Understanding the future of digital currency

This past Wednesday, Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone hosted cryptocurrency mogul Brock Pierce for a roundtable discussion with community leaders on the impact and future of cryptocurrency.

Bellone opened the talk by explaining the need for community leaders to understand digital currency.

“Innovation is happening at such a rapid pace,” Bellone said. “He [Pierce] has had an outsized impact on the world of alternative investing… he understands that change happens at a local and community-based level.”

Before becoming a tech entrepreneur at 16, Pierce was well known for his roles in the films “The Mighty Ducks” and “First Kid.” In 2020, he ran for President with a goal to “burst the bubble of the two-party system.”

Pierce was an early investor in Bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency, and was a founding member of Blockchain Capital (BCC). BCC “leverages blockchain database technology for decentralized cryptocurrency investing.”

The decentralization “helps to stabilize cryptocurrency and prevents any one person or group from overtaking the marketplace.”

He is also well known for his philanthropic efforts, most notably in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

At the roundtable, Pierce discussed the importance of government leaders understanding new technology and cryptocurrency.
“Remember that technology is amoral; it’s neither good nor bad, it’s just a tool,” Pierce said. “How we use it is going to determine the impact it has, which is why it’s important we’re informed.”

“The old world and the new world have to come together, and I try to act as a bridge,” Pierce continued. “The future is going to happen to us; the question is, will it happen with us.”

Finally, Pierce stressed Long Island and New York’s role in the future of technology.

“Decisions we make locally, especially in a place like New York, don’t just affect New York—they have a global impact,” Pierce said of the state’s importance.