A review of Crypto for People Who Don’t Follow Crypto on 1729.com
I have started following the posts on 1729.com and have been inspired to start this blog to document my own journey in discovering cryptocurrency. To start, I will be posting a review of the article, Crypto for People Who Don’t Follow Crypto by Jon Stokes, from 1729.com.
Jon Stokes does a great job explaining the how a decentralized business and commerce ecosystem could be used to unbundle real-world applications. He makes a case for everyone to get their feet wet with this new technology, as he compares this time to the early days of the internet. Many of us who were around then, may have been more than a little bit skeptical and didn’t quite have the imagination to see where it would all lead within 10 to 20 years. I, myself, could never have imagined that I would be replacing my TV with my phone. I am willing to hear him out, since I have seen how technology can advance so rapidly. Why couldn’t there be a similar path for blockchain and cryptocurrencies?
Using multiple examples, Stokes explains how a decentralized application works and how they could be applied to cryptocurrency trading exchanges, educational accreditation systems, sales platform (similar to Amazon), social media platform (such as Twitter) or voting systems within municipalities. The smart contract technology behind defi, enables these types of services to run independently from any kind of a central business, or “middleman.” Stokes refers to this as “unbundling,” where the central authority is removed. By removing the centralized control, the doors are thrown open for increased profits those producing items for sale and less risk of fraud or censorship by the platform. I wholeheartedly agree that there are unlimited uses for this technology and the time for adoption is here. The heading for this section, reading, “Decentralized finance (DeFi) and unbundling,” is a little misleading, in that DeFi makes up one or two of the examples, with the rest falling outside of finance. A more accurate heading might have been, “Decentralized businesses, commerce and unbundling.”
I acknowledge that I would not completely trust an automated script to suit all of my needs. There needs to be some flexibility and the potential for human intervention. Stokes addresses this the addition of on-chain intermediaries. Those customer service representatives and moderators could have roles within a decentralized application, similar to those sitting at call centers. This type of system is potentially confusing for myself to understand, but Stokes makes his case very clear by explaining how all of the necessary parts of a centralized model could be unbundled and distributed within the blockchain model.
The author goes on to explain why DeFi could create some strong waves in the world, much bigger than those felt during the world’s transition to the internet. Should big banks be replaced by DeFi in 10 years, the world would be a much different place. I don’t believe that this picture will be so black and white. I could see how cryptocurrencies stand to gain a lot of usefulness for those outside of the traditional bank customers, as well as those who follow innovationl. Big banks have been slow to pivot with the advent of blockchain and DeFi, however much depends on the will of those who patronize these businesses. A lot also depends on how banks update strategy with the changing times. I believe that many of us will utilize cryptocurrency and DeFi, but I haven’t been convinced yet that banks will go entirely away.
Following the warning of big banking turbulence, we return to the topic of intermediaries and the need for dispute resolution. Stokes admits there is no perfect solution for this yet, but provides a path for how it could be addressed on the blockchain. The main difference he points out is how intermediaries could be optional for end users. It could just be another optional service, as opposed to the baked in service expected from a centralized business. I can see how this would work and agree that it has a lot of potential. On a side note, I believe that this section of the article could have been moved up to precede Stokes’ banking topic, but it’s a minor detail.
Concluding, the article points out the potential for rampant piracy in the days ahead, with stolen data shared freely, with little or no consequence. But from this could spring more innovation, with the advent of direct compensation systems for those selling their work, without the middlemen.
This article barely scratches the surface of cryptocurrency, but provides some good examples of real world blockchain applications and makes a case for the inevitable adoption of this technology for the long term. It is a good starting point for those wanting to understand how this technology could improve the world with actual use cases. There are certainly many other areas within the blockchain/crypto ecosystem that the author could try to cover, but he does a good job of explaining how complex processes could be broken down into on chain smart contracts. Those who hold little or no understanding of how blockchain works should first watch a video or read an article that explains the basic concepts. I look forward to reading more from Jon Stokes, as he tackles other subjects relating to cryptocurrency.