042: Your Biggest Challenge with Blockchain (part 1/4)

Lane Retting works at the Ethereum Foundation. He is a hacker and polyglot with an affinity for East Asian languages.   In this episode, Lane and I discuss:   The journey to a brand new Ethereum – Ethereum 2.0 (code named “Serenity”). We discuss what Serenity’s roadmap looks like, and when it’s expected to ship We discuss Lane’s work on ewasm And of course, we discuss governance, proof-of-stake, sharding, “Plasma,” and much more!

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. We created Blockchain Innovation Academy to address those challenges. This is a short tour of the Academy. Watch the video – https://blockchain.global/academy/ Join the Academy – https://memorypool.ca/home/

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Here are the final 3 challenges my subscribers submitted. (From the top 10. See previous episodes for the other 7). Watch the video - https://blockchain.global/academy/

I sent a survey to about 1,500 people and asked them what their biggest challenges were, when it comes to learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Here are 4 of the top 10 challenges my subscribers submitted. Watch the video - https://blockchain.global/academy/

Konstantin Richter is the Co-Founder & CEO of Blockdaemon. He is a serial software entrepreneur and has also held senior-level positions at prominent firms such as Nokia and Deutsche Telekom. In this episode, Konstantin and I discuss:   The difference between Blockdaemon and other infrastructure startups Key reasons why individuals and enterprises should outsource their blockchain infrastructure Blockdaemon’s business strategy – what Konstantin calls, “Decentralization-as-a-Service”

Brendan Lee is the CEO & Co-Founder of Nodesmith. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Science, and has spent much of his career building developer platforms. In this episode, Brendan and I discuss: The complexities around running a full node and how Nodesmith solves that problem We go over some of the concerns developers and engineers may have. For example, if you outsource your full node, who controls the keys? Or, what are Nodesmith’s API standards? And, from an economic perspective, we look at the Nodesmith business model – “Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)”

Sascha Mojtahedi is the CEO of Bunz. The Bunz App uses its BTZ token to facilitate peer-to-peer bartering and purchases, while also compensating users for interacting with partner brands. In this episode, Sascha and I discuss: The $325 billion-dollar “data and attention economy” Bunz is tapping into The difference between the Brave Browser BAT (Basic Attention Token) model and the Bunz BTZ (Bunz Trading Zone) model The simple yet clever business model that Bunz uses to drive revenue while generously compensating its users – what Sascha calls, “the 60% promise”

Philipp Pieper is the CEO & Co-Founder of Swarm. He has held various private equity and management positions at Deutsche Bank and Allianz Group.   Philipp is a serial tech entrepreneur and discovered Blockchain after an encounter with the founder of BitTorrent.   In this episode, we discuss:   The history of ICOs Whether it makes sense to tokenize traditional securities The 3 components of the Swarm system – tokenization, compliance, and decentralization How Swarm, as an open-source non-profit entity, differentiates itself from other players in the STO market

Michael Foland is the President and Co-Founder of TaxToken. His mission is to make TaxToken, “the ultimate cryptocurrency tax solution.” TaxToken leverages blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to modernize cryptocurrency accounting.   In this episode, we discuss:   Why you should file your crypto taxes and why 2019 is a good year to do that Exactly what problem TaxToken aims to solve and what makes them the best solution Challenges associated with filing your crypto taxes (like how does the tax-man treat quirky crypto events like hard-forks and airdrops).

