The Blockchain Is About Trust

The main chain (black) consists of the longest series of blocks from the genesis block (green) to the current block. Orphan blocks (purple) exist outside of the main chain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the get go I have felt the blockchain can handle way more than money. Like identity in general.

Most of humanity does not have internet access. Most of humanity does not have credit rating either, most of humanity does not have Social Security numbers either. And you can't wait and expect governments to patch those holes. They will take forever. I am not saying exclude them, I am saying include them as much as possible, but do not wait for them.

The Bitcoin stands to revolutionize microfinance. ($100 Billion Plan To Save The World)

BitBeat: Blockchain-Based ID App Reimagines Internet Identity

a universal personal ID verified by cyrptocurrency blockchain technology ..... One day, suggests Mr. Ali, you could use your Onename ID to assign rights and powers to do all sorts of things — “to open your garage door, release your medical records or lodge an online vote.”

Feature Friday: Distributed Identity

I predicted that there would emerge a “bitcoin like protocol” for identity. And we’ve been looking for that. ..... One thing we realized along the way is that this could be built on top of bitcoin or another blockchain. And so earlier this year we made a seed investment in a startup called OneName that is building exactly that. ...... a distributed ledger of identity that is open and not controlled by any entity. And that sounds like an application for a blockchain if there ever was one.

https://onename.io/paramendra

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Veniam

Fred Wilson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Bitcoin is all the rage. I do think it is as fundamental as the Internet itself was in 1996. But I have been worried Fred Wilson has become one dimensional and is only thinking about the Bitcoin these days. I guess not.

Here is a super exciting investment he just made, looks like: Veniam.

In my book Veniam is the most exciting move Fred Wilson ever made.

Google's self driving car might never happen. But you pair up an almost self driving car with Uber, and you get magic, much sooner. Singularity might never happen. My bet is it will not happen. But a lot of wonderful things will happen in attempts at singularity. This Veniam deal might be the real thing to Google and Facebook talking satellites and drones and balloons. Although I am big on satellites and drones and balloons.

Innovation has a funny way of upending the big dogs.

My comment to his blog post:

This is HUGELY exciting. I think you should get one on one with De Blasio, like NOW, and make this happen for NYC. They are talking old phone booths, which is great, but this is the real deal. A NYC where there is internet access every inch of the city is safer and is on its way to becoming One City. (Reference: De Blasio's Two Cities theme when he ran.)

The Bitcoin is as fundamental as the Internet was in 1996, I give you that. But for a while I was worried you have become a one track train with a laser focus just on Bitcoins. But I guess not.

Heck, this can be taken to Mumbai, to Kathmandu. What about backpacks? This could be taken to Namche! (Sagarmatha base camp ---- Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest).

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Antimatter

Mark Bittman TED Talk: What We Eat

Fred Wilson And Mark Suster Missing Out On AirBnB And Uber

Mark Suster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

photo of Paul Graham (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fred Wilson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fred Wilson was one of the earliest people Paul Graham reached out to as AirBnB was making its early moves. Wilson said, nah. And here is Mark Suster waxing eloquent on his missing out on Uber.

These are smart guys, well connected. They are VC bloggers I like. What happened? How did they miss out?

They say about companies, you become so good at one thing, you tend to miss out on the next thing.

AirBnB and Uber are alike in that there are physical things in their equations. There are apartments and cars involved. I think they sit on top of a mega trend where software actively interacts with the physical environment. And I feel many more large companies will get created at that intersection.

When you have stellar track records of information only kind of software plays, I guess you don't feel the love for the physical.

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Big Rig

Big Rig

An Optimistic Scenario