- Avinash Shekhar is the CEO of ZebPay.
- He is a graduate of Delhi University and a Chartered Accountant (CA) from the 1998 batch.
- He has worked in Airtel, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Urban Ladder and gained experience prior to joining Zebpay.
- He is going to be talking to us about how there is a big opportunity, for the finance community in the crypto world.
I must tell you that it is the job of an accountant and the auditor which is going to be important in the future.
I believe that blockchain and AI are just a tool.
It is like when computers were invented we had no idea they would become so important.
Blockchain will significantly increase the ecosystem, for example, now I don’t find people who understand blockchain and crypto.
But a few years from now everyone will be used to this new system.
I mean people from a finance background will be working on these new technologies and currency.
There are people from a business background who want to learn this fast and there is a huge shortage of people, who understand blockchain and crypto, in the finance industry.
For example, my auditor does not understand what blockchain is. I had to explain to him the concepts of crypto and blockchain. Now he believes in it, he has audited our financials for two – to four years now.
Right now there are hundreds of companies in crypto, three years down the line there will be ten thousand companies.
At that moment my CA will obviously be the guy who will become much more important because of his experience and knowledge.
The future of finance is in knowing Blockchain reporting and how to report thousands or millions of transactions happening on a file system
CAs and accountants should look into crypto accounting, though not much is known about it and not much research is done about it.
They must learn the valuation of crypto, and how the accountant can make reconciliations because there are literally hundreds of thousands of transactions happening on a daily basis in this area.
I think statutory audit, internal audit, and reporting every area of finance for blockchain are key skills.
This will be in great demand going forward.
Hence I am positive that there is a big opportunity, for finance professionals.