Jordan Crawford was the Director of Growth at Purse.io. Their mission is to make crypto useful. Purse allows users to name their own discount when shopping on Amazon by matching shoppers with individuals who wish to exchange Amazon gift cards for cryptocurrency.   In this episode, we discuss:   How the Purse system works Why it’s critical for cryptocurrencies to be used in everyday transactions before they achieve mass adoption The drawbacks of traditional payment networks like ACH (Automated Clearing House)

Johan Toll is an Associate VP and leads Nasdaq’s blockchain efforts. He received the prestigious "FinTech person of the Year" award from the Financial Technologies Forum in 2018. Johan is also a renowned blockchain thought-leader and frequent speaker and panelist.   In this episode, we discuss:   How Nasdaq is not just a stock market company, but a full-fledged FinTech firm We go over how Nasdaq started experimenting with blockchain back in 2012, and how they created Nasdaq Linq, a blockchain-powered private share issuance platform that they used to become the first organization in the world to issue actual company shares on a blockchain in 2015 We also explore Nasdaq CEO, Adena Friedman’s statement, that Nasdaq is open to becoming a cryptocurrency exchange

Stephen Horan is the Managing Director of Credentialing at the CFA Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Economics, and is a former stock broker, portfolio manager, and finance professor. In this episode, Stephen and I discuss:   What made the CFA Institute realize Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are here to stay What type of material related to Blockchain will be included in the CFA curriculum What type of impact Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies will have on the enterprise world

Jason White heads up Indiegogo’s equity crowdfunding and token sale platform. Indiegogo is one of the first ever crowdfunding sites. It was launched in 2008 and has raised over a billion dollars for its participants across 232 countries.   In this episode, we discuss:   How ICOs were an obvious part of Indiegogo’s evolution Indiegogo’s first ICO – the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL) How Indiegogo adds value and performs rigorous

Trent McConaghy is the Co-Founder of Solido, Ascribe, BigchainDB and Ocean Protocol. He holds a PhD in Engineering and has a background in Computer Science. In this episode, Trent and I discuss: How Trent went from being raised on a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, to being one of the world’s top experts in Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) How companies like Facebook and Google are really just data companies that hoard data (and it looks like Ocean may change that) The “ArtDAO” – a thought experiment on how an autonomous piece of AI code becomes independently wealthy. What does it do with the money? The nuts and bolts of Ocean Protocol, Estonia’s e-residency program (which Trent has advised Estonia on), and much more

Jerry Cuomo is the Vice President of Blockchain Technologies at IBM. He is an IBM Fellow, veteran software engineer, and one of the founding fathers of IBM WebSphere.   In this episode, Jerry and I discuss:   How Jerry and his father are lifelong “IBMers.” In fact, his father made a discovery in 1972 that eventually led to the invention of optical disks. Jerry recounts crawling through the hallways of the IBM Research Center in his diapers – true story How IBM first embraced Ethereum before helping form Hyperledger The IBM Blockchain Platform and how IBM is using blockchain to revolutionize supply chain management for big name clients like Walmart, Maersk, Dole, Kroger, and many more Sovereign identity and private vs. public blockchains

Mitch Steves is a Silicon-Valley-based Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets. RBC Capital Markets is one of the top global investment banks with almost 2,000 deals and approximately $250 billion dollars in capital raised for clients in 2017.  Mitch made headlines at the beginning of 2018 when he published a report stating, “Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain could become a $10-trillion-dollar market in 15 years.” In this episode, Mitch and I discuss: How his predictions may have driven up the price of Ether by over 1,000% in 2017 We review his report on blockchain and cryptocurrencies and discuss the rationale behind the $10-trillion-dollar figure And, because he’s a research analyst, I pick his brain on how to value cryptocurrencies and what best practices he recommends for ICOs Please note, Mitch is providing his personal opinion in this interview, which may not reflect the views of his employer, RBC. Also, for required disclosure on the companies discussed, please use the following disclosure link - https://www.rbccm.com/GLDisclosure/PublicWeb/DisclosureLookup.aspx?entityId=1

Dr. Leemon Baird is the inventor of Hashgraph and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Swirlds Inc. He has a PhD in Computer Science and is also a successful entrepreneur and former professor. Hashgraph is a new data structure and consensus algorithm. **PLEASE NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the Hedera Public Ledger announcement.** In this episode, Leemon and I discuss: What a Hashgraph is. How does it compare to a Blockchain? Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) – Leemon does a brilliant job of explaining this Exciting use cases for Hashgraph. Hint: they already have a few big ones in the pipeline

