Dan Romero, vice president, and general manager of Coinbase (coinbase.com) presents his take on the future of bitcoin and cryptocurrency in a constantly evolving and expanding global financial market. With over 20 million users and $150 billion traded, Coinbase is the largest digital currency wallet in the world. The Coinbase wallet and platform provides merchants and consumers an opportunity to freely transact with new and emerging digital currencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin. Coinbase offers an open financial system not controlled by any single country or company, which allows for greater economic freedom, and expanded innovation and efficiency, and ultimately—more equality for individuals regardless of their geolocation.  Simplifying payments for anything, anywhere in the world, opening up financial opportunities for everyone globally, and reaching a wider audience with your ideas and products are some of the areas of focus in which Coinbase excels. Coinbase seeks to open new markets, increase innovation, and help equalize the financial playing field in order to lift billions of people out of poverty. Romero discusses the many regulations that oversee the use of cryptocurrency, and how Coinbase provides their information to users in a simplified form to make sense of all the regulations and tax reforms that have an impact on the industry. Romero discusses the expansion of trading volumes globally, and the factors that are changing the market as cryptocurrency becomes more commonplace in transactions. He states that growth in the industry is tremendous and that Coinbase is investing heavily in innovation and customer support as they push forward with their primary goal of keeping the Coinbase platform efficient and ease to use.  The alternative currency authority expounds upon micropayments, sending wires and global payments, and how cryptocurrency is creating an efficiency and ease in transactions within many and varied sectors of business and e-commerce. Romero discusses CyryptoKitties and other gamer-oriented characters that are exploding in the industry and how Coinbase is tracking the progress and staying relevant. From Pokémon to Beanie Babies, to Magic: The Gathering, people are interested in collecting digital characters and it’s a billion dollar industry.  Romero offers his insight on the acceptance of bitcoin in the retail market and when bitcoin may become adopted by the mainstream environment in general. And while bitcoin may not be needed in every retail transaction, he expects wire transactions and others that have more complexity to be areas in which bitcoin will thrive. As Coinbase expands, Romero hopes to further connect the average user to bitcoin such that the marketplace will flourish with new products and innovations that make life easier.