Tech – Disruption 2 – Blockchain
What do prop planes and blockchain have in common?
In the second of this four part series on disruptive technology, Maria Pacella, Senior VP, Private Equity at Pender, continues her conversation with Rich Miller, a technology expert and Silicon Valley veteran. This time the discussion turns to blockchain – a complex subject which Rich breaks down into understandable concepts. He touches on some of the challenges and opportunities blockchain offers, with some insights on which sectors will be early to adopt, why they will want to lead and not follow and possible approaches.
Key Takeaways:
1:28 – Maria asks Rich for a basic definition of blockchain, how it works and why people use “blockchain” and “cryptocurrency” interchangeably.
4:28 – Transactions and trust, tracking and time saving – the potential of blockchain.
7:39 – Fundamental change can mean big challenges for full deployment. Rich goes into how potential users will overcome barriers to harness the benefits of blockchain.
9:49 – Who will be the first blockchain users? The answer may surprise you as Rich talks about who will successfully deploy blockchain first.
14:14 – More on the challenges, this time scalability – Rich uses the analogy of air travel, “One might be able to conceive of jet travel, but … we’re still at the prop plane … phase of blockchain.”
17:31 – Rich covers some of the “big technical breakthroughs” that still need to happen and who’s working on making them.
20:58 – How incentives are driving big companies to get involved, and the crossroads they face in terms of their business models – the known vs the unknown.
23:00 – Which companies need to take friction out of their transactional systems.
26:07 – Could it be that blockchain is, infact, too complex to use?
28:07 – The internet was conceived as a sharing network whereas it has evolved in a much more private way. Will blockchain bring us full circle to open protocol again?
Mentioned in this episode
Pender Technology Inflection Fund
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