Aaron Wright is a Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. He is also the co-inventor of OpenLaw – a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of smart legal agreements In this episode, Aaron and I discuss: What OpenLaw is What the SAFT is (including some of its lesser known deficiencies) -and- The future of ICOs from a legal perspective

Taylor Monahan is the Co-Founder of MyEtherWallet, one of the most popular tools of choice for crypto-investors participating in ICOs on the Ethereum Blockchain. Taylor recently launched a new venture – MyCrypto – an open-source, client-side tool for generating Ether wallets, handling ERC-20 tokens, and interacting with the Blockchain more easily. In this episode, Taylor and I discuss: How MyEtherWallet came to be The absence of women in Crypto, and why this technology cannot go mainstream without women James Damore, the Google Engineer who got fired for his controversial memo on women’s suitability for engineering jobs (and what that has to do with the UFC and Ronda Rousey – yes, there is a connection) Taylor’s description of what the ideal ICO would look like Her prediction for ICOs over the next decade (hint: it’s not what you would think)

Jason Teutsch is a mathematician (PhD) and computer scientist whose research focuses on distributed systems, security, game theory, and algorithmic randomness. Jason is also the founder of TrueBit - a scalable verification solution for Blockchains. In this episode, Jason and I discuss:  The computational limitations of Ethereum smart contracts The definition of smart contract (hint: it’s not the same as a legal contract), gas, and the gas limit on Ethereum The “Verifier’s Dilemma,” a situation whereby Blockchain miners have little to no incentives to verify transactions (which is the problem TrueBit solves) Use cases for TrueBit, including LivePeer – a decentralized video streaming platform, AI, “Interactive ICOs,” and much more

Ted Livingston is the CEO and Founder of Kik Interactive – creators of Kik – a messaging app that connects the world through chat. After working at Blackberry, his boss encouraged him to start his own company, which he did in 2009. That company (Kik) has since grown to 15 million monthly users, a  billion-dollar valuation, $120 million dollars in venture funding, and an uber-successful $100 million-dollar ICO. In this episode, Ted and I discuss: His journey from Blackberry, to Kik, to Kin – which is the new cryptocurrency that powers the Kik messaging platform How back in 2010 Kik went from 0 to 1 million users in only 15 days The power of incentives in a decentralized network –and– Why Ted believes Bitcoin is fundamentally flawed, and how Kin addresses those flaws, to the point of maybe one day replacing Bitcoin as the world’s top cryptocurrency

Paul is President and Co-Founder of Impak Finance, a FinTech company focused on driving positive social impact. He has raised millions of dollars, and has been part of numerous exits, acquisitions, and IPOs. In August of 2017, Impak Finance made history by launching Impak Coin –  a cryptocurrency for a better world. That launch became Canada’s first compliant ICO – meaning Canadian regulators reviewed the ICO and gave it a thumbs-up. In this episode, we discuss: The step-by-step process Paul used to get his ICO approved by regulators How long the process took and the challenges he faced –and– Paul’s vision for the future, now that Impak has launched Canada’s first compliant token

John is a veteran technology entrepreneur who co-founded a company called “Left” with Chris Jensen. Their mission is to use technology to change the world. Left is currently focusing on a project called RightMESH – a software-based, mobile mesh networking platform that enables users with mobile devices to connect via WiFi and Bluetooth without an internet connection. In this episode, we discuss: What a mesh network is What WiFi is (hint: you don’t need internet for WiFi) How Blockchain solves the identity problem in a mesh network –and– The keys to success for Blockchain/Crypto entrepreneurs

Arthur is the product development lead at AxiomZen. He is an Engineer by training with a Computer Science degree and a Master’s Degree in Human-Computer Interaction. CryptoKitties is a multi-million-dollar video game where players collect and breed digital cats on the Ethereum Blockchain. In this episode, Arthur and I discuss: What CryptoKitties is What motivated the AxiomZen team to create this game, and The implications of a new non-fungible ERC-721 token business model

