1 00:00:05,171 --> 00:00:08,216 I think non-financial use cases of blockchain are just emerging. 2 00:00:08,258 --> 00:00:11,970 The biggest such application currently are NFTs or non-fungible tokens, 3 00:00:12,220 --> 00:00:16,808 which represent unique assets, things like collectibles primarily today. 4 00:00:17,017 --> 00:00:20,270 But there's been an explosion of representing other types of assets, 5 00:00:20,270 --> 00:00:24,274 things like carbon credits, real estate securities and those kinds of things. 6 00:00:24,315 --> 00:00:27,861 Fundamentally, you can think of blockchain as creating 7 00:00:28,319 --> 00:00:33,283 more efficient usage or exchanges in almost any arena. 8 00:00:33,324 --> 00:00:36,536 One way to use blockchain is to track energy 9 00:00:36,703 --> 00:00:40,415 and how it's used throughout a grid and being able to then 10 00:00:40,665 --> 00:00:44,544 help people figure out how to use it much more efficiently. 11 00:00:45,295 --> 00:00:49,174 Any time where there's like a contract, the participants 12 00:00:49,174 --> 00:00:50,717 they need some level of trust, right? 13 00:00:50,717 --> 00:00:52,802 And usually we bring in lawyers to do that, and that's great. 14 00:00:52,844 --> 00:00:54,387 Lawyers are an awesome solution to that. 15 00:00:54,387 --> 00:00:56,056 They're also an expensive solution to that. 16 00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:57,974 Blockchains can create situations. 17 00:00:57,974 --> 00:01:00,226 They can't solve every problem, but they can create situations 18 00:01:00,226 --> 00:01:03,104 where we don't necessarily need a lawyer to be involved 19 00:01:03,354 --> 00:01:07,192 because things that the lawyer would take care of can happen on the blockchain 20 00:01:07,192 --> 00:01:08,818 in a way that everyone can trust. 21 00:01:08,818 --> 00:01:10,820 Currently, when we upload photos or videos, 22 00:01:11,029 --> 00:01:13,156 we don't actually have ownership over that data. 23 00:01:13,364 --> 00:01:16,910 So there's a huge opportunity in terms of how do we communicate with people that we 24 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:18,828 love, but also how do we create online? 25 00:01:20,622 --> 00:01:21,289 What excites me 26 00:01:21,289 --> 00:01:25,085 most about blockchain is the opportunity to deal with the wealth gap. 27 00:01:25,168 --> 00:01:28,421 Blockchain enables opportunity because in this space 28 00:01:28,421 --> 00:01:32,801 we get to de-identify ourselves and now I'm able to interact with people 29 00:01:33,134 --> 00:01:37,263 anonymously or pseudo anonymously, just as a series of numbers. 30 00:01:37,305 --> 00:01:42,435 My public key and I can participate in any type of use cases that I want 31 00:01:42,685 --> 00:01:46,356 without having that regulation preventing me simply because 32 00:01:46,815 --> 00:01:50,527 I'm of a particular demographic or a particular gender. 33 00:01:50,568 --> 00:01:55,156 My hope for the future of blockchain is that we find ways 34 00:01:55,156 --> 00:01:59,285 to solve problems that we haven't been very good at solving. 35 00:01:59,285 --> 00:02:02,831 Financial inclusion’s an obvious one blockchain technology 36 00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:05,917 either by itself will solve this problem 37 00:02:06,209 --> 00:02:11,631 or it will push governments to put in more sensible regulation, 38 00:02:11,965 --> 00:02:17,512 to have more sensible policies on access that will solve the problem. 39 00:02:17,887 --> 00:02:19,973 The thing that keeps me up at night that I'm really worried about 40 00:02:19,973 --> 00:02:23,351 is that we will wind up, whether accidentally or deliberately, 41 00:02:23,351 --> 00:02:28,231 rebuilding the same biases that we have in our existing system. 