Criptocurrency firms told to clean up their act

Many of the companies that were lined the main street in Davos this week were told they would have to clean up their act before getting accepted by the World Economic Forum's old guard.

Nela Richardson, senior vice president and chief economist for human resources software provider ADP, said the future of cryptocurrencies looks regulated to me. She thinks central banks will step in to provide oversight.

The aim of gaining credibility and inking deals with companies ranging from Salesforce.com Inc to Tyson Foods Inc. was the reason that a number of parties, briefings and panels were held on the sidelines of the main conference.

Some of the events outside the security cordon of the main event included speakers from traditional financial institutions, including Perella Weinberg Partners and State Street.

Inside the gates there was a cry for regulation and concerns about the sector, including about it being used illegally by sanctioned Russians.

Saudi finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said that the currency has received a lot of support from Russian sanctions. I'm worried because it could be used for illegal activities. David Rubenstein, a co-founder and co-chairman of U.S. buyout firm Carlyle, shared his concerns.

A lot of wealthy people who want to hide their assets after the Russian situation will say I will put 5% to 10% in a basket of cryptocurrencies.

They can't get it, so I can't get access to it and the government won't know what I have. The roles of regulators, authenticators and custodians have become more important in the Davos, after a crash in digital assets that lost some $800 billion in market value and one of the top ten digital coins became worthless.

It's still early days for cryptocurrencies in terms of investment class, said Ling Hai, co-president for international markets at Mastercard, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum GMF It needs to be sanctioned and regulated by the central bank and government. The value needs to be stable. Financial executives and technology executives said the rout would strengthen the industry because strong technology and coins would survive it.

Justin Fogerty, managing director and founder of Financial Consultancy Pivotas AG, said there was a lot of volatility but the reality is it's here to stay. I think it's been taken a lot of speculators and gamblers out of the market because of the volatility. Locations that are looking for investment have attracted new interest in the criptocurrency firms.

Vit Jedlick, the president of Liberland, a micronation with disputed land between Serbia and Croatia, attended an event for Polkadot in the hope of a stronger partnership with the technology of the digital ledger.

The Indian delegation to Davos, which included six state governments, has been housed in pavilions surrounded by cryptocurrencies and blockchain houses and has been meeting many of them to attract investment, particularly in education and training.

When you map out where the next generation of developers are and where is the talent and where should we go, India pops up very, very high on the map, according to Marieke Flament, CEO at the NEAR Foundation, which backs blockchain projects, told GMF.

Francis Suarez, who was in the spotlight over the crash of the MiamiCoin, said he was working with the operators to fix glitches.

Suarez told a WEF panel that I still am taking my salary inBitcoin. I will note that it is not my only salary.