Governments who stifle the new technology while it is still in its infancy, before it has had a chance to develop and harmonize with our institutions, who don’t proactively support needed infrastructure, or who fail to establish confidence by protecting against systemic risk will be left behind in global competition. Countries who take clear positions based on understanding of the technology and encourage needed developments stand to gain enormous economic growth and market leadership.
Predictor: Chaum, David
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in American Banker, reporter Jeffrey Kutler quotes e-cash entrepreneur David Chaum. Kutler writes: ”The setting was the House Banking Committee hearing room, the guests were billed as experts in emerging forms of electronic money, and their discomfort stemmed from the dreaded ‘R word’: regulation … Mr. Chaum put some laissez-faire licks into his call for government planning. He said, ‘Governments who stifle the new technology while it is still in its infancy, before it has had a chance to develop and harmonize with our institutions, who don’t proactively support needed infrastructure, or who fail to establish confidence by protecting against systemic risk will be left behind in global competition. Countries who take clear positions based on understanding of the technology and encourage needed developments stand to gain enormous economic growth and market leadership.'”
Biography:David Chaum was the founder of DigiCash in the early 1990s. He was the inventor of cryptographic protocols that allowed him to create a company whose mission was to change the world through the introduction of anonymous digital money technology. (Technology Developer/Administrator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: E-cash
Name of publication: American Banker
Title, headline, chapter name: Sparks Fly on Electric Money
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000019857092&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=61&Sid=1&RQT=309
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Canizaro, Lauren