Bermuda needs NFT and blockchain policy, says entrepreneur – The Royal Gazette
Updated: 31 October 2022 07:41
Panelist Chris Christmas, left, uses panelist Karee Luna’s sneakers to illustrate a point at the Bermuda Tech Summit 2022 (Photo by Jessie Moniz Hardy)
Bermuda may be a leader in the blockchain industry, but first the island needs progressive and meaningful policies, according to a technology entrepreneur recently established in Bermuda.
Chris Christmas, founder of Bloktime, told The Royal Gazette it is not so much a lack of a specific policy, but a lack of policy in general.
“I will sit down with the Bermuda Monetary Authority to talk about how to develop policy and be more progressive so that more companies will invest in this market, because of your NFT-friendly, token-friendly policy,” he said . “I have about five or six patents on this platform, so they’re looking at it.”
Bloktime uses non-fungible tokens to help brands authenticate products and increase revenue over multiple cycles.
Speaking on the panel In conversation about NFTs at Bermuda Tech Summit 2022 Mr Christmas said blockchain and web3 are so new that Bermuda can lead the innovation.
“You can introduce new ways of politics and new ways of financing,” he said. “You have insurance companies that can be part of that as well. If you understood the power of blockchain and the impact it has globally, this country can lead it. You just have to be open-minded.
“Technology is a big thing for us, it’s not a limitation. It allows us to do things more. And you have to look at the young people today as assets.”
Bermudian Karee Luna, graphic designer and founder of Hai Tyde, was also a panelist. Hai Tyde assists artists and businesses in bringing an NFT component to their product and project launches.
“There needs to be a lot more education in Bermuda about NFTs,” she said.
This week she organized herself What NFT workshops, designed to educate the local community about NFTs.
“Even just trying to get the event up, it took almost a year to get it done because people didn’t quite understand it,” she said. “Now they are starting to do it. But I think from a year ago, it goes so fast. Later today at What NFTwe will learn what is an NFT, what is a wallet.”
Moderator Simone Smith-Bean, CEO of Smith-Bean Co, said that when NFTs first hit the market, people were confused that people were spending large amounts of money on GIFs and images.
“It’s changed so much over the years,” Smith-Bean said. “Now NFTs are used in so many more ways.”
Mr Christmas said: “I almost think we should change the wording to something that allows people to understand that it’s a digital certificate that has some unique characteristics to that certificate and that allows open transparency.”
Luna said many young people already understand the concepts involved in NFTs and blockchain.
“It’s actually older people like me who struggle with the concept,” she admitted. “Some of the young people say to me yes, I told my father what to invest in. In a year you will be sitting here and have someone much younger than me talking about this.”
Mr Christmas said one problem is that many of today’s programmers are not trained in Solidity, one of the most common programming languages for Ethereum.
“If you don’t learn how to program for Ethereum, you won’t be able to move into the future,” he said. “So today we need to move our education systems on to blockchain programmers, and get younger people into 3D and graphic design and animation, things that will prepare them for the future so that Bermuda can be a leading country in blockchain.”
The three-day Tech Summit 2022 ends today. It is presented by the Bermuda Business Development Agency in partnership with the Government’s Economic Development Department and the fintech industry association, NEXT Bermuda.
For more information see www.bda.bm/events/bermuda-tech-summit-2022