Dr. Ben Goertzel is the CEO and Founder of SingularityNET, a Blockchain-based marketplace for Artificial Intelligence (AI).   He has a PhD in Mathematics and is known as the ‘father of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).’   In this episode, we discuss:   The basics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) The Singularity – popularized by Ray Kurzweil but originating much earlier – in the 1960s And most importantly, we explore the intersection of Blockchain and AI, both in today’s environment, as well as in the future

Emin Gün Sirer is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University and Co-director of IC3 (Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts)   He has made numerous contributions to both Bitcoin & Ethereum. His research spans, networking, distributed systems, and operating systems.   Professor Sirer created Karma – the first cryptocurrency to use a distributed mint-based proof-of-work – 6 years before Bitcoin existed.     In this episode, we discuss:   Emin’s invention – Karma – the first decentralized cryptocurrency pre-dating Bitcoin The pros and cons of Segwit2x (which has now been abandoned) Little-known aspects of Bitcoin’s architecture and history such as the Bitcoin Relay, Falcon, and Fiber networks, selfish mining, the lightning network, sidechains, and much more We also discuss some of the relatively unknown academics who contributed the theoretical foundations to what we now know as Bitcoin

Lisa Cheng is the Founder and Head of Research & Development for the Vanbex Group. Vanbex is a full stack professional services and development company specializing in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency.   Lisa is also an advisor for emerging tech startups and has expertise in business development and product strategy. Her background includes Fortune 500 companies, enterprise sales, big data, and SaaS.   In this episode, we discuss:   How Lisa got let go from several jobs and was on unemployment before working for organizations like the Ethereum Foundation and Mastercoin (now known as Omni) How she became the Founder of the Vanbex Group And how Vanbex’s Etherparty project raised $30 million in its ICO pre-sale

Anthony is the CEO and Founder of Decentral – a Toronto-based innovation hub focused on disruptive and decentralized technologies.   In early 2016, they created Jaxx – one of the top multi-cryptocurrency wallets on the market.   Anthony is also one of the founding members of Ethereum and the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada.   In this episode, we discuss:   Anthony’s epic journey to Cryptocurrency. From real estate, to the family patio door business, to geothermal drilling, and finally, to a serendipitous discovery of Bitcoin that eventually led to millions We discuss how he became one of the original 5 founders of Ethereum And of course, since he invented one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets in the space, we discuss the inevitable consequences of the current ICO bubble

RedHat is a global software company providing open-source software solutions to enterprises. I spoke with Rich Feldmann who is the Global Director of Financial Services and is in charge of RedHat’s Blockchain initiative. In this episode, we discuss: RedHat’s Blockchain strategy An interesting project RedHat is working on with BlockApps, a “Blockchain-As-A-Service” company And how cryptocurrency exchanges could leverage RedHat’s expertise, if the conditions are right

Michael Oved and Don Mosites are Co-Founders of AirSwap – a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange. Michael is a veteran algorithmic trader and mathematician. Don is a former Google employee, serial entrepreneur, product designer, and full-stack engineer. In this episode, we discuss: What the design of a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange looks like The advantages of decentralized vs. centralized exchanges And we touch on issues like front-running by miners in traditional blockchain ecosystems

Michael Casey is a Senior Advisor for the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT. Prior to that, he was a Senior Columnist for the Wall Street Journal. He spent 18 years covering global economic and financial trends and co-authored The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain are Challenging the Global Economic Order with Paul Vigna.  In this episode, Michael and I discuss:  His journey from the Wall Street Journal to the MIT Digital Currency Initiative His perspective on ICOs/token sales And how his co-author, Paul Vigna, became motivated to write a book on Cryptocurrency

Matthew Spoke is the CEO of Nuco, an enterprise software company set to launch its AION Blockchain network in the near future.   Matt is a CPA and former consultant at Deloitte. He is also a board member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance   In this episode, we discuss:   How in the not-so-distant future, we may have thousands of Blockchains How Nuco’s AION network is trying to become the router for a global network of Blockchains And we touch on some interesting concepts like Blockchain network bridges and proof-of-intelligence consensus

