Student Opinions: Will bitcoin regulation undermine its value?

As HSBC completes the world’s first commercially viable trade-finance transaction using blockchain, we ask our students: Is this a huge step towards efficiency and reducing errors in the funding of international trade, or does this undermine cryptocurrency’s value and decentralised character?

Georgie Hazell, MBA Participant 2018: “The clarity offered by regulation would probably increase the perceived legitimacy of virtual currencies. My vote is for regulation [acting like a] speed-bump in the short term, but an incentive in the longer term, boosting value and offering protection for investors. Speculation around regulation will probably cause greater volatility in the bitcoin price than actual implementation. When investors are unsure about the legitimacy of their cryptocurrency and how they are going to be taxed when they sell it, they will probably avoid or at least hold it until clarification is given.

Regulation could come in a number of forms, from reducing anonymity through demanding real names on bitcoin holdings and transactions, to outright bans (as in India). The trends in South Korea, with an initial plunge followed by a levelling out as the effects were clarified, is likely to offer a framework for other regions. The UK could do worse than following Japan’s lead, developing regulations that support the healthy growth of the technology.”

Gana Alampalle, MBA Participant 2018: “Bitcoin’s value lies in being an anonymous, effortless and secure payment system…in theory. This is also true for the numerous ‘alt-coins’ that have cropped up aiming to penetrate the market, each with their own USPs. It’s hard to see what real value that cryptocurrencies would offer if they were to be regulated. Prices would decrease substantially if anonymity were to be taken away. To add to this, hard-line regulations could potentially push cryptocurrencies further underground into the dark web where they would inevitably be traded illegally and continue to promote illicit activities.

What could be key to keeping the value of cryptocurrency is to manage exchanges and initial coin offerings while protecting the security and anonymity of coins by design. Policy makers have historically been good at regulating and appropriating currency innovations that the private sector put out. Effective cryptocurrency regulation however could be a tall order given the amount of international co-operation needed.”

The Exeter MBA’s ‘Leading in the 4th Industrial Revolution’ immerses students in emergent technological innovations. Blockchain applications continue to make headlines as the biggest revolution since the internet, and this month the University welcomed a global leader in research and development of blockchain technologies, nChain Group, to field questions in a discussion panel. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx2Cne2Vw9M

Iconic London Venue for One Planet MBA Event

20 Fenchurch Street – perhaps better known as the Walkie-Talkie Building – was the venue for the latest showcase event organised by the One Planet MBA on the 28th April.

walkie talkie

The ‘walkie talkie’ building at 20 Fenchurch Street

Business Challenges (and developing the talent to solve them)” was the title of the event – kindly hosted by specialist insurance providers Markel International and aimed at exhibiting the talent on offer from the University of Exeter Business School’s flagship programme.

With representatives from a host of organisations in attendance (including Accenture, PwC, Marks & Spencer, The Fairtrade Foundation, Barclays, IBM, Canon, Flock Associates, WWF and BT) – along with One Planet MBA alumni, current staff and students from the programme – the event showcased the One Planet MBA, its achievements and talent and included a keynote speech from Peter Lacy, Global Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, on the Circular Economy – a topic fundamental to the One Planet MBA.

markel

Arriving at Markel

Peter Lacy gave an address (described as “sensational” by one attendee) outlining his vision of how “…incentives and initiatives are needed to rethink economic structure and encourage circular economy…”, thus negating “wasted capacity and under-utilised assets”.  His lecture was followed by a panel discussion involving Govia Thameslink Railway, Coca-Cola Enterprises and IBM on the value they have got out of engaging with the MBA. Continue reading

Celebrating 25 Years of the Exeter MBA

Our MBA is now 25 years old, and we thought we would celebrate such a milestone with a 25th anniversary event at our partner EY’s London headquarters in the City of London. The event starts at 6pm on 10th June and will involve our students, our alumni (some of them going back 25 years!) and our corporate partners who’ve supported us in recent years.

Our MBA is at the forefront of thinking, and the challenges the corporate world faces today are very different from those of 25 years ago. Continue reading

Meet our Alumni: Karen at Afren Plc

Karen came to the UK from Nigeria to study the MBA programme at Exeter, benefiting from the £34,000 scholarship from Afren Plc, an independent oil and natural gas

Alongside its core business operations, Afren Plc is committed to supporting the local host communities in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta who may be impacted by its activities, and have in place a number of social investment initiatives that champion this support. Karen had experienced first-hand how the region was impoverished in spite of the oil wealth during her one year compulsory National Service Scheme, and so carrying out her MBA Consultancy Project to evaluate the initiatives Afren Plc had put in place to reduce the burden of poverty by empowering communities resonated with her.exploration and production corporation founded in 2004, operating primarily from Nigeria. The Afren scholarship is one of the many corporate-funded scholarships we offer every year on the One Planet MBA at Exeter.

Linked to the scholarship is an opportunity for a consultancy project scheduled in the summer months at thesponsoring organisation. Linking the scholarship to the consultancy project enables our corporate partners to experience first hand the quality of the students on the MBA, and in some cases recruit them after their studies. That’s what happened to Karen who joined Afren on completion of her MBA project. Continue reading

Generating business insights at Google: Fuji, One Planet MBA 2014 Graduate

Fuji has just graduated from our One Planet MBA with a Distinction, prior to which she had studied for a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Germany. She is half-Colombian and half-Japanese and has spent most of her life in Brazil. However, she left the country at the age of 18 to work and study in Germany, Singapore, then last year joined our MBA at Exeter.

After graduating from us last January, Fuji will join Google’s headquarters in Germany as an Industry Analyst. Continue reading