Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar-Bitcoin Forum-wqugl

Title: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: mikegogulski on April 01, 2011, 10:23:28 AM

Matonis is known both for being a long-time deep thinker on the future of money as well as being the creator of hushmail.comIntriguing slideshow. I'd love to have heard the talk alongside it, as well as the talk in the halls and in the bar afterward.

http://themonetaryfuture.blogspot.com/2011/03/monetising-game-play-on-social-network.html

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: Cryptoman on April 01, 2011, 06:10:06 PM

This is really big. Thanks for posting this. I'm a big Matonis/Hushmail fan.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: Stephen Gornick on April 01, 2011, 07:32:37 PM

Presentation TranscriptQuoteMonetising Game Play on Social Network Sites - Presentation TranscriptMonetising Game Play on Social Network SitesJon Matonis31 March 2011OverviewChief Forex Dealer at VISA InternationalDirector of Financial Services Vertical for VeriSign, Inc.CEO of Hush Communications, creator of encrypted Hushmail.comEditor of The Monetary Future blog on digital currenciesSocial Gaming and Virtual CurrencyRevenue Shift Away from AdvertisingVirtual Goods Revenue IncreasingThe Entrance of Facebook CreditsSocial Gaming Beyond FacebookTypes of Payment Choices for eGamingCredit card/debit cardEFT wire transfer/eCheck/ACHCashier’s check/money orderWestern Union/MoneyGramProxy eWallet account (Click2Pay, Moneybookers, MyPaylinQ, Neteller, Ukash, Webmoney, etc.)Mobile paymentNon-political virtual currency unit (Facebook Credits, Linden Dollars)Attributes of a True Virtual CurrencyP2P capableAnonymous/pseudonymousTwo-way convertibilityTransactional non-repudiationEasily divisiblePortable and offline capableSecurity and scarcityFrictionless (no transaction fees)Nearly instant deposits/withdrawalsPrevious Barriers to a True Virtual CurrencyGold bullion cannot be molecularly transported across the InternetEmulating the anonymity features of physical cash or gaming chips is difficultDigital bearer certificates have to verify against a centralised ‘mint’ which creates a single point of failureDecentralisation opens up the possibility for double spending the digital ‘coins’Bitcoin: A New EntrantWhat is Bitcoin?One of the first implementations of a concept called cryptocurrency (circa, 1998)Does not rely on trusting any central issuerRelies on the transfer of amounts between accounts using public key cryptography (like PGP for money)Scarcity based on a reusable proof-of-workDouble-spending prevented by a distributed time server implementing chained RPOWsMajor Features of BitcoinCurrent size of economy (~BTC 6,000,000)Nodes connected (5,000-10,000)Trading turnover (equivalent $30,000/day)Decentralised confirmationsDistributed nodes (peer-to-peer)Open source software (peer reviewed)Non-political unit of accountIndependent market-based exchange rateEvolution of Bitcoin31/10/08 Bitcoin academic paper published11/01/09 Bitcoin v0.1 released17/07/10 MtGox exchange established06/11/10 Bitcoin economy passes $1.0m09/12/10 Generation difficulty passes 10,00028/01/11 Block 105000 generated, 5.25m/21m11/02/11 Bitcoin reaches USD parity, $1/BTC03/03/11 Bitcoin v0.3.20.2 released27/03/11 First BTC:GBP exchange opensBenefits of BitcoinBitcoin is ideally suited to the eGaming and online casino financial requirementsMonetary properties and features emulate the physical gaming chips in a real-world casinoFeatures correlate to the customer demand for a digital/virtual currencyeGaming Sites Currently Using BitcoinMap of Bitcoin NodesTotal Bitcoins Issued Over TimeBitcoin-USD Exchange Rate (Jul 2010 – Mar 2011)Future ImplicationsGoogle is the Player to WatchGoogle acquires Social Gold, a virtual currency platform (August 2010)Google acquires Zetawire to look after NFC payments (December 2010)Google releases BitcoinJ, a bitcoin client for Java (March 2011)Google now has 750 staff in payments division!The Dawn of the Cryptocurrency Economy“Digital cash is to legal tender as BitTorrents are to copyrights.” -- J. MatonisThe Dawn of the Cryptocurrency EconomyA Digital Currency Revolution will......Fundamentally alter the current hierarchy of central banking and banksChallenge traditional value depositoriesCause KYC rules for certain transactions to become irrelevantMake monetary and taxation jurisdictions less importantOpportunities for Gibraltar JurisdictioneGaming companies that adaptPrepaid operators(Transact Networks, IDT, Wavecrest)eMoney and virtual currency exchangesCryptocurrency market-makersThank YouJon [email protected] twitter.com/jonmatonis-

http://www.slideshare.net/jonmatonis/monetising-game-play-on-social-network-sites

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: nextnonce on April 01, 2011, 08:12:28 PM

Nice to see some good news that is not an April fool's joke ::) Thanks for sharing.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: Cusipzzz on April 01, 2011, 11:52:55 PM

Wow! He used a screenshot of BTCSportsbet.com ! Very nice deck. :-)

