Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Oh My!
By: Matthew Olan
Tags: Blockchain, Institutions, Society, Trust, Ethereum

Blockchain, and cryptocurrencies more specifically, are something that at this point a lot of people have heard of in some way, shape, or form. For most, it falls under the “get rich quick” schemes that everyone so adamantly wants. For others, it’s the technology behind the “wild west” cash grab of tokens and coins. While those two concepts definitely hold their own weight, there’s also a small group that recognizes the value these things bring from an understanding of trust.

You see, a lot of people my age harbor animosity and distrust for the institutions of today. They see “The Man” as something that suppresses creativity and the ability to grow. They feel that the establishment, and its 1%, simply feed off the bottom without any consideration for the wellbeing of the commons. While history has shown that there are issues with amassing exorbitant amounts of wealth at the top, I see the distrust in the establishment as a crutch and opportunity for improvement. Rather than extreme calls for revolution and upheaval of the existing systems, we must acknowledge that we wouldn’t be where we are today as a society without the institutions we’ve built. They’ve grown and helped establish the global economy we live in. They’ve brought about abundance and prosperity that the world has never seen. And while we have recognized this prosperity, there is no doubting the mistrust that it has formed due to the vast levels of inequality it has created. This distrust is also the primary reason why I believe blockchain technology has the potential to become commonplace within every industry in our economy.

At its core, cryptocurrencies and blockchains follow the basic principles of a ledger. Everything that happens on a chain is recorded and immutable. That means that I can’t simply tell you one thing and you must take my word for it. Instead, if your heart’s desire is to fact check what I’ve said, the information should be publically available on the blockchain and untampered with. Now that is a super simple way of explaining the concept, but in reality, that’s what this technology can do. Throw in the fact that it’s decentralized and utilizes a network of computers, like the one you’re currently using (the Internet), to reach a consensus on what is true and what is false, and you now reach the digitized means of institutionalizing things.

While still in its infancy, blockchain has a lot to offer to the world economy. Similar to the unknown capabilities of the Internet back in the '90s and early 2000s, blockchain has yet to face its true potential. That is why the market for tokens is super speculative and people see it as an opportunity to strike Bitcoin “gold”. In my mind, it’s a lot more like gambling on pets.com and hoping you’ve placed your bet on a winner. No one truly knows which chain or concepts will stick, but the fact is, trust is a concept that our economies have been running on for decades now, and something these technologies can reintroduce by co-opting it from the centralized walled gardens we use today.

Any major loss of faith in our economy due to a breach of trust could be disastrous. The biggest problem we face now more than ever is demonstrating to people that they should think critically about every piece of information that they are presented with before trusting it. This is because trust is a very hard thing to earn and extremely easy to lose. With blockchain technology, we can begin to form a consensus on topics and rebuild trust amongst our populations. Slowly we are beginning to bridge the gap of trust that exists within our traditional and digital economies, and I confidently believe within the next decade we will see institutions adopting these technologies to follow suit. In my mind, blockchain won’t be the downfall of institutions, but more so, the technology that helps facilitate better models of trust in the ones we have. Blockchain will engulf our existing systems and broadcast every move that is made within them to network participants, in turn creating a more transparent and cooperative society.