Digital payment tokens: A distraction or an asset?

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: As a CEO, how do you see the growing adoption of digital payment tokens (DPTs)? Would your organisation use cryptocurrency?

John Gu Chief Executive Officer AlphaLab Capital From my view as a technologist and investor in Web3, the current retail interest in cryptoassets is similar to the first dot-com bubble of the 1990s. It's unfortunate that the average man on the street thinks of crypto mainly for speculation, and I agree retail users should not be encouraged to take undue risks. But remember that much of the Internet and mobile technology we take for granted today was also created out of the dot-com bubble. Blockchain technology is like lego building blocks, and we can use them to compose new financial services and benefits for people around the world in ways that we can't even imagine now.

Marcus Lam Executive Chairman PwC Singapore The growing innovation and adoption of crypto and blockchain is encouraging. While we have the capability to handle cryptoassets and payments, traditional currencies remain our primary means of payment because our staff and suppliers still prefer currencies that are stably priced and easy to transfer. Unlike fund managers and banks, our primary business is not in asset management, so until crypto replaces traditional currencies, the latter remains a good means of receipt and measure of value. We continue to monitor the dynamic developments around crypto as the major economies adopt different approaches to its use - ultimately, the further adoption of crypto would largely depend on the regulatory requirements and preferences of the various stakeholders we work with.