By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
A master forger and the real-life character of the popular movie “Catch Me If You Can” Frank Abagnale spoke at the Blockchain Nation Miami Conference stating that blockchain is inseparable from banking future.
In April, Blockchain Nation Conference was held in Miami. It is an event organized by Crypto World Journal which provides a unique platform to learn about the latest trends, gain insight on the future of regulation, and experience invaluable networking with over 3,000 attendees and over 75 speakers. Industry enthusiasts and innovators received an exclusive branding visibility and interaction to put their projects on top of the minds of industry experts and investors.
The guest list included industry experts, key government officials, leading industry attorneys, investors, executives, entrepreneurs. Among them were such blockchain industry legends as Jim Rogers, Daymond John, John McAfee, Frank Abagnale, Andrew Filipowski, Sally Eaves, Ronnie Moas, Cindy Whitehead and many more. Frank Abagnale, one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents, delivered a speech during which he stated that he believes blockchain technology is the future of secure information processing and data settlement.
Frank Abagnale at Blockchain Nation Miami 2018 https://t.co/Jcsbq5OVVN: https://t.co/pFNUPt6SMX via @YouTube
— Crypto World Journal (@CWJ_News) May 27, 2018
For over 40 years he has worked with, advised, and consulted hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world. It was he who inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can. For many years Mr. Abagnale has been associated with the FBI. More than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies use his fraud prevention programs.
When presenting at the conference he said :
“I think you would have to be pretty ignorant not to realise that blockchain is the way for the future, it is the best way to secure information 100 percent, so I think you will see banks, especially accounting practices and accounting firms, all move to the blockchain, keeping records through blockchain. It will be the best way to do so because you cannot break the blockchain, you cannot hack into the blockchain, you can’t change anything in the blockchain.”
It is interesting that Abagnale was acknowledged as a master forger, creating fake checks and stealing large sums of money. At the very beginning if his career, Abagnale forged checks to cash out money from big banks and financial institutions, committing bank fraud. Eventually, Abagnale served his sentence in Miami and subsequent to his release, he started his career as a consultant.
Bank fraud, which Abagnale had committed, is impossible with blockchain, that’s why his opinion is noteworthy.
“One would have to be incredibly foolish not to see that [blockchain] is an incredible technology and that will be eventually adopted by all types of governments, businesses, and corporations. A cyber currency [cryptocurrency], just like anything else, it will take time to get people to understand how it works and I tell people all the time, and they say “is it safe?” I say every financial transaction has a risk. The only financial transaction in the world that exists that has no risk is a credit card because federal law takes total liability away from you,” Abagnale said.
Bitcoin, for instance, can be used to send money from one person or business to another, without the involvement of security boxes, armoured cars, and third-party service providers. There is also no way to forge or create more bitcoin without running a 51 percent attack against the network, which is virtually impossible given its computing power.
However, Abagnale believes that digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are still at the first set-out of their development, and their progression can take well over a decade.