To preface my record of this week, I want to warn you that I may sound excited beyond reason. It may seem like I’m over-hyping all the ideas that cycled through my head, but I just can’t get over how lucky I am to be alive during this exciting crypto age. It is truly incredible what humans are capable of when we share ideas and act on inspiration.
If you’re not familiar with crypto-currency jargon, I will do my best to include links which define/explain certain terms.
Crypto Explorers
In early September 2017 I was browsing the CryptoCurrency subreddit, as I often do, and I came across a post about an upcoming “crypto trip” with the invitation to “come and spend 3 days exploring the decentralized future.”
The trip was organized by the “Crypto Explorers”. On their site I learned that Zug, Switzerland is known as “Crypto Valley” because of its high concentration of blockchain-related organizations. It turns out their business services and infrastructure makes Zug a great launch pad for crypto-prenuers.
I was shocked that something like this existed and I hadn’t known about it! I felt like I was missing the Bitcoin boat all over again. I knew there was something fantastic going on and I wanted to be a part of it so I immediately went through their application process.
Much to my surprise I was selected! A few weeks later I got an email with an agenda and instructions to join the group in Zug on October 23rd. Anyway, I could go on about how excited I was but I’ll get into how the first day went.
Mathias and Ralf
After some meet-n-greet, we sat down in a circle to hear from Lakeside partners Mathias Ruch and Ralf Blabischnig.
After the first 5 minutes of our discussion with them, my mind started racing. I was blown away by the amount of knowledge, vision, and enthusiasm in that room.
Mathias and Ralf receive 50–100 requests per week for crypto-related advisory. They vet blockchain companies/projects and help them build a solid foundation, and as a result they have, in my opinion, a unique view on the growth of all things blockchain. They talked about their vetting process and why Zug is a breeding ground for ICO’s.
But most eye-opening to me was how blockchain technology can significantly improve the quality of life for those in underdeveloped countries.
The blockchain makes it extremely simple to raise money (see link above about ICO’s). I can send money to anyone in the world who has a smartphone in minutes. Through the blockchain anyone can support a cause with a tap on a screen. I’ll give one example.
In Mongolia, there is a hepatitis crisis. It’s too expensive for most sufferers to pay for a cure. One team that Mathias and Ralf are working with had the idea to tokenize hepatitis cures.
Through the blockchain, a “token” (a token/receipt created specifically for this purpose) can be made to equal 1 hepatitis cure. Contracts can be hardcoded into that token to specify who gets a cure, when, why, and how that will happen. The when, why, and how parts are what makes this so incredible.
I’m sure I didn’t explain this example as well as they did, but this really opened my eyes. Suffice it to say that blockchain solutions are in no way limited to crypto-currencies. They reach far beyond finance; crypto-currency is only the beginning of the beginning.
Soren Fog
For me, what Soren had to say alone made it worth it to do this trip.
Soren is with the Crypto Valley Association in Zug and is working on a project called Iprotus.
What stood out to me about Soren was his grand vision. He compared the .com boom and internet age to the blockchain revolution occuring now.
While the internet gave us the unprecedented ability to transact information globally, the blockchain gave us a new ability to easily transact value.
I’ll interject here to say that the most notable thing about the blockchain to me, is that it embeds trust into every transaction by default. This characteristic alone makes the blockchain a potential disrupter of several industries. (Read "Age of Cryptocurrency" for more on this)
Group Discussion
The most entertaining and motivating— but still very valuable — part of our week was our group discussion time.
We talked about a broad range of subjects, including Estonia’s “digitized society”, the future of advertising, and the regulation of ICO’s. One of my favorite topics was “digital identity”.
It is quite likely that blockchain will empower individuals to own their own data. This would mean that you could control who gets to view your data and why (instead of Facebook and Google). You could even sell the rights to your data to certain parties. Smart contracts would allow you to control every aspect of this transaction. The implications of this possibility are huge.
Other speakers
We heard from 3–5 groups of people each day (for 3 days), so we absorbed quite a bit of information. I won’t go into each of those, but I will list some ideas that were interesting to me:
- Etherisc — flight delay insurance using smart contracts We can track charitable donations through the blockchain to ensure their proper use
- Numeraire — an AI hedge fund
- Destroy fake news with the blockchain
- Reward content creators with micropayments instead of advertising (includes musicians and artists)
- Supply chain is just waiting to be revolutionized by the blockchain; it’s the perfect application
- Physical assets tethered to crypto-currencies (like diamonds or real estate)
- Buy and sell “attention” (example: pay for the ability to email someone)
- Winding Tree — Make travel cheaper for consumers
The list goes on and on. It’s just the beginning!
Conclusion
Needless to say, it was an incredible learning experience and I would go again if I could. If you want to apply for the next trip coming up in Jan/Feb 2018, go here.
Note: I don’t get paid anything for recommending this trip