Can you give me an example?
When I speak with venture funds — who, understandably, want to make money — they often speak of the potential to monetize blockchain technology. Citing the core protocols of the internet as an example, they lament that billions were lost because the protocols are open source. To that, I have to tell them: that’s just not how it works. The development of blockchain technology is open-source and it should stay that way.
The crypto industry is in a trough of disillusionment: It's not only institutional investors that stay on the sidelines. There is no general adoption of the everyday user. Why?
It's not a bad thing we're in the trough of disillusionment, according to the Gartner Hype Cycle. It's a normal and healthy thing that every technology goes through.
«In terms of usability, it's definitely two steps back compared to your credit card»
During the peak of blockchain’s hype cycle, the industry, unfortunately, misallocated a lot of funds to projects that don’t exist, people don’t need or don’t have the right teams to bring them to fruition. This hurt the industry’s reputation as many investors were burned along the way. But I wouldn't be stepping back into the role of an entrepreneur if I didn't think there's a bright future for these technologies.
Let's look at the practical side of owning cryptos: The Private Keys and the security problems that come along. You called it a joke.
Yes, it's far from being perfect. But you can look at it as like a trade-off: In terms of usability, it's definitely two steps back compared to your credit card. But what you gain is transnational access to your account that nobody else can see and no government in the world can close down. Look at how you use the internet on your phone today. You use HTTP and secure protocols that you aren’t aware of and runs in the background. It's hidden from your view and it absolutely works.
«Crypto is still viewed by many as a dirty word»
If our goal is to get our grandmothers to use crypto, we might want to focus on open-source ledger technology and what we need to do for it to mature. The aim should be that no client, private or institutional, would have to deal with keys and security.
