Cryptocurrency could help $700 bn global remittance industry reduce fees, said Cathie Wood at the B word conference.

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Bitcoin is still a great hedge and will be more environmentally friendly than gold mining or the traditional financial system, Cathie Wood, founder and CEO, Ark Invest, recently said at a crypto conference.

The B word conference organized by the Crypto Council for Innovation aimed to “demystify,” “destigmatise” and “correct the mainstream narrative” around the cryptocurrency. The panel had Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, Cathie Wood and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla with Steve Lee from Square Crypto as the moderator.

Bitcoin could help the remittance industry, Wood said. Using Bitcoin, the remittance fees could be reduced as people send huge amounts of money to their families or other countries. The remittance industry is a $700-billion global market.

Money has three roles to play in the global economy, she said. One is the store of value, means of exchange or transactions and the unit of account or how goods are priced. According to her, Bitcoin is in the store of value stage with the other roles catching up.

Jack Dorsey reiterated his belief in Bitcoin as the internet’s native money. He said it reminds of the early years of the Internet.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, said, “One thing you do need to watch out for with crypto, especially Bitcoin, using proof of work, using energy that’s a bit too much and not necessarily good for the environment.”

Confirming that he owns Ethereum, Dogecoin and some Bitcoin, he said he does not have the policy of dumping and has been holding Bitcoin as a long-term investment.

In the conference, when asked if Tesla would accept Bitcoin as payments, he said, Tesla is doing some more due diligence on the energy usage and would mostly likely resume Bitcoin for car payments.

In response to Musk’s query, if Twitter would accept accepting Bitcoin as payment from advertisers, Jack Dorsey said that though he agreed with the concept, he was more focused on creating “economic incentives in the network itself without having to rely on advertising”.

(Edited by : Anshul)