Don Tapscott is the best-selling author of Blockchain Revolution. He is also CEO of The Tapscott Group.   Some of his positions and accomplishments include:   Associate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Senior Advisor, World Economic Forum Chancellor, Trent University Member of the Order of Canada (the second highest honor for Canadian citizens) Ranked the 4th most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management Co-Founder of the Blockchain Research Institute   In this short episode, we discuss:   How Don, a psychology major, ended up becoming one of the world’s foremost technology thought leaders We go over some of the seventy projects currently being worked on at the Blockchain Research Institute We also talk about Don’s son – Alex Tapscott – an investment banker turned “Blockchain guru,” and the projects he is working on

Thomas Linder is a Crypto Tax Lawyer from Zurich Switzerland. He is a Partner at MME Legal. MME is not just any law firm, it is the law firm behind the historic Ethereum token sale of 2014. Thomas was a Director at KPMG Switzerland, and is a Certified Tax Expert who graduated from the Swiss Tax Academy. In this episode, we discuss: How Thomas’s law firm, MME, was the legal advisor behind the iconic Ethereum token sale over 3 years ago, as well as other projects they’ve worked on like SingularDTV - A blockchain entertainment studio We go over ICOs, IPOs, and crowdfunding, pointing out the critical differences between each term We also break down the landmark SEC Investigative Report on DAO tokens or “D-A-O” Tokens, which came out on July 25th

Rahul Sood is the CEO and Founder of Unikrn, an E-Sports betting platform.   I first heard of these guys when Mark Cuban announced he would be investing in their ICO. Ashton Kutcher is also another key investor in the company.   After founding and selling several successful startups, Rahul went to work for Microsoft Ventures, before diving back into entrepreneurship with Unikrn.   In this episode, we discuss:   What E-Sports is How Unikrn plans to hold an ICO for a token they call “Unikoin Gold,” which will be used for E-Sports gambling on the Unikrn platform And, how Mark Cuban once declared he would never buy an E-Sports team, but that may be changing…     **Please note: Any comments about the Unikrn token sale should not be misconstrued as investment advice or considered an endorsement of Unikrn**

Chris Ballinger is the CFO and Head of Mobility Services at Toyota. Specifically, within the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) which leads Toyota’s efforts around autonomous vehicle technology – self-driving cars.   Chris previously worked at the White House and was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America.   He is also a formally trained monetary economist (which made for quite an interesting conversation).   In this episode, we discuss:   How Toyota plans on using Blockchain, AI, and Machine Learning to make its vision of fully autonomous vehicles, a reality The different functional areas where Blockchain would play a pivotal role How Nick Szabo’s 1998 paper on smart contracts, was the perfect primer for Chris

Bill is the CEO and Founder of Abra. What is Abra? Think of it as the “WhatsApp of Money.” A single app available in 200 cities that enables you to send money from your phone to any other phone, anywhere in the world.   Bill has co-founded a long list of Tech startups. He’s also worked for NASA, Goldman Sachs, and was a Senior Director for Netscape – the first commercially successful web browser.   In this episode, Bill and I discuss:   Why traditional remittance companies like PayPal, Western Union and Venmo are quickly becoming obsolete Abra’s secret hedging strategies And why the irrational exuberance we’ve seen with ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), may result in buyer’s remorse

Brian Behlendorf is a legend in the open software movement. He is one of the creators of Apache – server software that powers most websites on the internet. He currently serves as Executive Director of Hyperledger – one of the most prominent Blockchain consortiums in the world. His list of accomplishments in the tech industry is beyond impressive:  Technology Advisor – White House & 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign President – Apache Software Foundation CTO – World Economic Forum Managing Director – Mithril Capital Management (venture capital firm) Board member – Mozilla Foundation, Benetech, Electronic Frontier Foundation  In this episode, Brian and I discuss the history of Hyperledger, the 8 projects under the Hyperledger banner (including several interesting use cases), and what Brian really thinks about the current ICO and cryptocurrency craze.

