SmartMetric CEO Issues Open Letter on the Future of Bitcoin

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 28, 2014) -  SmartMetric, Inc. (OTCQB: SMME), a developer of patented payment card technologies and the first biometrically protected Bitcoin payment card, today published an Open Letter to the public from the Company's CEO Chaya Hendrik.

The Open Letter is presented below:

At its current growth rate, Bitcoin may surpass PayPal and the Discover card in daily transaction volume by the middle of 2014. In a relative short period MasterCard and Visa are likely to be next. According to "Coinometrics" daily Bitcoin dollar amounts have already surpassed those of Western Union. In time, a digital currency that has a perceived and agreed upon value, that is also a recognized medium of exchange, could indeed challenge physical currency.

Bitcoin is fast becoming that digital medium of exchange and its commercial and societal impacts will depend upon how Bitcoin is perceived. Is it a currency, a contract, a commodity, a ledger or all of these? How this is answered has a huge impact on how Bitcoin is viewed legally in the framework of governments wishing to exercise control. I propose that because it is all four of these things, and can fulfill of these functions virtually instantaneously yet at the same time is functionally divisible Bitcoin is nothing short of revolutionary. It will therefore transform and unify current global monetary systems. 

In order to analyze the impact of Bitcoin and its role in cyber-evolution, one needs to understand what Bitcoin is. This is not a simple question to answer for the simple reason it is one thing to one person and another thing to another person. It is true to say that at this point in time, it is seen primarily as currency, a digital currency. Others see it more as a commodity much in the same way as currency traders have commoditized fiat currency. Most would agree it has the elements of both a currency and a commodity. Yet again another view and use is as an authenticated messaging and transaction recording system. The method by which Bitcoins are exchanged happens through blockchain, a public ledger. As all of these things, Bitcoin is the most powerful technology to emerge in decades and could potentially have impacts more far reaching than the internet, without which Bitcoin could not have existed in the first place.

Currency: If you view the definition of currency as a physical medium of created or perceived value that is accepted by two or more people as a value exchange for goods or services, then it is not a currency since it is has no physical properties. Yet, it is however, used as a medium for exchanging goods or services based on a perceived, agreed upon and acknowledged value. But things other than money can fall into this category or description, for instance a contract.

Contract & Commodity: Given the way financial contracts are bought and sold in the financial markets one could be excused for thinking they have the some property as money, but given they have value that isn't based on a physical medium they cannot be truly classified as money.

Taking the paper contract example a little further, if say only 1% of the surface of the paper was used for writing the contract, and the contract could only be written on that particular kind of paper; and add to the mix that only a limited amount of paper was created and no more paper for writing contracts was going to be issued, then it would be reasonable to expect that this special "contract" paper would have value as a commodity. People would place a value on it based on its scarcity and the desire to continue to use it. It would become a commodity with increasing value while it is being used to make contracts. 

This is what is happening to Bitcoin. In many respects it mirrors a contract. One can only make contracts on this artificially limited digital code, turning it into both a contractual medium and a commodity. 

Ledger: Another way to look at Bitcoin is viewing it as a ledger of transactions. Just as a journal with ledger entries doesn't qualify as money, so it could be argued is the case with Bitcoin. Not to say that a ledger that is respected by the parties to a transaction doesn't have value. It does. It is the means of recording and validating transactions. 

If you view Bitcoin as an electronic ledger that is a respected and trusted recorder of transactions, then it is neither money nor a contract. Rather, it is a record keeping system that is used in connection with money and mutually agreed upon contracts between parties.

Bitcoin is way more than money: It is a system for recording and validating transactions and such transactions could be exchanged for fiat currency or a whole lot more. As a transaction recording system that is married at both ends to paper currency, it becomes a new payments channel intermediating many of today's players such as Visa and MasterCard. As an electronic ledger it becomes an exciting tool for all kinds of real world contracted exchanges. Moving title deeds to a myriad of commercial contracts in a trusted, secure, and public method that is both validated and virtually instantaneous is nothing short of revolutionary. 

So what is Bitcoin's foreseeable impact on banks? For one, in the near future Bitcoin won't replace fiat money but instead will operate as a transfer methodology using the internet. It will still involve people with money in one part of the world or city or town taking money from their bank and sending it to a different destination where it will be ultimately deposited into a bank.

In the end it doesn't spell the end of money or the banks. It however could spell the end to the hegemony of the existing card payments players such as Visa and MasterCard. Bitcoin is potentially the most powerful force of the century to impact our monetary systems.

Chaya Hendrick
SmartMetric, Inc.
President & CEO 

About SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card™

The SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card is the world's first biometric, fingerprint secured, off-line storage platform for Bitcoin's. The card offers the benefits of Bitcoin's such as peer-to-peer transactions and card-to-card direct Bitcoin sending anywhere in the world, while enabling real-time, in-person standard payment transactions at merchants and compatibility with standard ATMs around the world. Advanced patented payments card technology combines with the world's first fingerprint technology to use the cardholder's unique biometrics to lock and unlock the SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card, providing safety and discrete portability.

About SmartMetric

SmartMetric, Inc. (OTCQB: SMME) develops patented biometric technologies used for security and identification, including the world's smallest fingerprint reader. The Company's proprietary advanced miniature electronics technology uses sub-micro computers to create fingerprint and security applications that were not previously possible. The world's smallest fingerprint reader is designed to fit inside standard payments cards as well as ID cards. Because of the miniature size of the electronics it is ideal for use in a broad array of products requiring an enhanced identification system. SmartMetric's products include the SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card™, the SmartMetric Intelligent Card OS™, and MedicalKeyring™ a medical emergency biometric card. For information on SmartMetric and its technology please go to www.smartmetric.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.