PwC Luxembourg is stepping further into blockchain and crypto-assets by accepting Bitcoin payments from its clients with effect from 1 October 2019. Bitcoin is now 10 years old and has been through a very public rollercoaster-life cycle over the years since its inception. In it relatively short history it has gone from being a symbol of a revolutionary payment model to a dark-web preferred currency tag, all while witnessing breathtaking price fluctuations.
PwC Luxembourg acknowledges both the disruptive dimension as well as the current shortcomings of cryptocurrencies. However, the firm strongly believes in the underlying technology as a medium to long-term standard in the economy. The move to embrace crypto-payments is a reflection of growing demand from the market and PwC Luxembourg clients.
Thomas Campione, Director, Blockchain & Crypto-assets Leader, PwC Luxembourg, ssif: “As part of the firm’s market assessment, what quickly became clear is that we could not continue to invest in the field, promote it, build solutions for clients and support their transformation while not also being exposed to it. Our role is to lead and it is only by being an active leader with exposure that we at PwC Luxembourg can understand the challenges inherent to the crypto world. It is very difficult to properly appreciate the challenges of AML/KYC-enhanced due diligence in a world made of public/private keys, with the complexity and risks of custodial solutions, or to comprehend the decentralised finance ecosystem growing “next door” without being exposed to it in its day-to-day activities.”
John Parkhouse, Territory Senior Partner and CEO of PwC Luxembourg, stated: “The development of blockchain technology, and the emergence of a new decentralised economy supported by the rise of crypto-assets, are heavily reliant on an individual’s ability to understand the disruptive and pervasive impact of these new concepts. Even more importantly, it depends on the ability of the ecosystem to move synchronously. Upskilling will be key and the capacity to build and grow the ecosystem will be at least as important to harvest the true benefits of the technology. This is true whether it is about dramatic cost-saving through process streamlining, improvement of social capital due to new decentralized business models, or by unlocking hidden-value currently stuck in the economy through tokenisation.”
