The founder and Chief Executive Officer of United State-based CoinMD Mr Tom McMurrain has said the $500billion blockchain technology industry is capable of removing millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
Mr McMurrain, who was in Nigeria last week to introduce his firm to top Nigerian officials and business men and women, disclosed this in a press briefing in Abuja.
According to him, a blockchain technology is a new form of ledger that is digital, decentralized, and distributed online.
He said in the next three years the blockchain industry will be worth $6 trillion.
It will be fastest adopted technology in the world more disruptive than the Internet, he said.
“That means instead of a bank keeping one ledger that everyone else is forced to trust, a blockchain reveals every transaction to every fellow user on the network. This enables every user to validate every transaction made by every other user, making it impossible for anyone to simply make up a false entry that gives them more currency or pretend to pay an invoice while they actually pocket the cash.
‘’The network quickly detects that their ledger doesn’t agree with everyone else’s, and their transaction is rejected. Every blockchain offers this built-in measure of security that makes it next-to-impossible to counterfeit, steal, or embezzle cryptocurrencies.
He said this new concept is possible because of today’s advanced computing and the vast reaches of the internet. “And because they’re so fast and reliable, blockchains are being eagerly tested for many purposes-including banking, real estate, smart contracts between trading partners, music streaming, and even e-voting”, he added.
The CoinMD, who is also the author of a best seller: The 7th Disruption – The Rise of the Digital Currency, urged Nigerians to take advantage of digital/virtual currencies as they hold the key to removing millions of people out of poverty than any other technology.
“They have the potential 150% profit on investment within the period of 8months or 1year respectively. The cryptocurrency, retain all of the funds on hand digitally, with no third party involvement with its investor being the only one who can change the terms cryptocurrency use.
‘’The key differences between traditional currencies and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is that while fiat currencies like dollars, euros, or pounds can be printed, stolen by thieves and copied by counterfeiters. Cryptocurrencies are digital from beginning to end, making them far more secure from bad actors’’, he said.
While speaking about a smartcurrency for healthcare, which he founded, Mr McMurrain said healthcare costs usually rise faster than consumer price index, CPI, meaning that the purchasing power of a dollar for healthcare decreases over time.
This he said is the main thrust behind their coming to Nigeria, to step in as solution provider through the use of CoinMD, the digital currency for healthcare.
“For instance, if you spend $100 on prescription drugs today, the same drugs will cost $289 by the year 2060, assuming only 2.5% inflation, with healthcare inflation running well above 3%.
“Social programs make healthcare services available to the people who need them most. These are designed to feel like powerful institutions that people can rely on. But the truth is not so comforting. The fact is, none of these can solve the coming crisis in healthcare. For example, they have no power to change the prices of prescription drugs; they can only determine who pays for them. Hence Social Security will likely be curtailed, ” he said.
He noted that anyone who relies solely on Social Security is entrusting their well-being to governments that may not deliver because Social Security relies on ongoing government action to top up its funds.
