UK bitcoin regulation to be discussed at London Bitcoin Focus event

Do you live in/near London? Are you interested in bitcoin? Yes? Then listen up – next week (24th July) will see the city host a new meet-up called Bitcoin Focus.

Taking place at the soon-to-launch Alpha Beta tech hub building at 1A City Road, EC2A 1BR and hosted by the London Bitcoin Meetup networking group, the event will kick off with a Bitcoin Bootcamp by Darragh Browne of @Blockspin.

This will become a regular feature of Bitcoin Focus events and is designed to educate newbies on the ins and outs of digital currencies. They will have the opportunity to ask questions so they can get their head around any aspects they don't yet fully understand.

A large part of this event will be dedicated to discussing what is very much a hot topic at the moment: the regulation of cryptocurrency in the UK.

Adam Vaziri of e-payment compliance advisory firm Neopay and Javier Marti of Bitcoin Global Investments will share their experiences of tiptoeing through the regulatory minefield. They will also discuss how they think the government and financial institutions will react to digital currencies in the near future – will they adopt a heavy-handed approach or will they welcome bitcoin and its counterparts, allowing the UK to become a dominant player in the bitcoin world?

CoinDesk is sponsoring the evening and will be providing pizza and beer, as well as reporting from the event. If any, some or all of the above interests you, go to the event page on Meetup.com to register for the event.

Here's the full agenda for the evening:

7:15pm

Doors open and time to network

8:00pm

Bitcoin Bootcamp – Sponsored by @Blockspin

- presented by Darragh Browne

To kick things off, and for newcomers to the Bitcoin space, Darragh will present the fundamental workings of the Bitcoin protocol before moving on to the less obvious features and potential use cases that have the power to take it way beyond being the speculative fad that the mainstream media would have us believe it to be.

Followed by Q&As

8:30pm

The regulatory landscape in the UK from a Bitcoin perspective

- presented by Adam Vaziri of e-payment compliance advisory firm Neopay

Adam will be discussing the regulatory challenges that have already been faced by new entrants to the e-money space in the UK in recent years and sharing some insight into the barriers bitcoin start-ups will need to overcome if they are to form viable relationships with regulators and banks.

Followed by Q&As

9:00pm

The bigger picture

- presented by Javier Marti of Bitcoin Global Investments

Javier will be sharing his opinions on how governments and financial institutions will approach the rise of a crypto-currency world and whether they choose to fight it or ultimately embrace it.

Followed by Q&As

9:30pm

Open mic

Attendees can take to the mic to advertise their projects, share experiences or scout for useful contacts

9:45pm - 10:30pm

Networking over drinks bought with bitcoins (or paper money if you really want to!)