$330,000 government grant for cryptocurrency firm | Stuff.co.nz

CoinBlock.Asia 2018-10-30 23:10

SUPPLIED

Vimba chief executive Sam Blackmore says Callaghan grant is a “show of faith”.

Taxpayer-funded grants agency Callaghan Innovation has declined to say whether a grant to an Auckland cryptocurrency firm should be seen as a vote of confidence in cryptocurrencies or the technologies behind them.

Sam Blackmore, chief executive of Vimba, previously known as MyCryptoSaver, said Callaghan had invested $330,000 into the business.

“This is a truly significant investment from Callaghan Innovation and a real show of faith in the future of this very exciting asset class,” he said in a statement.

The number of “coins” in each virtual currency is usually limited, but the number of virtual currencies that can be brought into existence is not.

Callaghan spokeswoman Melanie Tuala would not comment on that claim.

But she said the funding was a “research and development project grant” which Callaghan evaluated against set criteria.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF

Arcadia Arcade in Blenheim is one of the few businesses in New Zealand that accepts Bitcoin as payment.

“People talk about us picking winners, but our role is to administer these grants based on the criteria and they are not discretionary.

“If they meet it, they meet it,” she said.

Vimba operates a cryptocurrency savings and trading platform that was initially set up in 2014 to provide a simple way for people to make regular, small purchases of Bitcoin, and now plans to expand in Britain.

Blackmore said the Callaghan grant would go towards developing new features.

“We will use it to build secure multi-signature crypto wallets for our users and we’re also looking into expanding the range of cryptocurrencies available to them — beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum,” he said.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have sharply divided many technologists and economists.

Enthusiasts have promoted them as an advance that could make financial transactions cheaper and more secure.

But some sceptics such as American Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz have gone as far as labelling Bitcoin a scam, while other critics have pointed to the huge amounts of electricity used to “mine” Bitcoin in particular.

Martin Cocker, chief executive of cyber-safety organisation Netsafe, said most of its relationship with cryptocurrencies was negative “as they are often demanded as payment in ransomware and scam cases”.

“However, there is clearly a growing public interest in cryptocurrency as an investment option. It is good to have a local trading platform which is subject to local laws and consumer protections,” he said.

Massey University banking expert David Tripe said blockchain technology was interesting, but he would not be staking a large amount on cryptocurrencies.

Vimba said it had 5616 customers with almost $6.5m worth of Bitcoin.

The world was entering a new era of “mathematical currencies” that were not reliant on “borders or politicians”, Blackmore said.

Cryptocurrencies were valued in countries with unstable economies such as Venezuela, he said.

“New Zealand is a very utopian society. We are the land of the smiling zombies – we don’t really appreciate the social impact or value of Bitcoin,” he said.

Stuff

Original Source