Sebastian Serrano: “5 out of 5 blockchain startups from Argentina go global”

As Bitnewstoday.com wrote earlier this week, “Future in the City,” the conference devoted to innovation and modern technologies, was held in Moscow. Sebastian Serrano, CEO and founder of Ripio spoke about the blockchain potential in developing countries. He shared his experience of the launch of Bitcoin’s first payment system in Latin America in 2013 and the creation of Ripio electronic wallet in 2014.

Sebastian Serrano gave an exclusive interview for Bitnewstoday.com.

The world is not eager to pay with cryptocurrency for something today. What might be the reason for that?

We’re at the historical moment right now. Today, I explained a lot of technical things, and I went pretty deep — how do these things work in the cryptocurrency world. Back in the days, I established my first startup when I was in high school, in 1998. At that time, I’ve been asked the same question, like “how does the internet work?” People react with fear of any changes. What is going to happen then? We’re moving up to the future, and the tech will eventually become transparent to people. Like you open “Whatsapp,” it’s okay, but nobody explains to you how to use it, nobody tells you how the Internet system works to connect you with friends. I think that later all these things will become so simple to use and that people will see them in a transparent and understandable way.

Why do some governments create barriers for miners and other crypto enthusiasts? For example, raising the prices for electricity?

Some governments and some jurisdictions overreact, and they are more conservative. They don’t want to change anything. The other ones are very open and allow innovations. We are in the moment when a lot of experimentations take place. Some people take more risks; other ones take fewer risks. The future will show us the areas where we need innovations or experimentations, and we are going to understand what works and what doesn’t. The countries that allow ICOs and token sales, they are going to attract a lot of capital.

What’s the situation in Argentina in this sphere?

There’s only one VC in Argentina, and there’s only one accelerator for the startups. There’s not enough capital to finance many tech projects. If you create something in crypto or blockchain technology — you can rise to a global level. Five blockchain projects are running today in Buenos Aires, and each one of them is worth more than $ 30 000 000. This is unbelievable for Argentina. These projects are highly developed from different points of view. And we let these things grow.

Sebastian Serrano also stated that if every country could eventually become more open to the innovations, they would see a great capital flow and economic growth. The challenge is revolutionary.