Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband
Blockchain TODAY is the backbone for a $200B financial system that lets you store or transfer billions of dollars worth of value within minutes for cents in transaction fees, completely peer-to-peer with no middle men
Scalable blockchains will generalize this same benefit to let developers add crypto into any kind of application (just like we had web-apps, we'll have crypto-apps):
– Instant global p2p payments
– Completely transparent, efficient marketplaces / clearinghouses with no switching costs
– Ability for users to own their own data and assets, removing liability for platform operators but also eliminating lock-in
– Open source, open state, serverless code that runs directly on-chain and thus can be built on with no platform risk (google "blockchain composability")
– Software that can be governed / controlled by the users that have stake in it
> Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband
You mean, email and group messaging, file transfer, reference lookups, access to remote servers and other things which people were paying for and generating real business value from?
There were plenty of companies which were generating value significantly prior to broadband becoming universal and that was despite the much higher barriers to entry (computers were far more expensive, phone charges were a major barrier for non-rich people).
The blockchain comparison isn’t valid either because despite a much longer period of time before showing positive results there isn’t much real-world impact: the paper value may look high, almost all of that is within the system — the number of outside businesses which would have problems if it disappeared is close to zero, and a large fraction of the people “using” it are using a middleman service rather than directly participating.
i would argue what blockchain has given us today with permissionless open finance, decentralized organizations / voting, NFTs / digital art, etc. is plenty of early indications of value. also the fact that the token business model exists is precisely the reason there's less of a traditional "ARR" mindset in the tools and apps.
the criticism isn't entirely invalid: the blockchain space has a lot of proving to do – there's a lot more work ahead than behind
Okay, so where’s an example of that providing value for anyone outside of the blockchain field? None of those are new activities so it should be easy to find areas where a blockchain reduces cost or adds value in comparison.
i posted below about big pharma using blockchain to share private data as an example, as another: most of the gamers / digital art enthusiasts are newcomers to the "blockchain field" and only in it bc of the value they derive from the scarcity / durability and therefore tradability of these items
That said there are many examples of blockchain being useful in smaller settings, e.g.:
> "Last June, 10 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies – including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline – announced they would pool data for an AI-based search for new antibiotics, which are urgently needed as antibiotic-resistant bacteria have proliferated across the world, threatening the growth of untreatable disease.
> That historic agreement was made possible by the development of a secure, blockchain-based system that allows an algorithm to search rival companies’ data with full traceability – but without revealing commercial secrets to competitors. The advantage of using blockchain is that companies can trust the code rather than their partners." [1]
Smart contracts are uniquely suited to managing ownership of valuable assets, but most programming languages – even those designed specifically for smart contracts – don’t have any native abstractions for managing ownership, until Resources.
Resources have 3 rules:
1. Each Resource exists in exactly one place: no duplication, double-spend, or accidental deletion
2. Ownership of a Resource is defined by where it's stored: no central ledger or smart contract
3. Access to methods on a Resource is limited to the owner
however you feel about the flamethrowers, you have to give the guy credit: when he started banging the drums of a predominantly electric future for cars he was cast as clueless, now it is all but inevitable
i've worked with Tyler and Entrepid across multiple of our portfolio companies at Axiom Zen and been super impressed every time
ZenHub wouldnt be where it is today without Tyler (we have dozens of Fortune 500 companies as customers)
Tyler is a close friend so at this point i am biased, but Entrepid has built a team of humble, holistic thinkers with deep expertise in sales and high-touch growth strategy
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We are looking for new team members across a variety of verticals, but especially strong developers and technical PMs with a demonstrated aptitude for understanding the underpinnings and impact of decentralized tech.
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Hard drives are famously prone to failure: I understand that filecoin and storj pay 'miners' to store files, but what happens in case of failure? It doesn't seem that there are any penalties for losing files (other than losing out on the expected income) – this does not seem very resilient.
This article is out of date.. Regardless, I love reading business press writing about the blockchain: the key takeaway for me is that the tech has a ways to go before many of these concepts are ready to be implemented at scale.
Making identity and personal information "self-sovereign" is necessary and a big area of focus for us. Would love to collaborate with others looking into this on the blockchain.
this. do not complicate your cap table early with so little capital raised, think long-term. raise the 150K from value-add angels, emphasize "making the pie bigger" to existing investors. Startups and startup investing is unusually binary in outcome: you should focus on increasing your odds of success rather than maximizing value in case of success.
Blockchain TODAY is the backbone for a $200B financial system that lets you store or transfer billions of dollars worth of value within minutes for cents in transaction fees, completely peer-to-peer with no middle men
Scalable blockchains will generalize this same benefit to let developers add crypto into any kind of application (just like we had web-apps, we'll have crypto-apps):
– Instant global p2p payments
– Completely transparent, efficient marketplaces / clearinghouses with no switching costs
– Ability for users to own their own data and assets, removing liability for platform operators but also eliminating lock-in
– Open source, open state, serverless code that runs directly on-chain and thus can be built on with no platform risk (google "blockchain composability")
– Software that can be governed / controlled by the users that have stake in it