Blockstream CEO, Adam Back, addresses the congregation at the G20 side event

Blockstream’s CEO Adam Back addressed the Finance Ministers and central bankers in this year’s G20 side event held in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. Back highlighted the possible advantages of tokenization and blockchain technology in the event. 

“We can prove that transaction records, clearances and unit numbers are correct at the individual and small financial institution level. We can check the soundness of the system in real time...Open Networks always win. publicly auditable blockchains will win over permissioned private blockchains aka DLT.”

Back stated that security tokens would also be profitable from a regulatory point of view as they can more easily be audited.

Along with Back, Junei Murai, known as the father of the Japanese internet, also graced the event. Murai argued for an ICANN (an organization that manages Internet domain names, etc.) like body for blockchain. He stated:

“We will intentionally create a place where multi-stakeholders gather together to disseminate the decentralized financial system and blockchain. It is necessary to create a place where various stakeholders gather, as in the early days of the Internet.”

The ministers themselves have delivered a communique reiterating AML/KYC requirements which stated: 

“Technological innovations, including those underlying crypto-assets, can deliver significant benefits to the financial system and the broader economy.

While crypto-assets do not pose a threat to global financial stability at this point, we remain vigilant to risks, including those related to consumer and investor protection, anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).”