Don Tapscott, “the father of digital economy” and one of the most influential persons in the blockchain industry, said on Saturday during the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018 Conference that ICOs are the seeds of blockchain development, and utility tokens should be neither regulated nor banned by governments as reported by tech.163.com.

Chi

Don Tapscott, CEO of Tapscott Group, has authored over 16 books.His most recent book which was co-authored with his son, Alex Tapscott, “Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Underlying Bitcoin is Changing Business, Money and the World ” was published in May 2016.Back in 1994, his “Digital Economy” was the first book that described the virtual economy systematically.

In a blockchain-themed panel discussion at the China International Big Data Industry Expo which takes place in Guiyan, southwest China’s “big data valley” , Don mentioned that there is that much hype about blockchain now, but we will talk more about blockchain two decades later than today.

He pointed out three different types of bubbles.

“ The first bubble is about cryptocurrencies. Many cryptos are junk. The second is about ICO. ICOs are in a bubble, many ICOs are garbage and they will fail in the end. Just like the dot-com bubble, a lot of internet companies failed or shut down in the 1990s. there were for sure criminals in this space because they always are among the first to adopt new technologies. But we have very intelligent U.S. law enforcement agencies. They are well aware that bitcoin is better than fiat currencies in many aspects. Despite the anonymous nature of crypto transactions, data on the blockchain will assist law enforcement officials to catch the culprit.” Don said.

But the blockchain expert did not think there is a bubble in the whole blockchain industry.

“This is not a bubble, but only a small seed. Blockchain will become a new operating system for the economy at large. But from a regulatory perspective, we still face many challenges. The token represents a share in the company that’s called a security, it should fall under securities legislation. But utility tokens that allow people to share or represent natural assets should neither be regulated nor banned by authorities, but to be encouraged.” Don said.

When it come to cryptocurrency regulation, Do emphasized that we need microsurgery on this new economy, but we don’t need to bring a chainsaw to it. “I think the government should be cautious of blockchain regulation.  On one hand, they need to protect investors, consumers and the mass, on the other hand they should let good technology thrive and create an innovative economy.” Don said.