Charles Hoskinson, creator of blockchain network Cardano, says the cryptocurrency movement is about far more than speculation on the price of Bitcoin.
In an online address for the Wave Financial Virtual Investor Conference, Hoskinson says a lack of trust is at the heart of many issues people and corporations are facing during the coronavirus pandemic – and blockchain is the solution.
“There were tons of issues from hoarding to profit seeking behavior and other things leaking in and ultimately hurting the most vulnerable among us. So we ask ourselves why is that.
It’s because these systems were built in a very fragmented way. And what we’ve been doing to try to fix these systems has been simply adding another layer of complexity, another layer of regulation, or in many cases, just adopting a single standard…
The point of the cryptocurrencies’ space isn’t about money. It’s not about Bitcoin. It’s not about going to a market cap and saying it did go up 5% or down 10%. Really, the abstract point of our industry as a whole is about trust among parties who have to work together but don’t really trust each other.”
Hoskinson says the crypto industry has significantly changed in just over a decade following the birth of BTC.
He believes the sky is the limit for the technology’s ability to remove middlemen and create trust in an automated and efficient system that can touch all aspects of commerce.
“If I had to describe what our industry is about, the blockchain industry as a whole, it’s not about money. It’s rather about that philosophical conversation about how do we re-imagine society. Re-imagine the way we work together, we trust each other, how we quantify things.
Our own company, for example, in Ethiopia right now we’re bidding on a project for six million small holder farmers for fertilizer vouchers. But when you start digging into the business and technical requirements of such a program, you start realizing how incredibly interconnected life happens to be… When you build a voucher system, you’re actually building a payment system. And actually you’re building an identity system. And then somewhere along the way you’re building a census system to get to know who people are. And then somewhere along the way you’re building a voting system. And then somewhere along the way you’re going to tether it to output, so you’re building a supply chain system for agricultural goods…
And each and every one of those is a great opportunity, a magical opportunity for all kinds of new business models and all kinds of innovation.”
Cardano’s developers recently launched a testnet for the proof-of-stake blockchain Shelley, which will allow holders of its native cryptocurrency ADA earn rewards for powering the network.
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