Oliver Gale, CEO and Co-founder of Panther Protocol, explains why the crypto industry is seeing a new wave of enthusiasm from Ukraine and discusses if any crypto-related sanctions can be placed on Russia due to the ongoing invasion.

Closing Bell

Popularity of Cryptocurrencies Soars in Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion

well we've seen the U. S. And NATO nations place economic sanctions against Russia after its invaded Ukraine. But could we see sanctions against cryptocurrencies in Russia, it's something the biden administration is considering considering. And it comes at a time when the crypto market is thriving in Ukraine. So joining me now is Oliver gale, Ceo and co founder of Panther Protocol, a company providing privacy protocol for digital assets. Oliver thanks so much for coming on the show. Is it possible at this stage in the game to effectively sanctioned crypto sanctions is legally imposed and cryptocurrencies are run algorithmic lee and decentralized networks. And so the entire premise behind permission this open source forms of currency and means of exchange is that they are permission an open source and function as means of exchange. And so whilst any legal administration can say we're imposing sanctions, the sanctions would have to be posed against the businesses and not against the network itself. Now, here's a question, what does that mean for crypto? I mean that would seemingly be bullish for Cryptocurrency. Right, Oliver that people could still access to access this even in a time when other financial assets are being sanctioned and frozen. That's the entire point. So yes, it is bullish for crypto It was the cypriot banking crisis in 2013 where millions of people lost their savings and their accounts and that triggered a bull running crypto with Bitcoin in particular with smaller market cap at the time. Bitcoin cryptocurrencies generally have been seen as hedges against the macro risks of asset seizure of the collapse of fiat currency of central banking and are seen as an instrument where you can hold your own value digitally securely without needing to rely on central parties who can shut you down. So it's no surprise that we're seeing a lot of Cryptocurrency purchasing activity in Ukraine and uh and to reiterate, reiterate your point sanctioning a Cryptocurrency network is exceedingly difficult to do, if not impossible. It is interesting that the second time that we see global conflict in the past 12 months, Afghanistan being the first example back in august into september and then of course, what we see playing out in eastern europe now, the story has been the same in both of those international conflicts. That Cryptocurrency has a place when people cannot access their banking accounts, they can't withdraw money at the A. T. M. There's a run on the banks, there are sanctions involved. Cryptocurrency does hold Value. Do you expect that nations including the us Oliver will ramp up some sort of regulation on crypto scene. Now for the second time in 12 months that increasingly this is something that people do really rely on, especially in times of conflict. Absolutely, Crypto regulation has been inevitable forever since inception, and regulation continues to be put into place and the conflict that the regulators have and always have had is in figuring out how do I allow cryptocurrencies to exist, given that they're not going anywhere whilst creating legal frameworks which are compatible with their nature and you know, it's overblown the impact that regulation will have on the enhancement of freedom of privacy and sovereignty that individuals have because at the end of the day, if the regulation overreaches that doesn't necessarily affect the network itself. So it's it's a very exciting time. Yes. Oliver, that's my question for you. Your company focuses in privacy management protocols for digital assets. So as more and more of these digital assets change hands right now and become increasingly important for people around the world. What kind of privacy features and services do you offer? Panther allows you to take any of your assets? It might be ethereum, it might be any E R C 20 or smart contract protocol and you can turn it into a Z asset which is 1 to 1 box and it offers privacy. Now, panther sets itself apart because we also offer the tools for enterprises to be compliant and to make disclosures, but that's opt in privacy, it's not mandatory now we do this because in a world where people are spending more and more time in digital economies, in the metaverse on social media working remotely having this level of visibility, which is essentially surveillance on every single transaction you make on everything that you do undermines liberty, undermines democracy, undermines freedom. It undermines your edge in capital markets. If you're a trader, it undermines your edge in negotiations and so to have a functioning digital economy, users must have the ability to say My data is private and that data includes financial transactions and interactions across Web three and that's what we do. And of course as the threat of cyber war does continue to loom, I think privacy is more important and focus now for consumer was probably more than it's been in a long time. We've got to leave it there. Oliver, thank you for joining us. Oliver, gale. Ceo and co founder of Panther Protocol.