Cette rencontre sera diffusée en direct sur Peertube.
J’y représenterai GNU Taler et NGI TALER sous la forme d’une introduction de 5 minutes.
It was a very instructive experience! I had to prepare a very short introduction without really knowing much about the audience, only knowing that I’d be debating with :
- Loÿs MOULIN, Development Manager of the CB group ;
- Alexandre Stachtchenko, Entrepreneur, Writer and Speaker about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains.
Since I knew I wasn’t going there in a very corporate attitude, I started by introducing myself as an activist, member of the local hackerspace, former bartender, now working since 4 months with 
on NGI TALER, speaking on my own out of a single-day-preparation, not as an expert nor as a member of the core team.
My first 2 slides were very confrontative against both existing payment platforms and cryptocurrencies: since the title of the debate was “the battle of libre payment”, I took it as an invitation to clash. Then I introduced GNU Taler by saying what it is, what it’s not, what it allows. I ended by introducing TALER ICH as the medium to join in the integration movement.
Honestly, I wish I had prepared more sources to back some of my claims. Or I could also have had been less aggressive against cryptocurrencies because, after clashing me (in quite a humiliating tone that didn’t disarm me) Alexandre brought some very accurate and sourced counter-arguments to my claims who were clearly more like opinions than actual facts.
Here’s the main thing I realized: It’s pretty useless to confront cryptocurrencies since it’s an out-of-scope controversy that shifts the focus away from GNU Taler while it is compatible with cryptocurrencies (and also because they might end up being an acceptable option in the future).
Also, I should have put some more key insights about NGI TALER to better display it as the institutional, “respectable” project it actually is. But it clearly wasn’t my posture here since I didn’t have a proper mandate on this. So I spoke honestly.
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Yes this is my position also, it’s always better to speak about what we do rather than spend time critiquing the existant, because at the end you use your own time to speak about the others (even if negatively).
As it was said by several people in the public and even by Alexandre Stachtchenko, I do not think cryptocurencies will ever be acceptable in a general usage in a regulated society, however their existence does not impact the one of GNU Taler, therefore we should keep to what we propose, and our unique qualities to abide the law. (countrary to CB or Bitoin)
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