We continue the series of interviews on today’s current topics, regarding the consequences of the digital revolution of the beginning of the 21st century, robotics, artificial intelligence, the cryptocurrency market, prospects for its development, existing risks and ways to protect against them.
Our interlocutor is a lawyer in the field of international law, a lawyer, a participant:
UA2DAY: ” Konstantin, in the previous part of our interview with you, you emphasized the need to create an international legal field to regulate the interaction of people and high technologies. In particular, through the adoption of a separate resolution of the United Nations, which would usher in a new field of law. Do you know about similar developments?”
Konstantin Kryvopust: Yes, in recent years, many scientists and lawyers have been paying special attention to this issue. Among them, it is worth noting the representatives of China, who developed the “Chinese Plan for the Development of the Robotics Industry”, Japan – the “New Robot Strategy”, Korea – the “Korean Master Plan for the Development of Robotics”, the United States – the “American National Robotics Initiative” and others. Such developments once again confirm the relevance of the issue of “unified rules and red lines”. But at present, we can observe the creation of legal foundations only at the level of individual states, which, in turn, is an imperfect approach to the settlement of this extremely important problem.
A similar situation can be compared with the issue of space exploration, which, in fact, is regulated only on the basis of the 1967 “Agreement on the Principles of the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space” and the internal legislation of each of the interested countries. So, it is precisely this approach and the imperfection/outdatedness of the “Space Agreement” that allows many fraudsters to interpret the norms of law at their own discretion, without any responsibility for their actions.
For example, let me remind you of the story of the American entrepreneur Denis Hope, who, thanks to the “gaps” in international law, successfully “privatized” the Moon and other space objects and began to earn millions from the sale of plots on them.
What was the root cause of such possibilities?
The only answer is the desire of each individual state to independently regulate legal relations in such a responsible area as space and, of course, the inaction of the UN.
Therefore, with a decentralized approach and without a corresponding UN resolution, a similar fate awaits high-tech industries, such as robotics and the development of artificial intelligence, which in advance lays the foundations for manipulation and corresponding and extremely dangerous risks for humanity.”
UA2DAY: “What do you think is the way out of this situation?”
Konstantin Kryvopust: “There is only one way out – a centralized management system by involving UN resources.”
UA2DAY: “Constantin, speaking about robotics and the prospects for the development of artificial intelligence systems and their impact on the general development of humanity, we would like to inquire about your vision regarding the prospects for the development of the latest means of payment and systems, such as cryptocurrencies, crypto exchanges, their legitimacy and general benefit to humanity. After all, let’s face it, over the past 15 years, these technologies have won millions of supporters around the world and turned into a new financial system. Don’t you think that such a trend should also cause certain threats? And if so, what are the ways to deal with such threats?”
Konstantin Kryvopust: “Yes, I can’t disagree with you – in recent decades, a completely new financial system has been formed in the world, again – a decentralized one. In order to understand the essence of this system, it is necessary to analyze the main purpose of its creation.
In my opinion, it is the natural desire of a person to freely dispose of the resource belonging to him, including in the process of commodity exchange. And this is exactly how a person realizes his “natural desire”, the governments of all countries, without exception, tried and are still trying to control. The motivation for such government actions is quite simple – without ensuring such control, the main levers of the state’s influence on the citizen, and therefore the state as a whole, would not exist. It is no secret that the conservative financial system is based on the desire to make money, and it is on the resource that belongs to every individual citizen. Earn on interest, transactions, numerous bans, etc. This was the main reason for the emergence of a new financial system, which uses cryptographic currencies that circulate on the cryptographic market and, for the most part, are not under the control of state institutions. Like, perfect.
However, one should not forget about the threats posed by lack of control – from the possibility of financing terrorism, the organization of deals for the purchase of narcotics and weapons, various types of cybercrimes, and ending with the bankruptcy of financial systems in underdeveloped countries.”
UA2DAY: “That is, you call for brutal regulation of the latest financial system?”
Konstantin Kryvopust: “No, I personally believe that any regulation of cryptographic tools will destroy the main idea of their origin and will put an end to products like Bitcoin and the entire infrastructure as a whole. The approach to the development of the cryptographic financial system should be decentralized, which would exclude the participation of intermediaries and states in particular in the process of commodity exchange.
At the moment, we are observing that there is no established practice of dealing with such a system in the general interstate plane. Yes, in some countries, such as Germany, the system is being legalized. In others, such as Russia, they are trying to ban it. Such a situation proves only one thing – the new financial model has become an alternative to the conservative model of financial relations and causes fears on the part of governments that do not want to lose control. Consequently, the world was polarized into supporters and early opponents.
In this case, I believe that it is quite possible to find a compromise and combine the positive sides of the two systems. And the first steps in this direction have already been implemented. So, recently one of the largest crypto exchanges FTX announced the release of a new financial instrument – a payment card that can be used for both crypto and fiat currencies. So coexistence is possible. And this is my deep conviction.
With regard to the risks that I mentioned earlier, namely, the financing of illegal activities with the help of cryptographic tools, this problem lies exclusively in the plane of the desire or unwillingness of international law enforcement agencies to detect such cases and severely punish them. I believe that when using the existing technologies that are in the arsenal of the FBI, Interpol and other respected organizations – the process of preventing illegal operations with cryptocurrency is not a problem. There would be a desire.
In addition, I will not reveal a secret to anyone if I say that the main cryptocurrencies are not so “confidential” and are quietly monitored by the relevant structures.
Another issue is the protection of the cryptocurrency unit itself, which is owned by the user. It is known that the level of cybercrime is growing exponentially and every day we observe new cases. I believe that this is a major problem that needs to be tackled collectively. For example, by creating an international guarantee fund. But I will tell you about this a little later.”
UA2DAY: “Kostyantyn, thank you for the professional coverage and interesting interview.”
Konstantin Kryvopust: “Thank you and see you soon.”
