Speaker’s name: Richard Barnett

Representing What Group or Company? Highline Wealth Partners

Some Key facts about the presenter: Been in the investment management industry for 35+ years, previously he was the west region’s Chief Investment Officer for Northern Trust where he oversaw $50B of assets under management, he is currently the Chief Investment Officer at the Highline Wealth Partners.

Introduction information: Rich has a BA in Economics and Psychology from Claremont McKenna College, and an MBA in Finance from UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business.  Rich is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CIMA).

The presentation basics:

There are many different types of digital currencies, and many are based on different algorithms. The original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created in 2009 in light of the great recession aimed to provide an alternative payment system that would operate free of central control but otherwise be used just like traditional currencies, and it would done so via the Blockchain technology, as most of those later created digital currencies are also based off of.

Essentially, Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology, meaning that it is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network, as oppose to traditionally, each individual financial institutions or businesses would create and track their own ledger, and mistakes or manipulations can often occur. Keep in mind that Blockchain technology is being used by many other industries, and digital currency is just one of its many applications.

To simply put, think of those many different digital currencies as different institutions competition for your business and loyalty; the larger the user-base, the more valuable it can potentially get. Hence, many digital currency platforms offer extremely high APRs to attract depositors, some even offer up to 20% APY, such as the Terra/Luna network at one point in time. However, much of those digital currencies have since failed, including the Terra/Luna network.

To sum it up, with the rapid expansion of the digital world, there maybe a necessity for the existence of digital currencies, only time will tell. However, as an investor, always calculate and fully understand your own risk tolerance before converting your hard-earned fiat currency into the digital world.