At a recent FinTech crypto meeting on March 18, organized by long-time Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) trader and FinTank cofounder David Carman and held in Chicago, IL, Rahm Emanuel – Mayor of Chicago took center stage to get engaged in discussion of how Chicago can become the crypto trading capital of the world and the global FinTech hub and to put his thoughts on cryptocurrency and blockchain. Despite having inadequate knowledge, that he admitted, to understand the blockchain and crypto infrastructure, he claimed that Cryptocurrency adoption on a larger scale is inevitable in the future.
Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff to U.S. President Barack Obama decided to stick to politics after acknowledging his own lack of knowledge regarding blockchain and cryptos. He explained that countries such as Iran and Venezuela, which are currently going through a cash crunch, can harness the potential of the cryptos to maintain global transactions and the nation’s financial stability. Crypto asset could prove to be the lifesaver for their economies. Replying to audiences’ quarries, he further said that ‘large scale adoption could be inevitable.’
He stated,
“One day, somebody’s going to figure out – whether that’s Argentina, ten years from now, five years from now – how to use cryptocurrencies to stay alive when they are facing a financial crisis, and then you’re going to find out that this moment has arrived.”
It seems like his overall sentiment on the blockchain and crypto is optimistic. His observation of blockchain’s ‘trend line’ indicates the future of the crypto industry is quite positive, he added. Coming back to his previous statement when he as asked about his thoughts on crypto, he said,
“The trend lines are affirmative for its future. I don’t know if that’s ten years, and I don’t know if that’s 20 years, but it’s affirmative. I don’t know what it is. I know it’s an alternative way to trade, and therefore, I gotta learn about it, and I gotta be honest, as mayor, it’s not the top 100 things I would have to learn about.”
Referring to a Deloitte report titled, “Connecting Global FinTech: Interim Hub Review 2017,” that consist the detailed analysis of 44 different cities that could possibly become the global top tech hubs and named Chicago among world’s top tech hubs for Financial Technology. “If you’re not innovating, you’re falling behind,” Emanuel said. At last focusing on the initial development and innovation on crypto and blockchain, he said that creative solutions and new innovations from FinTech industry can definitely strengthen the base for further development of other industries i.e. healthcare, manufacturing and many more.
