Consensys is hosting an event called “Blockchain for Social Impact” in New York next month on November 17th.
The inaugural event promises to be an interesting one, aiming to get a view of the current state of work being undertaken by “NGOs, charities, technologists, impact investors and social entrepreneurs on the ground.”
Blockchain was the featured technology showcased by solutions over 60 teams built during the summer in Consensys’s Blockchain for Social Impact Hackathon.”
Get SchooledWhat is Blockchain and So What
Without diving into more details, Blockchain is a distributed, immutable recorder and ledger technology that has the potential to decentralize and disintermediate today’s agencies, including institutions like banks, corporations, digital aggregators like today’s Facebook and Google and on a large-scale potentially even nation-states.
Fully realized, blockchain promises to eliminate any necessity for any central governing authority.
Authority and responsibility passes to the hands of the many instead of remaining in the hands of the few. Think of how your records and transactions are recorded today – your assets, money, voting, taxes, driving records, health data, personalized browsing and buying data – and imagine how Blockchain will change all those.
Money Streaming In
Blockchain technology has attracted approximately US$1 billion in venture financing over 2015 and 2016 according to the State of the Blockchain Report in December 2016.
This year in Q2, crypto-entrepreneurs have managed to raise a striking $291 million through ICO’s and $187 million in traditional venture funding in blockchain technologies (Q3 research note from Goldman Sachs).
Big agencies are aiming to get their skin in the game and some like banking conglomerate JPMorgan have started their own blockchain-based cross-border payment networks.
Search giant Baidu has recently joined a blockchain consortium to help lend input and presumably develop future open platforms based on the blockchain.
And according to Consensys, while there are approximately 5,000 blockchain developers today, by 2020, over 500,000 will be needed.
Still, the promise of blockchain aside, many big name investors like Buffett and Wilson have advised caution around initial coin offerings (ICO’s) which do run on blockchain. The SEC has also weighed in recently.
Notable Use Cases
BitHope (fund-raising)
BitGive by GiveTrack (donations)
Clean Water Coin (clean water)
FairMarket (marketplace using FairCoin)
Democracy Earth (sovereign governance)
Provenance (supply-chain)
RootProject (anti-poverty)
UNWFP (food-aid to refugees)
Read Some More
“What is Bitcoin?” (Nathaniel Popper, New York Times, October 2017)
“How Does The Industry Invest In BlockChain?” (Etienne Brunet, Medium, September 2017)
Ethereum and Blockchain Resources at Consensys
“The Blockchain Man” (Taylor Pearson, Ribbonfarm)
Cryptocurrency Resources at Taylor Pearson’s site
Blockchain Revolution book by the Tapscotts
Ethereum Blockchain Assets at TokenMarket
And Some More
Coincenter – non-profit focused on the policy issues facing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Ark Invest – offers strategies to investors who seek to capture long-term capital appreciation and alpha.
Smith + Crown – original research, reporting and analysis for cryptofinancial markets, bitcoin, blockchain technology, and digital currencies. S+C is based in Portland.
A good introduction to Blockchain by Gavin Wood, one of the founders of Ethereum
Visual introduction to parts of a cryptocurrency, by 3Blue1Brown
