Bangladesh Should Embrace Blockchain to Stay Relevant - Salman F Rahman
Bangladesh should embrace blockchain technology in order to stay relevant in a changing world, PM's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said at the Blockchain Economy Summit Opening Session on Tuesday. He went on to say blockchain is going to change the world, and that stakeholders should take full advantage of the benefits of the technology in a safe and proper manner.
The two day conference at which t... moreBangladesh Should Embrace Blockchain to Stay Relevant - Salman F Rahman
Bangladesh should embrace blockchain technology in order to stay relevant in a changing world, PM's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said at the Blockchain Economy Summit Opening Session on Tuesday. He went on to say blockchain is going to change the world, and that stakeholders should take full advantage of the benefits of the technology in a safe and proper manner.
The two day conference at which the PM’s advisor spoke was held virtually in the nation’s capital, with many notable and influential participants from all over the world, and featured sessions on various subjects such as digital security and transparency, remittance, tokenization and infrastructure financing, blockchain and the capital markets, and how blockchain is revolutionising the art world through NFTs.
“Blockchain technology seeks to completely challenge and overhaul the way we have learned to manage assets and organizational and government boundaries around them. We must not forget that blockchain has emerged as a potent idea in response to bureaucratic incapability around the world to keep up with rapid technological changes and transformations. The technology is central to cryptocurrencies, notably bitcoin, which has swept developed countries and unnerved financial systems.”
He was joined on the panel by special guest, State Minister of ICT Division, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who described the various initiatives taken by the ICT Division to promote blockchain, such as in supply chain management, removing middlemen, ensuring security and empowering the root.
He went on to say that “Bangladeshi companies are now deploying blockchain solutions in Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, the US and other markets.”
Other panels featured guest speakers such as BASIS president Syed Almas Kabir and Mr. Sami Ahmed, Policy Advisor, LICT on a panel discussing transparency and security through blockchain, as well as past president BGMEA Rubana Huq and Pathao founder and CEO, Hussein M. Elius, who both spoke on the benefits of tokenization of real-world assets. Fuad Al Muqtadir and various other artists attended a panel on NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, a technology that is giving value and traceability back to thousands of digital media artists and traditional artists around the world.
Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Sirajul Khan was also at the opening session, where he was joined by Chairman of Bangladesh Security Exchange Commission Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh Mr. Naoki Ito, and Mohammad Raafi Hossain of Fasset, a regulated multi-country Digital Asset Gateway that aims to connect the next billion to buy, sell, send and store digital assets.
Raafi Hossain mentioned that now with blockchain, for the first time in human history everyone has the opportunity to not only work for an income, but to keep their capital in assets that they own in a way that there is no intermediary, and no risk that this asset will be stolen or seized from them.
Chairman Shibli Rubayat went on to say that Bangladesh is now growing at a faster pace than our other neighbouring countries, and that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission is learning how cryptocurrencies work, and trying to understand how these can incorporated into our economy, whilst carefully weighing their implications.
The summit was hosted by Imran Fahad and Inspiring Bangladesh, in partnership with LICT, and moderated by Misha Ali, Director, Fasset.