To celebrate Canada’s upcoming 150th birthday (on July 1st), I interviewed Canadian Blockchain entrepreneur Greg Wolfond. Greg is the CEO & Founder of SecureKey – an identity and authentication provider. He’s also a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years in FinTech, security and mobile solutions. Here are some of his accolades: Founded Footprint Software – a financial software company that he sold to IBM Founded 724 Solutions – a wireless infrastructure software provider he took public Entrepreneur of the Year Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Named 100 Top Leaders in Identity In this episode, Greg and I discuss why Blockchain was a logical choice in building SecureKey’s digital identity network, the future of digital identities, and how two of Greg’s friends got their identities hacked and had mortgages put on their homes!

Bruce is the CEO and Co-Founder of BigchainDB. He comes from an Engineering, Management, Innovation, and Technology background. Before co-founding BigchainDB, Bruce worked in some of the world’s largest corporations and also founded a successful consultancy firm. In this episode, he explains why the world needs a scalable blockchain database, the emergence of a decentralized technology stack, and the one quality that differentiates humans from machines.

Stephen King is a partner at King Realty Group in Princeton, New Jersey.   He’s closed millions of dollars in real estate transactions and worked with several real-estate tech startups.   In this episode, Stephen and I discuss how his new Blockchain startup – RexMLS is turning the real estate industry on its head, why it’s time to get rid of the MLS old boys club, and what “real estate spam” means.

Peter is a musician and web developer. He has worked with all types of musicians – from struggling artists to platinum-selling superstars.   After using almost every music platform available on the web (and also after several epiphanies), he came up with a game-changing idea to disrupt the entire music industry – and that idea, uses Blockchain.   In this episode, we discuss how Peter’s company, Resonate, is disrupting the music industry, why he chose a co-op ownership model, why “Stream-to-Own” is the best music distribution model, and why Peter has no love for Bitcoin.

Brock is a serial entrepreneur, digital currency visionary, and Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.   Often referred to as the father of digital currency, he made millions in the internet gaming industry, where he was involved in trading virtual video game currencies.   He founded Blockchain Capital with two other partners, and they have become one of the leading venture capital firms investing in Blockchain.   In this episode, we talk about how Blockchain Capital is using tokens sales/ICOs to disrupt the VC industry, how they created the world’s first Digital Liquid Venture Fund, and the most critical factor they consider when deciding on which company to invest in.

Erik Voorhees is CEO & Founder of Shapeshift – a platform that helps you trade any Blockchain asset for another, with no account required.   Erik has started several companies including Bitcoin gambling website, Satoshi Dice, which he sold in July 2013, for over 126,000 Bitcoin.   In this episode, Erik and I discuss the future of ICOs and Blockchain assets, his take on private Blockchains, whether or not Bitcoin will hit $500,000 by 2030, and why entrepreneurship is all about execution and not ideas.

Roger Ver is arguably the most well-known investor/entrepreneur in the Bitcoin space. He is the former CEO & Founder of Memory Dealers, a computer parts business that made him a millionaire by the age of 25.   He has invested and started several Bitcoin businesses, most recently, Bitcoin.com, where he is CEO.   In this episode, Roger outlines why he supports bigger blocks, how his obsession with Bitcoin landed him in the hospital, and the one thing every Blockchain entrepreneur or company has to do if they want to succeed.

Frederick Munawa here. I’m a Blockchain Consultant for entrepreneurs and financial services firms.   Blockchain Innovation is where I interview the brightest minds in Blockchain and cryptocurrency – entrepreneurs, executives, and top academics – to discuss present and future applications of Blockchain Technology.   Why? To determine how Blockchain can be used to increase profits, cut costs, and disrupt traditional industries and business models – so you can borrow their strategies, tools, and tactics for your own success.   In this episode, I discuss how I discovered Blockchain, why you should subscribe to this podcast (and my blog), and what you can expect in terms of frequency and format.