade view of the industry, and I am looking forward to the same thing since I started in 2014, and that’s Bitcoin becoming a global standard for open, transparent, borderless, and censorship-resistant value transfers on a massive scale. We are barely scratching the surface of what is possible.

What do you see for the Philippines in 2020 in this space?

I believe we will see more traditional financial institutions getting into the space, and fintech in general growing faster than ever. Initiatives such as the standardization of QR code payments in the PH is a great step forward if implemented, for example.

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