By: Keile Campbell
At financial tech event D3 Bahamas on behalf of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, who
opened their Bahamas-branch office in the capital last month, Chief Innovation
Officer Jason Lau believes that the crypto industry has not done enough to educate the
average person as it concerns crypto technology.
“I think we have a long way to go. I’ll be honest. I think we talk in jargon; we talk
amongst ourselves about the benefits, but I don’t think that’s really translated to a
wider audience and what that really means for them. Which is why I think things like
the Sand Dollar here – very interesting, right? It’s like, how do we actually bring these
innovations to life for people that may not need tom understand how the technical
stuff works.” Mr. Lau explained
“T-Fi, C-Fi, like, who needs to know about that stuff at the end of the day. At the end,
you know, we have a long way to go.”
When asked as it concerned fellow – albeit seemingly failed, cryptocurrency exchange
FTX, OKX’s chief innovation officer was asked how he felt the entire fiasco has
affected the crypto industry and people’s attitude and trust in crypto finance, to which,
Mr. Lau said that it all serves as a learning experience.
“So, from the centralized exchange perspective, there are many competitors out there.
We think that transparency is paramount; obviously security is important; but also
accessibility. Making sure our team, our people, our brand are available for people to
come and chat with. Again, we’re right here, come talk to us. We’re not hiding behind
some shell company somewhere else in the world. We’re regulated, again, we’re
talking to not just our users but all stakeholders, regulators, banking partners, other
service provider.” Mr. Lau said
“We’re available and that really is the critical piece and so the fees, all the stuff
important. The product is extremely important but overarching that is to make sure
that users trust. Centralized exchanges do need to be trustworthy. They’re not on-
chain entities and so, building that trust with all of our stakeholders – extremely
important.”
Mr. Lau further expanded on the apprehension of older generations when it comes to

new technology let alone explaining fintech to that age group, once again,
emphasizing on the importance of educating those outside looking into the fintech
sector who may not be up to date with the industry.
“Look, my mom has no clue what I do either, which is why that education piece is so
important, right? Making sure users are informed, making sure they also have guard
rails in place so they don’t end up doing something they regret and we’re working
hard on it. I think as an industry we have a long way to go, and ourselves, we’re trying
and that’s what we’re focused on” the OKX chief innovation officer stated.
“They don’t attach value to digital items yet” Mr. Lau continued, speaking of previous
generation’s attitudes to the concept of digital assets. “They don’t even think that’s a
real thing. And until you get to that point where people understand that digital things
can have value and should be stored and secured, then it’s a no-brainer that you need a
wallet to do that or something to do so, right? Our physical wallets, we very well
understand that we need to protect that, right? Like, it has my money in it and that’s
the trajectory, I think. It will take some bit of time for us to get there.”

The financial tech event D3 Bahamas serves to join stakeholders and policy makers in
discussions and forums as it concerns Blockchain, digital assets and Web3.