3-2-1 - August 8, 2021
3 - Inspiring crypto/blockchain quotes
“[Blockchain] is the biggest opportunity set we can think of over the next decade or so.”
Bob Greifeld, Former Chairman, Nasdaq
“The Internet is programmable information. The blockchain is programmable scarcity.”
Balaji Srinivasan, Former CTO, Coinbase
“Almost any illiquid asset today lends itself well to moving onto the blockchain and becoming tokenized. It will create a deeper market with improved price discovery and should increase the value of those assets.”
David Sacks, General Partner, Craft Ventures, Former COO, PayPal
2 - Reflections from this week’s blog posts
There is a perception that crypto and blockchain are futuristic technologies used solely by experienced computer scientists with expensive computers, and extensive training and knowledge. However, through my research into some of the exciting projects making use of these technologies, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, you don’t need the newest technology to utilize blockchain, as demonstrated by Kotani Pay, a project I recently reviewed. This project makes use of basic mobile phones and decades old technology to deliver a practical blockchain-based banking solution for the traditionally unbanked. The same can be said about another project I reviewed, Leaf Global FinTech. Blockchain and crypto are highly versatile, and can be adapted to any number of contexts regardless of the technology and training available.
This week I discussed the potential of blockchain to transform the freelance sector. As someone with personal experience working as a freelancer, I know how difficult it can be to find work without using one of the big intermediary companies that currently exist, such as UpWork or Fiverr. However, similar to what NFT marketplaces have done for artists, I think that blockchain has an amazing potential to cut out the middleman and create a space where freelancers can transact directly with customers in an open, fair, and transparent way. One of the biggest long-term benefits of blockchain will be its ability to cut out middlemen, cutting down on unnecessary costs in the process, and returning the money to the content creator or freelancer.
1 - Quality educational resource
Online course by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
This free online course offered by MIT provides an intro to the basics of blockchain and cryptocurrency including cryptography, consensus mechanisms, DApps, and more. It’s a great introduction for those hoping to learn about the various use-cases of blockchain technology and some of the basic science behind the technology. Oh, and it’s offered by MIT for free, so that’s pretty cool.
