As this topic is very hot the past months, there was a large audience for our two speakers: Ilse Peeters (Director and Head of Government Relations and Public Affairs at Euroclear) and Levi Haegebaert (Bitcoin Expert at Start2Bitcoin) gave a broad introduction on cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin in particular. Only ladies were invited, so we requested our members to send their female colleagues to this virtual seminar.
For some this webinar was a first step in understanding this intangible market, and it was also BELRIM’s goal to let members get more familiar with this virtual world.
Some basic questions were addressed:
- What are crypto-currencies and what are crypto-assets?
- What is the Bitcoin used for?
- How is Libra doing?
- Have you heard of Ripple, Litecoin or Ethereum?
- How safe is this new technology?
- Is it sustainable?
- How about the legal framework: Belgian, European, Global?
- Who has a crypto-wallet?
- Who or what is behind the crypto-assets?
- What if anything goes wrong and who then bears or covers the risks?
- Is it too good to be true?!
Sylvie Duchnycz (Marsh) for example, wanted to know more about this topic, because it was new and mysterious to her and because she wanted to know more from two experts in this field. Both for her and for her company, she wanted to be updated on this topic.
Another participant mentioned that there is some kind of mystery attached to this world that got her curious. This webinar for her, was the perfect way to get some information on the basic questions of what this world is about, and to get a neutral and professional look on cryptocurrencies.
It is becoming more and more important, especially to risk- and insurance managers because digital currencies are gaining more and more prominence. It can generate several risks (liability risks, cyber risks,…) and it has been confirmed that the risks are real, but at the moment it is hard to identify, or to see how we can optimally insure ourselves against these risks. We will certainly see more of this in the future.
Overall, our participants of this BELRIM Exchange, really appreciated this webinar. Afterwards we also gifted Levi Haegebaert’s book ‘Bitcoin voor beginners’, to three lucky ladies who participated. We hope they will enjoy reading this book!
