CoinSummit Venture Capitalists Seek 'Killer' Bitcoin App

Some of Silicon Valley's most innovative investors gathered at CoinSummit San Francisco to discuss where the smart money will go next in the digital currency space, including Meyer “Micky” Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital; Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners; Hemant Taneja, a partner at General Catalyst Partners; and Jean-Francois "Jeff" Clavier, founder and managing partner of SoftTech VC.

The venture capitalists assembled for CoinSummit's Tuesday, 25th March, panel on investment opportunities in the bitcoin space are ready to invest more money in bitcoin ventures. The catch is, they're looking for "killer apps" that solve real problems.

This sentiment was best laid forth by Ribbit Capital's Micky Malka, who said:

There are plenty of financial pain points in the world just waiting for bitcoin startups to solve them, the panelists said.

Malka, who was born in Venezuela, noted that currency exchange in his home country is difficult because there are about five different exchange rates, running from the black-market bargain basement to the official rate.

In China, Lightspeed Venture Partner's Jeremy Liew said 65% of e-commerce transactions are paid for in cash.

Said Liew:

Access to a low-cost, bitcoin-enabled digital payment method could change all that and lower costs for e-commerce businesses in China and other developing countries substantially, he said.

It's no coincidence that both examples highlight overseas opportunities. Americans enjoy reasonably affordable and easy to access banking services, and most Americans have adequate faith in the value of the US dollar, Liew said.

Added Liew:

Echoing Marc Andreessen's statements in one of the day's earlier sessions, Taneja, of General Catalyst Partners, said he wants to invest in infrastructure companies that will make some of these consumer applications practical.

Like Andreessen, Taneja would like to see a bitcoin equivalent to Red Hat. Also on the investor's wish list is a Verisign-like company that would handle verification. Said Taneja:

Taneja acknowledged that this kind of infrastructure build-out does not happen overnight.

"We have a long view on this," he said, explaining that he is looking for return on investment in the 10-year range.

Part of laying the groundwork is bringing the establishment on board, Malka said.

Getting regulators on board will help get the banks to come along, Liew predicted.

"If the regulators explicitly set forth rules that say, 'Bright line, do this, you will  find a bank that is willing to take on bitcoin customers,'" Liew said.

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