The latest Silicon Valley Bank survey suggests that FinTech businesses expect regulatory issues to be one of the biggest concerns in 2016.
According to the survey, founders and investors from financial technology companies are worried that regulators can slow down innovation and businesses development.
“As many as 43 percent of the 101 respondents surveyed during SVB’s Fintech Mashup event said that regulatory changes were the most difficult to cope with, a runaway number-one problem ahead of companies’ reluctance to adopt new technologies, cited by 24 percent of respondents. The number-three biggest challenge for the fintech industry was seen to be changing consumer behavior, with 18 percent being worried about it, followed by access to funding, noted by 15 percent of respondents as a challenge,” reads the publication.
The survey shows that 24% of respondents showed their interest in disrupting traditional financial services. Moreover, while 46% of respondents call blockchain a problem that should be solved, most of respondents – 54% believe that this technology “is providing a solution for financial institutions”.
Bruce Wallace, Chief Digital Officer of SVB Financial Group, stated:
"The attendees at the Fintech Mashup event validated what fintech companies around the world have been voicing in recent years – an effective regulatory and compliance strategy is critical to their ultimate success."
Cointelegraph reached out to a number of Bitcoin and blockchain experts and asked them if they think that regulatory issues are one of the biggest problems to slow down innovation so far.
Alena Vranova, Co-Founder and CEO at SatoshiLabs, commented:
“I believe regulation [of Bitcoin as money and technology] is not only unnecessary but may be harmful. A central legislatory authority can never estimate well the evolution of such a new phenomena. The only positive influence I can imagine from the state is to say. We believe this needs support and the banks shall stop flagging bitcoin businesses and stop preventing them normal interaction with the banking system.”
Jamie Burke, Founding Partner of OutlierVentures.io, said:
“As someone actively investing in blockchain based fintech the two greatest risks we personally see are the UK government's position on encryption and our own business banking partners catch-all assessment of us a company that is 'in some way involved in the world of crypto'.”
“With regards to the UK government's policy towards encryption, a fundamental cornerstone of blockchain systems, they risk throwing away being not just Europe's, but the world's centre of blockchain innovation,” said Jamie Burke. “I already know of a handful of promising startups in this space like Eris Industries that have up and left as a consequence. I myself am building the HQ for a European Blockchain Incubator and fund set to invest millions here in the UK but will have to seriously consider moving it to a more friendly environment if hysteria, fuelled by the recent escalation in terrorism, pushes the government into to a regressive position. I would actively propose for a more considered and nuanced dialogue with policy makers. Either way this will become increasingly urgent to those of us laying roots.”