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: ColdHardMetal on April 02, 2011, 02:10:11 AM

Man, that looks like a pretty legit presentation. I wonder how big his audience was. KPMG is pretty big-time so I can't imagine one of their senior guys would be wasting his day at some tiny event.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: matonis on June 25, 2011, 04:15:28 PM

Quote from: chodpaba on April 01, 2011, 09:11:01 PMQuote from: Cryptoman on April 01, 2011, 06:10:06 PMI'm a big Matonis/Hushmail fan.I was too... Until Hushmail rolled over for the feds.It's time to clear the air on this. I have read several comments like this one but I chose this one to respond to.My tenure as CEO of Hush Communications was from 2000-2002 during the period that the headquarters was located in Dublin, Ireland. We indeed responded to many international subpoenas during that time period and a special division was set-up to verify the authenticity of the many inbound government subpoenas. Our response was to comply with the subpoena and to turn over the contents of the inbox and the outbox, which of course was encrypted. Due to the nature of the java applet and password hashing technique, Hush Communications did not have the ability to decrypt any data. Sustained non-compliance to subpoena orders would have led to significant legal fees and probably the end of the company's operations. Furthermore, if users had deployed Hushmail properly in the first place, our compliance was not harming any users and this was a major factor in our decision. The change in policy that you refer to occurred after my tenure at Hush Communications when the company relocated its headquarters to Vancouver, Canada. The controversy revolved around compromised java applets served to targeted users where some Hushmail employees, with government coercion, actually cooperated to obtain the user's password. This is distinctly different than merely turning over encrypted data. Please see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HushmailOf course, this is hindsight, but I would NOT have allowed the company to take that additional step, because I believe that it is a direct, unwarranted intervention and it violates the end-user agreement with Hushmail's userbase. It crosses the line. I would have taken it to court and I would have made it an international media issue for privacy rights. People who know me well would agree that is my stance. Failing that, I could have also resigned in protest.It is important to state that Hushmail is still a valuable and safe service if utilized properly. All security is relative. Physical keyboard sniffers and ceiling cameras can be mounted in a suspect's home to obtain PGP private key passphrases. If one verifies the Hush applet against source code or better yet stores a clean version locally, the threat of a 'spoofed' applet can be eliminated.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: qualia8 on June 25, 2011, 04:18:13 PM

Excellent news. This is what will secure the value of bitcoin.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: stick_theman on June 26, 2011, 01:48:33 AM

Good work, Jon! Love your web site.

Title: Re: Jon Matonis pumps bitcoin at a KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar

Post by: FrostByte on February 27, 2026, 20:04:01 PM

Jon Matonis' presentation at the KPMG eGaming conference in Gibraltar in April 2011 represents a pivotal moment in Bitcoin's early history—a sophisticated articulation of Bitcoin's potential to revolutionize digital payments, particularly in the eGaming and social networking sectors. His background as a former Visa executive, Hushmail creator, and digital currency thinker lent credibility to Bitcoin at a time when it was still largely unknown outside cryptographic circles.

Matonis' presentation masterfully framed Bitcoin not just as a technological novelty but as a monetary innovation with specific attributes that make it ideal for digital economies: decentralization, pseudonymity, two-way convertibility, divisibility, and near-zero transaction fees. By presenting Bitcoin in the context of eGaming—an industry already familiar with virtual currencies—he strategically positioned it as a practical solution rather than a theoretical concept.

Several aspects of this event are particularly noteworthy:

Timing and Context: In early 2011, Bitcoin was at a critical juncture—it had just reached USD parity, exchanges were emerging, and the network was growing. Presenting at a KPMG-sponsored conference gave Bitcoin institutional visibility and legitimacy.
Strategic Focus on eGaming: Matonis correctly identified gaming and social networks as ideal early adopters due to their existing use of virtual currencies, microtransactions, and global user bases. This focus demonstrated practical utility rather than abstract ideology.
Technical and Economic Clarity: The presentation detailed Bitcoin's mechanics (proof-of-work, decentralized confirmation) while also addressing its economic properties (scarcity, market-based exchange rates). This balanced approach appealed to both technical and business audiences.
Visionary Perspective: By discussing Google's interest in cryptocurrencies and predicting a broader "cryptocurrency economy," Matonis positioned Bitcoin within larger technological and financial trends, making it appear inevitable rather than marginal.

The subsequent discussion in the thread—particularly Matonis' detailed response about Hushmail and privacy—further highlights the importance of credibility and principled positions in the cryptocurrency space. His defense of user privacy, even retrospectively, reinforced the alignment between Bitcoin's values and his personal stance.

This event exemplifies how early Bitcoin adoption was driven by:

Strategic targeting of industries with natural fit
Credible messengers with relevant backgrounds
Clear articulation of both technical and economic benefits
Positioning within broader technological trends

Matonis' presentation wasn't just "pumping" Bitcoin—it was providing a sophisticated framework for understanding its potential, something that helped move Bitcoin from cryptographic curiosity to serious financial innovation.