42 00:02:31,734 --> 00:02:32,569 There definitely are 43 00:02:32,569 --> 00:02:35,697 environmental impacts when it comes to blockchain technology. 44 00:02:35,947 --> 00:02:40,451 With Bitcoin, it's proof of work, and proof of work requires energy consumption. 45 00:02:40,660 --> 00:02:44,414 But the value that Bitcoin brings is much higher than that energy consumption. 46 00:02:44,622 --> 00:02:47,709 The environmental impacts are disastrous. 47 00:02:47,709 --> 00:02:52,422 In the case of the proof of work technologies, that’s bitcoin as an example. 48 00:02:52,505 --> 00:02:55,508 So proof of stake is another form of consensus system. 49 00:02:55,633 --> 00:02:58,678 We have stakeholders that stake on a 50 00:02:58,887 --> 00:03:02,015 on a blockchain to say that this block is valid. 51 00:03:02,390 --> 00:03:06,311 So using proof of stake, we're actually not expanding any electricity usage. 52 00:03:06,477 --> 00:03:09,189 A lot of people believe that it's less decentralized. 53 00:03:09,230 --> 00:03:12,150 So I think you're going to see blockchain reducing its own carbon footprint. 54 00:03:12,358 --> 00:03:13,776 Meanwhile, providing 55 00:03:13,776 --> 00:03:16,571 technologies and abilities that will help improve things outside 56 00:03:16,571 --> 00:03:17,405 of the blockchain space. 57 00:03:19,824 --> 00:03:20,909 I believe that cryptocurrency 58 00:03:20,909 --> 00:03:24,120 and blockchain are going to continue to grow and be widely adopted. 59 00:03:24,162 --> 00:03:25,663 It's true that it goes through cycles. 60 00:03:25,663 --> 00:03:28,082 Sometimes we'll see a massive run up and then a correction. 61 00:03:28,541 --> 00:03:31,211 But if you zoom out over these from one cycle to the next, 62 00:03:31,336 --> 00:03:34,047 it continues to grow at a really rapid pace. 63 00:03:34,297 --> 00:03:38,009 My biggest concern with blockchain technology is that it's developing 64 00:03:38,009 --> 00:03:42,555 very fast, but the regulators and governments don't really understand it. 65 00:03:42,847 --> 00:03:44,974 They don't know how to regulate it. 66 00:03:45,016 --> 00:03:48,686 They will eventually, but short term, they don't. 67 00:03:48,853 --> 00:03:53,858 And it's important to agree across countries, not just in one country. 68 00:03:53,858 --> 00:03:55,235 It's already become a 69 00:03:55,235 --> 00:03:58,613 an underlying layer for lots of systems and applications worldwide. 70 00:03:58,905 --> 00:04:02,033 And so it's pretty difficult to, at this point, stop using blockchains. 71 00:04:02,116 --> 00:04:06,204 Do I think decentralized, permissionless open networks are here to stay? 72 00:04:06,246 --> 00:04:07,538 I certainly hope so. 73 00:04:07,538 --> 00:04:09,999 And I think Bitcoin's demonstrated that they are at least 74 00:04:10,083 --> 00:04:12,460 at what seems to be over a decade in existence. 75 00:04:12,877 --> 00:04:14,587 Will the new ones survive? 76 00:04:14,587 --> 00:04:15,838 It's really anybody's guess. 77 00:04:15,838 --> 00:04:18,424 It's impossible to know. For any new thing 78 00:04:18,466 --> 00:04:20,260 we need a lot of evidence to believe that 79 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:22,303 it's really going to be the next big thing. 80 00:04:22,303 --> 00:04:24,639 And in the case of blockchain, we just don't have that evidence yet. 81 00:04:24,847 --> 00:04:27,225 Blockchain's Helping push the technology. 82 00:04:27,225 --> 00:04:29,602 It's pushing ideas, it's pushing competition. 83 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:32,188 But sometimes the first mover 84 00:04:32,730 --> 00:04:35,400 isn't the one who wins.